George Fearing & Dante Lee Montoya Fail to Abide by FEC Public Disclosure

With voters casting their ballots for 4th District U.S. Congressman and 16th District State Representative Position #1, the two Democrat candidates have violated Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure laws and were officially notified they could face monetary penalties.

Last Thursday, October 23rd, all candidates for federal office were required to file pre-election disclosure reports. George Fearing is the Democrat candidate for Congress in Central Washington and his campaign failed to file its campaign finance report by the deadline. At close of business last night, a week after Fearing’s report was due to be disclosed to the public, it still hadn’t been filed.

Dante Lee Montoya is Fearing’s officially registered Campaign Treasurer and has legal responsibility for filing the reports. Montoya is the Democrat candidate for the 16th State Representative Position #1.

Click here to view a copy of the FEC’s official “Notice of Failure to File” violation letter.

Fearing and Montoya have made their respective careers as a trial lawyer and an accountant into central parts of their campaigns.

“Fearing and Montoya have broken federal law by failing to disclose to voters who is donating how much money to the campaign,” said Washington State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser. “This law was written to inform voters at election time. Either Fearing the Trial Lawyer and Montoya the Accountant can’t follow the most basic federal campaign law, or they’re hiding something. They’ve shown they can’t be trusted by voters.

“Fortunately, neither Fearing nor Montoya stands a chance at winning, as they are taking on popular and hardworking Republican candidates. But even losing candidates must follow the law and tell voters who is paying for their campaign.”

FEC disclosure reports are posted on its website at www.fec.gov. Montoya was named as Fearing’s official Campaign Treasurer on October 10th in a formal filing submitted to the FEC.