by Javier Manjarres

With the Democrat Party set on avenging the losses it suffered in the 2010 elections, Congressman Allen West’s Congressional District 22 is being targeted as a ‘must have’ seat, and it surely will be one of the most contentious congressional races next year. West beat incumbent Ron Klein in 2010, and he will face off against one of the two Democrats who are presently running to unseat him.

Last week we reported that West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel had a greivance formally filed against her for failing to file required expenditures and/or liabilities.(Allen West’s Democrat Opponent Violates FEC Laws), but now it appears that both of West’s potential Democrat challengers are having problems complying with the rules and regulations applying to candidate disclosures.

Frankel’s Democrat primary opponent, Patrick Murphy of Fort Lauderdale has failed to file the necessary disclosure paperwork for his candidacy.  According to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ethics Manual, “any individual who qualifies as a candidate for the House, must file within 30 days of becoming a candidate, or on or before May 15, whichever is later. An individual seeking office qualifies as a candidate for financial disclosure purposes by raising or spending more than $5000 for his or her campaign.”

As of today, Murphy has raised well over $350k for his campaign and has still not filed the appropriate and timely disclosure as per the rules and regulation of the U.S. House of Representatives, whereas Mayor Frankel has abided by these same rules.  The Patrick for Congress campaign issued a statement regarding the non-disclosure:

“An extension has been previously filed for with the FEC and the campaign has until August 15 to submit the disclosure paperwork.”

From the looks of it, it seems as if the Democrats have called up a couple of minor leaguers to try to challenge and unseat West. With the Democrat Party’s dirty laundry already set to high-spin, is this the best the Democrats can do?