'Truth' trail

COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Coeur d'Alene confirmed Wednesday that it will be asking Truth North Idaho to file financial disclosure documents for the first 20 days of October.

After learning that political action committee Truth North Idaho's campaign website domain registered on Oct. 10, City Clerk Renatta McLeod said it appears the PAC had campaign-related expenses at that time.

"We will be contacting Truth North Idaho and asking them to file a seven day pre-general report on that activity," she said, adding she had previously informed the PAC that any spending or fundraising during the first 20 days of October would require financial disclosure on Oct. 29 under Idaho's sunshine laws.

McLeod said the PAC filed its treasurer's report on Oct. 25 and would not be required to file the form for financial activity that occurred after Oct. 20 until the next filing deadline on Nov. 15, but anything before that is reportable.

Jeremy Morris, president of Liberty Consulting and spokesman for TNI, contacted the city on Wednesday and told McLeod that the domain was actually purchased by someone else on Oct. 10 and later transferred to TNI after the reporting period deadline.

Morris declined to comment on the matter.

Deputy City Attorney Warren Wilson said that Morris was told that he needed to provide a paper trail for that transaction, or file the required financial disclosure forms.

Godaddy.com shows the web domain was created on Oct. 10 at 11:01 a.m., and modified on Tuesday at 2:05 p.m. It currently lists TNI Treasurer Barbara Hedden as the administrator and the Truth North Idaho PAC as the administrative organization.

"It is conceivable that it is on the up and up," Wilson said. "But it's also conceivable that it's not. We just need to see the paper trail."