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Bill123, Poor Firefighter, TheDeal, and Pawtuxet Pete:

It is easy to be cynical about politics during this partisan time, not to mention that the pandemic isn't exactly helping people think less cynically.

I have not endorsed in the SD-31 race, and, as I consider more than one person in the race to be a friend, I was not planning on endorsing one person over another. I have encouraged them to run a positive race, so, when I do see an attempt to characterize a mistake as a "crime," I will say something. Sometimes, trying to do something good opens up oneself to criticism. I received criticism for donating hand sanitizer to Warwick's first responders; for making hand sanitizer available for free to constituents; and, for working with other candidates so that they could also distribute hand sanitizer for free to their constituents. God help me if I were to ever donate campaign funds to a bona fide church and receive an ad in a church bulletin.

Steve Merolla stated that he made an honest mistake, and, as he is an honest person and based on the context - a recurring donation to a church that he documented and reported with the check numbers - I believe him. The church previously ran the ad, so, there is a simple explanation for how they had that ad. It's easy to say that someone should have caught the mistake earlier, but, that apparently didn't happen.

If someone is determined to believe that someone else acted maliciously to commit a crime, then, I suppose that it would make no difference if I were to point out how these transfers occurred and were regularly reported, even with the optional-to-report check numbers, for years before RI actually required candidates to segregate campaign money and personal funds or to send a copy of a bank statement to verify the account balance. Or, if I were to point out that thoroughly documenting a transfer of funds in campaign finance reports leaves a paper trail that people with the wrong motives would want to avoid leaving. Or, if I were to point out that an ad in a church bulletin would be an incredibly unlikely way to try to get a personal benefit out of campaign spending. But, if someone has absolutely made up their mind and 100% refuses to consider other alternatives - like that a donation to a church isn't some sort of conspiracy - it may be that there is nothing anyone could say nor any evidence that could convince them otherwise.