The provisions of this section shall apply to any municipal election.
Definitions.
(a) “Candidate” shall mean any person publicly declared as such and for whom votes are sought in an election for the offices of mayor, alderman, or school committee.
(b) “Incumbent Official” shall mean an incumbent mayor, aldermen, or school committee member.
(c) “Contribution” shall mean a payment, gift, subscription, assessment, contract, payment for services, dues advance, forbear-ance or loan to a candidate, an incumbent official or political committee made for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of any candidate. Contributions shall include the use of any thing of value but shall not include the services of volunteers who receive no pay therefor or the use of personal resources by a candidate on his behalf.
(d) “Expenditure” shall mean the disbursement of money or thing of value or the making of a legally binding commitment, for political purposes, to make such a disbursement in the future.
(e) “Measure” shall mean any question which is submitted or intended to be submitted to a popular vote at an election.
(f) “Municipal election” shall mean the municipal primary election and the municipal general election.
(g) “Political Committee” shall mean any organization of two (2) or more persons to influence through contributions and or expenditures municipal elections or measures, including the political committee of a political party as hereinafter defined.
(h) “Political committee of a political party” shall mean the state, county, city, ward or town committee of a political party.
Reporting.
(i) Consent. Any political committee which is organized to support a candidate in any election shall secure the written consent of the candidate or his fiscal agent before it receives contributions or makes expenditures. Such written consent shall be filed by the city clerk at the time the political committee registers as provided in the following paragraph.
(j) Registration of political committee. Prior to the municipal election for which the political committee, is organized, the committee shall file with the city clerk a statement of the purpose of the political committee and a statement of the name, address, occupation and principal place of business, of its chairman, treasurer and other officers, provided, however, that a political committee to promote the nomination of a candidate of a municipal election may not be organized within forty-five (45) days of a municipal primary election.
(k) Report.
(1) Each candidate and each political committee whose combined contributions or combined expenditures equal or exceed $500 dollars shall file a disclosure report with the city clerk within ten (10) days immediately preceding and immediately following an election.
(2) Each incumbent official whose combined contributions or combined expendi-tures equal or exceed $500 within any quarter of the calendar year shall file a disclosure report with the city clerk within thirty (30) days of the end of each calendar quarter.
(3) The disclosure report shall be itemized, signed and sworn to either by the incumbent official, the candidate or by the candidate's campaign chairman or treasurer, as applicable, showing each receipt regardless of amount with the full name and address of the contributor and the amount of the contribution made up to the date of the initial report or made since the date of the last report. The report shall also show each expenditure with the full name and address of persons, corporations, committee, or whomever was paid or is to be paid, with the specific nature of the amount of each expenditure made up to the date of the initial report or made since the date of the last report.
(l) Statement. Any candidate whose contributions or expenditures are less than the amount designated in the preceding paragraph shall file a statement to that effect which shall be signed and sworn to as set forth in the preceding paragraph.
(m) Prohibition. No candidate shall be entitled to nomination or election until the sworn itemized report or statement required to be filed by him or on his behalf has been filed as herein before required.
(n) Penalty. Any candidate, or any member of his political committee, who is convicted for failure to comply with this section shall be subject to penalty as provided by law.
(o) Public inspection. All reports, statements, written consents and registrations filed by candidates, political committees and political committees of political parties shall be open to the public.
(Amended by electorate 11-3-15)