By TOM HASSLINGER

Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - Much ado about nothing, or in this case, disclosing.

A gap between campaign disclosure filing deadlines, combined with communication misfire between the Coeur d'Alene City Clerk's Office and a Republican political action committee, stirred a dozen questions Wednesday about proper campaign contributions, which turned out to be on the up and up.

So after further review, Reagan Republication Victory Fund Municipal PAC donations are compliant with Idaho sunshine laws.

"That's all I wanted," said Susan Weathers, city clerk, after learning how the PAC filed its 7-day pre general financing report, which appeared to leave thousands of dollars unaccounted for, but in the end, didn't. "To be attacked by Jeff Ward is disconcerting to me."

Throw in a touch of bad blood, mix in the blogosphere, and a lot of dust had to settle before the light blazed through.

Here's what happened: The local political group, the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans, have a state PAC, which they formed to contribute to statewide election issues.

Ho hum, that's par for the course.

But for the Nov. 8 city elections, it registered a separate municipal PAC - the Reagan Republication Victory Fund Municipal - specifically to document its financial output during the city races.

That's one local political group, and two PACs spun off it.

The state PAC transferred money to the municipal PAC, and the municipal PAC is in charge of donating to city candidates.

And just as the candidates do, the municipal PAC files disclosure reports to show where it's giving its money.

Still par for the campaign course.

Here's where things fell through the cracks:

On its 7-day report, the municipal PAC spent $3,802.11 for The Strategery Group Inc., a strategy and marketing group formed in March by Ron Lahr, Kootenai County Reagan Republican vice president.

The questions arose after that $3,802.11 ended at Strategery.

If a marketing group received nearly $4,000, what candidates were on the receiving end of that marketing bill? None of the candidates reported contributions from Strategery, so where did the money go?

And if the money was going to KCRR-supported candidates Steve Adams and Dan Gookin, simply dividing it up would exceed the $1,000 limit each candidate is allowed per sunshine laws.

But neither candidate reported any contributions from Strategery.

Weathers was asked about this and didn't know the answer, so she said she'd inquire at the Secretary of State's office exactly who should document what. That office asked her to ask the city legal counsel, which she did.

Enter the blogosphere.

That chain of questions turned into "an investigation" of Strategery and that word triggered a sharply worded response from KCRR President Jeff Ward to the city, which caught Weathers completely off guard.

It's safe to say KCRR doesn't see eye-to-eye with the city on certain issues, and Ward later apologized for coming off strongly after he learned Weathers was just asking the office for direction.

He said he felt a little gun shy, since his group did everything on the straight and narrow and, back in the 2009 city election, the city quasi-threatened to look into legal action for liable issues after Ward helped promote a campaign flier that said City Hall was responsible for getting city council challenger Jim Brannon fired.

In the end, the municipal PAC that showed $3,802.11 represented all municipal elections, not just Coeur d'Alene's. The same report is filed with Post Falls, Rathdrum and everywhere else KCRR supports candidates. Basically, each place they're filed, don't add them together: That total represents money that will go to seven candidates across four municipal elections.

And the reason candidates didn't report it, is because the money was spent on fliers that were mailed out countywide after the Oct. 23 day to file, so the per-candidate spending will be documented at the next filing deadline, the 30-day post-election report.

When all is said and done, each candidate will receive around $975, which is sunshine law legal, Lahr said.

"That's all I wanted to hear," Weathers said after she learned the explanation.

Lahr added that neither Adams nor Gookin sit on the PAC boards, so have no authority how the money is spent. He plans to step down himself from the state PAC board this year since he formed the marketing group.

Only five more days until election day.