Moments ago, I filed my campaign’s first financial disclosure. The cutoff date was the 11th and the deadline was tomorrow. You can see this latest filing online by filtering by either my name or my filer ID, which is 445995.
There’s not much to tell. I made the first donation that covered 100% of my expenses for the reporting period. As of today, my campaign’s checking account balance is $1.00. Why am I disclosing all this extra information that I’m not required to disclose?
Transparency. Yes, it’s embarrassing to have just $1.00 in my campaign’s bank account, but I believe in honesty and transparency, even when it’s unpleasant or humiliating.
When and if I get real donors, they’ll likely want to see where their money is going on a regular basis rather than waiting for each reporting period. Accordingly, campaign income and expenses will be disclosed here on this site every month, with updates made as donations or expenses are processed. It’s not quite real time, but it’s close.
I’m more than happy to disclose this information. Those other guys? As of the time that I wrote this, only one of my opponents has filed their report. Granted, they have until tomorrow to file, but what’s the hold up?
If a candidate is the type of person that waits until the last moment, will they procrastinate as Albany’s mayor? Probably. At least I filed on time, showing that I can meet deadlines, a skill that is important when one is mayor.
Unfortunately, though I filed timely, I had to file two amended reports. The first one was due to me failing to collect all receipts in order to report the correct amount of money that came out of pocket. I also forgot to include the actual names of the vendors.
The second amended report was due to the fact that I did not disclose all of the information that I’m required to when donating to my own campaign.
Both issues have been resolved and the filing is now final. In my defense, it was my first filing experience. I should have paid closer attention, but at least I identified and rectified the problems on my own, meaning that I can be trusted to serve in the highest office of the city with the utmost integrity and trustworthiness.
I did not know that I needed to report certain things in my disclosure, but as I have nothing to hide, I corrected the problem. I don’t sweep my mistakes under the rug. Because of this, when I become mayor, you can trust that I will not hide mistakes or errors. As a first-time mayor, I will certainly make mistakes. Any mayor out there makes mistakes.
But I will never shy away from admitting to those mistakes, meaning that you can trust me to be Albany’s 76th mayor.
I know how to handle important deadlines, unlike most of my opponents. Trust me…you want me in that mayor’s chair, not any of my opponents.