The Erie County Democratic Committee delivered an update to county elections commissioners Thursday regarding the actions it’s taken to correct compliance issues with its campaign finance reports dating back to 2012.

• ECDC updated the county board of elections about corrections it's made to roughly seven years of campaign filings
• The Board of Elections said it appears the party is taking the right steps to be compliant
• The Democrat who originally filed the complaint wants an independent audit of all of the committee's books

The committee said problems were primarily the result of software issues and staff confusion over rules.

"The finance statements, they were reported to me as being mostly technical in nature and not really of substance and there was no effort on the part of the ECDC to go and conceal anything or to not follow through with the requests of the state board," Republican Elections Commissioner Ralph Mohr said.

Mohr said it appears the committee is acting in good faith. He said he's received no indication from the state there's missing money or anything nefarious going on.

"The state Board of Elections is really doing the audit," Mohr said. "They're going through the campaign finance reports and the amendments that were filed."

However, the complainant and former secretary of the state Democratic Party, Jim Eagan, said he's disappointed more action isn't being taken.

"They have to do an audit of all the bank records and if they don't do that, how will they know that there's nothing wrong going on," Eagan said.

He said Democratic Commissioner Jeremy Zellner should recuse himself because he also serves as ECDC chairman - an inherent conflict of interest.

"Mr. Zellner is the defendant and the prosecutor in this situation," Eagan said.

Zellner said there's nothing to recuse himself from.

"This board doesn't have power to demand audits,” Zellner said. ”Most of the things that are within our grasp here at the local board have been taken away by the state Board of Elections and now is in the grasp of the enforcement counsel.”

Zellner said only Eagan and his allies are insinuating there is a problem and the state never flagged the committee's reports in the past.

"This is nothing but a political hit job from Jim Eagan, from somebody who's supporting the Republican for county executive, wants to make the party look bad," he said.

Eagan said he plans to forward his complaint to the state BOE and the Attorney General's office himself since the local board has not.

"Bring in an audit, independent auditor," he said. "Look at the books and prove me wrong. The Democratic and Republican parties are preaching transparency in government. They should be demanding transparency with party records."