Boles admits campaign ‘misstep,’ willing to pay fine

LANSING – A Lansing City Council member accepts responsibility for what the Ingham County Clerk’s Office calls a violation of campaign finance law and is prepared to hold herself accountable.

A’Lynne Boles, representing the 3rd Ward, confirmed Friday that her campaign failed to disclose who paid for a two-sided campaign flyer that was passed out to residents at their homes.

And if the violation leads to a fine from the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office, Boles said she’ll pay it because her campaign is determined to move forward. Boles faces Adam Hussain and Ryan Earl in Tuesday’s city primary election. Two candidates will advance to the Nov. 3 ballot. It’s one of four council seats on the ballot this year, including two at-large and the 1st Ward.

“I’ve never dodged taking responsibility for following the rules,” said Boles, who has nearly eight years of City Council experience. “Am I taking this lightly? No. I’ll make sure the corrections are made.”

Boles said she wasn’t aware of the campaign finance violation until after Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum wrote a letter Tuesday that said a two-sided flyer encouraging votes for Boles was disseminated without the name and address of the person who paid for it.

Byrum said her letter was sent via courier service to the Secretary of State’s Bureau of Elections, and a copy went to Boles. Neither had received it by Friday afternoon, according to Boles and Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams.

Byrum said the “Vote A’Lynne Boles” flyer’s lack of funding disclosure is a violation of Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act, specifically MCL 167.247. The violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment of up to 93 days or both.

“Some complaints aren’t as cut and dry, but that was pretty obvious,” Byrum said. “My office is non-partisan. We hold Democrats and Republican accountable; that’s what I was elected to do.”

Woodhams wrote in an e-mail that the Bureau of Elections’ campaign finance complaint process normally takes “a number of months” to complete. If staff members decide a complaint should be investigated, they first give the accused violator an opportunity to respond before determining if a violation was committed.

Boles said the group “Friends to Elect A'Lynne Boles” paid for the flyer. It was meant to include the line “Paid for by Friends to Elect A'Lynne Boles,” but she said that appeared to get left off all copies created by an Illinois-based printer. Boles said the flyer’s design was sent electronically to the printer before copies were made.

Boles has met with her campaign to let them know of the “misstep” and is confident the rest of her campaign literature discloses sources of funding. The former City Council president isn’t worried about the violation’s impact on her campaign.

“I know that voters and residents of the 3rd Ward know my character and how hard I work,” Boles said.

Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.