Lexington’s new mayor has been ordered to pay a $150 civil penalty for failing to put disclaimers on his campaign signs and a flyer.
Gary Grote disseminated at least three different versions of campaign signs throughout the city before the Nov. 8 election, and none of them included disclaimers indicating who paid for the signs, according to a recent order from three administrative law judges.
He also distributed a campaign flyer that included an email address but also lacked the required disclaimer.
Gloria Murphy, who is the wife of Grote’s opponent and who just won a seat on the Centennial school board, filed a complaint about Grote with the Office of Administrative Hearings on Oct. 27.
Within three days, Grote added the appropriate labels to the campaign signs and printed new flyers that featured the disclaimer, according to the order.
During a probable cause hearing on Nov. 9, Grote “conceded that his campaign material lacked disclaimers and were out of compliance for several weeks,” the panel of judges wrote.
A penalty matrix used by administrative law judges for campaign finance violations suggests that Grote’s failure to include the disclaimers likely had little impact on voters.
Grote went on to beat the incumbent mayor, Mike Murphy, 380-372. He will be sworn into office Thursday.
Murphy sought re-election as mayor only after the Republican Party declined to endorse him for governor last year.
