Gonsalves, campaign committee sued

The enforcement attorney for the New York State Board of Elections has filed a lawsuit against Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves and her campaign committee for allegedly failing to file campaign finance reports. Spokesmen for Gonsalves, however, contend that they did comply with the law, and that the mistakes were unintentional.

The complaint, filed Dec. 23 by Chief Enforcement Counsel Risa Sugarman following a review of Board of Elections records, alleges that Friends For Norma Gonsalves did not file timely campaign finance disclosure reports with the board on multiple occasions between January 2006 and March 2015. Sugarman has accused Gonsalves and the committee’s former treasurer, Joseph Parisi — who is also the East Meadow School District Board of Education president — of 10 violations.

In two instances, the committee reportedly failed to file its reports three or more times within a single election cycle — in 2013 and 2015 — and each carries a potential fine of $10,000. Gonsalves, Parisi and the committee each face a total of $28,000 in penalties, according to John Ciampoli, an attorney representing Friends For Norma Gonsalves.

Pointing out that state officials are looking to penalize the committee by an amount greater than its assets, Ciampoli said that no one should be concerned about the integrity of Gonsalves and her associates. Noting that the law under which she is being sued did not exist when most of the alleged offenses occurred, he said that as soon as Gonsalves became aware of the disclosure problem, reported in Newsday last year, the committee immediately brought the campaign account into compliance.

“They say the public was deprived access to this information, but they have no proof of that,” Ciampoli said. “There’s no proof of bad faith … This doesn’t rise above the level of making a mistake.”