Meck court candidate fined for not completing ethics form

A Mecklenburg judicial candidate has been cited by the state ethics commission for not properly filling out a required financial-disclosure form.

Ben Thalheimer, who is running for District Court on the November ballot, is one of 30 candidates statewide who either did not submit a form or did not complete it, commission officials said Monday. Each will be fined $250.

Thalheimer, who served on the Mecklenburg bench for five years, says he submitted the form within the required period but was notified by the commission that he had failed to answer one question. Thalheimer said the question had to do with whether he had certain investments of $10,000 or more, which he says did not apply to him. He said he submitted the missing answer and never heard back.

“This is the first I’ve heard of (a fine). You’re freaking me out here,” he said Monday.

Thalheimer lost his District Court seat in 2008 when he was defeated by department store heir Bill Belk. Thalheimer had handled Belk’s highly public and contentious divorce.

He faces incumbent David Strickland for the nonpartisan seat in November.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Meck court candidate fined for not completing ethics form."