Steve Obsitnik, the Westport tech entrepreneur who unsuccessfully ran to represent the Republican Party in Connecticut”™s 2018 gubernatorial election, has agreed to pay a $90,000 civil penalty.
The penalty was assessed by the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC), which found that Obsitnik ”“ a board member at Westport”™s Saugatuck Advisors and president/COO of Stamford tech firm Arccos Golf ”“ accepted $1.3 million in public campaign financing at essentially the same time he received over $88,000 from political action committee FixCT Inc.
While campaigns and independent expenditure groups can each work to elect the same candidate, they are prevented from coordinating those efforts.
In addition, state Rep. Jason Perillo (R-Shelton) was fined $10,000 for making a “disallowed” contribution to Obsitnik’s campaign via FixCT.
Under the terms of the settlement, neither Obsitnik nor Perillo admitted to wrongdoing.
The SEEC”™s investigation began in 2018. Obsitnik lost the Republican nomination to Bob Stefanowski, who in turn lost the election to Democrat Ned Lamont.
