Details matter

Editor:

Regarding Zach White's article, "GOP points to violations in Kaul's council race funding, " in the Sept. 15 Havre Daily News:

The state of Montana candidate forms mentioned in this story were incorrectly referred to as campaign finance documents. The correct name of the document is "Form C-1-A Statement of Candidate. "

Filing this document is mandatory for county and municipal candidates. The C-1-A requires the candidate's name, address and, if applicable, the name of the bank at which you intend to have the campaign account. It also requires you to disclose one of the following:

A. You will not receive or expend any funds (including re-using any promotional materials such as campaign signs from previous elections)

B. You will not receive or expend any funds in excess of $500.00.

C. You expect to raise funds in excess of $500.00. (Only if you answer C will you be required to file a C-5 "Candidate Campaign Finance Report, " Mr. Kaul's initial and amended filings do not require the filing of a C-5.)

Mr. Kaul was not accused of campaign finance violations as was stated in the aforementioned article. That would be a very serious charge and the record should show that this was improperly stated in the article. Mr. Kaul was merely asked to "sync up his paperwork. " This is what I explicitly told Mr. White during our 9:08 a. m. phone interview on Sept. 15.

By incorrectly reporting that this was a campaign finance issue, Mr. White did provide himself with a convenient segue into irrelevant factoids. "The list of people who have provided at least $100 to the Dow campaign include... Bill Dritshulas, owner of the Duck Inn and Best Western Plus Great Northern Inn who, earlier this year, erected a sign on the edge of the Char's Family Dining parking lot that he owns, urging voters to elect 'anyone but Jeri Veis, Bob Kaul, Bob Kaftan. ' Kaul is the only one of the three people listed on the sign running this year, against Dow. "

What does this have to do with Mr. Kaul's incorrectly filed but remedied C-1-A?

Furthermore, if Mr. White was going to veer off and reference the mystery sign from earlier this summer he should have had the journalistic integrity to have asked me about it in the previously cited Thursday morning interview. He did not.

I implore the Havre Daily News not to continue to print these conjecture-laced articles because the voters of Havre will not be supplied with accurate and complete information.

Details matter after all, and that is one of the reasons I am a candidate.

Rick Dow, Candidate for

Havre City Council, Ward 3

(Editor's note: Zach White is a reporter with impeccable journalistic ethics. We stand behind his story.)