South Mississippi state representative misses deadline to disclose finances, again

GREENE COUNTY, Miss. (WKRG) – A state representative over most of Greene and Perry counties, and part of George County, failed to file his campaign finance disclosure by the state’s deadline last week. It appears to be the sixth time he has filed late in his second election season.

State Rep. Dale Goodin, of District 105, failed to file the report by the 5 p.m. deadline on Wednesday, May 10. He was included on a list published by Secretary of State Michael Watson naming candidates that had not filed the reports by 48 hours after the deadline.

All candidates for office must file campaign finance disclosure reports in accordance with state law, regardless of whether they spent or received money during the reporting period. Candidates who do not file are assessed a civil penalty of $50 per day, up to $500, beginning with the tenth calendar day after the report is due. An intentional violation of the campaign finance disclosure law is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of $3,000, six months imprisonment, or both.

Goodin filed 14 financal disclosures with the Secretary of State on Jan. 31, including reports that are supposed to document money spent and received during months well into the future, from May until October. When asked about this Friday by email, Goodin told WKRG: “I just amended my report. Thanks for the reminder.” The amended report indicates no money spent or raised since the beginning of the year.

Out of 10 required reports since 2019, six appear to have been filed late, according to publicly available Secretary of State records. One technically filed on time, the 2019 general pre-election report, was filed too far in advance to be accurate. The report was supposed to include expenses and donations from the month of October 2019. It was submitted on Sep. 4, and does not appear to have ever been amended.

Goodin has only ever reported receiving donations or spending money on his campaign one time, despite twice having to pay a $250 qualifying fee to get on the ballot. In the 2019 primary runoff pre-election report, which appeared to have been filed 15 days late, he reported paying $24,548 two days after the runoff to Chase Bank and $12,951 to Regions Bank. The filing also included a $30,000 donation from himself, $6,500 from Mississippi Public Education PAC and $1,000 from Jim Barksdale.

Those individual expenses and donations reported appear to equal each other and create a zero balance, yet the report indicated his campaign still had $24,548 cash on hand. The next report, appearing to have been submitted 13 days late, shows a starting balance of $0.

His 2022 annual report shows a $250 balance with no itemized contributions attached to show where the money came from. It is unclear if Goodin has ever been fined for his tardiness, which appears to have been the most extreme at 34 days late for the 2019 primary pre-election report.

Goodin, a retired Perry County Schools administrator and Navy veteran, was first elected in 2019, defeating incumbent Roun McNeal in the Republican primary run-off for the seat. The district covers most of Greene and Perry counties and the Rocky Creek and Shipman precincts in George County.

While Goodin reported not receiving or spending any money from January through May of this year, his primary opponents differed.

Greene County businessman Matt Brewer reported spending $622 on the filing fee and advertising with no donations. His latest report was filed early. Five of the seven reports he filed as a candidate for the seat in 2019 appear to have been submitted after the deadline set by state law.

He does not appear to have filed a Statement of Economic Interest with the Mississippi Ethics Commission, due 15 days after qualifying to run on Feb. 1.

Attorney Elliot Burch, another candidate challenging Goodin for the Republican nomination, reported receiving: