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This post has been updated and corrected.
Watch out, mayoral hopefuls: Vincent Orange has finally registered his campaign committee. On Monday, Orange made “Orange for Mayor” official.
Orange didn’t file a declaration of candidacy or register a committee when a supporter picked up petitions for him on Nov. 8, since he was at a conference in London. At a debate for mayoral candidates on Nov. 13, Orange claimed he still had “three or four” more days to register his committee, then went on to take another 12 days to register it.
Just why Orange took so long to register his committee isn’t clear. Last week, Orange wouldn’t tell LL why he was waiting, or even reveal his committee’s ultimately innocuous name (“Orange for Mayor”).
The disadvantages of delaying are more obvious, including being unable to legally raise contributions without a designated treasurer.
LL initially thought—and reported, before this post was corrected—that Orange had missed deadlines set in campaign finance regulations. Orange filed his declaration of candidacy on Nov. 14, after picking up his petitions on Nov. 8. But that was within the required five business days of picking up petitions, even though it was more than five days later. Orange registered his committee on Nov. 25, which was, likewise, within the required 10 business days of the declaration of candidacy, though it was more than 10 calendar days later. LL had sought comment from the Office of Campaign Finance about the deadlines, but didn’t hear back before this post was first published. OCF spokesman Wesley Williams got in touch with LL on Wednesday morning, after publication, to say:
Your conclusions regarding the candidacy of Vincent Orange were inaccurate. Vincent Orange was required to file a Statement of Candidacy with this Office within five (5) (business) days of picking up petitions from the Board of Elections. Mr. Orange satisfied this requirement by filing his Statement of Candidacy on Thursday, November 14, 2013. (D.C. Official Code Section 1-1163.12 (a) and 3 DCMR Section 3711.5) On the Statement of Candidacy he designated a principal campaign committee. In doing so he is allowed ten (10) (business) days from the date of designation for the committee to file a Statement of Organization with this Office. The committee satisfied this requirement by filing its Statement of Organization on Monday, November 25, 2013. (D.C. Official Code Section 1-1163.07 and 3 DCMR Section 3711.5)
Orange’s committee registration also means the first details of his campaign staff are becoming public. Joe Johnson is serving as his chairman, while son Paul Orange is working as the campaign’s treasurer. Both men held the same positions on Orange’s 2011 at-large campaign, which received gobs of obviously fraudulent money orders. Orange isn’t in a position to pass judgment on their campaign acuity, though—-he says he missed the money orders, too.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery
Correction: Due to a reporting error, this post originally misstated the deadlines for Orange to file his declaration of candidacy and to register a committee. The deadlines are five business days after picking up petitions, to file a declaration, and ten business days after that to register a committee. The post originally reported that the deadlines were five days and ten days, respectively, and that Orange had missed them and could have violated campaign finance regulations. In fact, he was within the deadlines.
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