ALBANY — More than a dozen state officeholders — including Gov. Paterson and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) — owe unpaid fines for campaign-finance violations, The Post has learned.
In all, some 16 sitting state Assembly members and senators are among 1,421 scofflaws who have shrugged off nearly $1.7 million in penalties for not filing campaign-finance reports and other violations, according to a Post analysis of outstanding fines by the notoriously toothless state Board of Elections.
By far the biggest offender was Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx), whose four campaign committees have racked up $33,648 in fines over the past 15 years — more than double the next-largest total.
“You’ll have to call my lawyer,” Arroyo told a reporter who called her home, hanging up without giving her attorney’s name.
The list of top campaign-finance scofflaws also includes Brooklyn Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. ($13,522), Bronx Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson ($7,755) and Buffalo Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples ($5,456).
Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. (D-Bronx), who has been negotiating with election officials about paying off his fines for campaign-finance violations since they were publicized last fall, still owes $13,013.
Board of Elections fines top out at $500, plus processing costs. Paterson owes $179 and Smith owes $40.
The two judgments against Paterson stem from his campaigns for state Senate in 1994 and 1996, although a state election spokesman said one of the fines may have been paid off. The fine against Smith has lingered since 1983.
“Now that we know about it, the check will be in the mail,” Smith spokesman Austin Shafran said. “It will be taken care of immediately.”
Government-reform advocates say the huge volume of outstanding fines — 4,595 as of last month — highlights the short-staffed Board of Election’s inability to enforce the state’s infamously porous campaign-finance laws.
“I guess these guys view these fines as kind of like parking tickets,” said Blair Horner of NYPIRG. “People feel they can violate the law with impunity. It’s time for somebody to put a boot on their tire.”
Last year, Paterson proposed creating a new enforcement unit within the Board of Elections and increasing maximum fines to $10,000 as part of a broader campaign-finance overhaul, but the proposal has languished.
Budget constraints have delayed plans to add a dozen additional staffers at the 63-employee board.
Top scofflaws in The Post’s analysis included several failed candidates for state Legislature, such as Reginald Bowman ($14,866), Richard Taylor ($14,380) and Wellington Sharpe ($12,983).