Phila. City Councilwoman Agrees To Pay $8,000 For Campaign Finance Violations

By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown has agreed to pay the Philadelphia Board of Ethics $8,000 for keeping a second bank account for campaign contributions. This is Brown's third settlement for campaign finance law violations.

The settlement says Brown got bad advice from her campaign staff but in a statement Brown takes full responsibility for the mistakes, which include opening a savings account for contributions, in addition to a checking account, and failing to report the contributions that got deposited in the savings account.

Ethics Board executive director Shane Creamer says Brown came forward voluntarily.

"If we hadn't been told about the second account and the omissions, it would have been hard for us to discover them on our own," said Creamer.

The settlement calls for additional training and monitoring if Brown runs again.

Brown had been cited after the 2011 primary for accepting contributions exceeding the limit and failing to report them and then in 2013 when the board discovered she'd used campaign funds to repay a personal loan from Chaka Fattah, Jr.