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McDonough misses campaign finance deadline in Baltimore County Executive race

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski and Republican challenger Pat McDonough at a forum in Essex.
John Lee
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski and Republican challenger Pat McDonough at a forum in Essex.

The Republican running for Baltimore County Executive missed the Friday midnight deadline to file his latest campaign finance report. Pat McDonough said he is missing a couple of receipts he needs before he can file.

The penalty for missing the deadline is $20 a day for the first week. It goes up to $35 a day the second week, then $50 a day if the report has not been filed the third week after the deadline. The maximum fine is $1,000.

If a candidate who has violated the filing deadline wins, they cannot take office until they have paid their fines and filed the report.

Candidates can file incomplete finance reports on time, then amend them later to avoid violating the filing deadline.

McDonough is challenging Democratic incumbent Johnny Olszewski, who has more than $1.8 million in his campaign coffers according to his finance forms which were filed Friday.

In his previous campaign filing in August, McDonough had about $4,500 on hand.

Olszewski’s report showed that over the past two months he spent more than $240,000 on his campaign. During the same time period four years ago when he and Republican Al Redmer were vigorously competing for what was then an open county executive seat, Olszewski spent more than $714,000. That indicates that the incumbent is less concerned about his race against McDonough.

Olszewski is running for a second four-year term. He considered running for governor this year but decided instead to run for reelection. Political observers believe he is eyeing a gubernatorial run or perhaps a race for Congress in the future.

McDonough served in the Maryland General Assembly for 20 years. Redmer defeated him four years ago for the Republican nomination to run for county executive.

John Lee is a reporter for WYPR covering Baltimore County. @JohnWesleyLee2
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