Rep. Frank Kratovil of Maryland has been fined $3,860 by the Federal Election Commission for failing to report more than two dozen last-minute donations to his successful House campaign last fall.

The FEC assessed the penalty under its administrative fine program. The commission uses the program for less serious violations of federal election law, especially the late filing of disclosure reports.

A Kratovil spokesman, Kevin Lawlor, blamed an “administrative backlog” for the failure to disclose 26 contributions within 48 hours after they were received, as required by FEC regulations. Lawlor said the campaign made on-time disclosures of contributions totaling more than $200,000 in the weeks leading up to the November, 2008 vote.

“There was such a large amount of donations coming in at that time. There was an administrative backlog and not all of them were filed on time,” he said.

The unreported donations included $5,000 from the Congressional Black Caucus, $2,000 each from the campaign accounts of Democratic House candidate Ben R. Lujan of New Mexico and Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles, Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle’s political action committee and $1,000 each from Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman of New York and Illinois Rep. Mellissa Bean's PAC, the Boilermakers union, Washington lobbyist Thomas H. Boggs Jr. and the U.S. Sugar Association’s political action committee.

Kratovil’s campaign did not contest the FEC enforcement action. It paid the fine in late April. The FEC announced the enforcement action in its more recent weekly report.

In the 2008 campaign, Kratovil raised and spent nearly $2 million to win one of the closest House races in the country. He defeated Republican state Sen. Andy Harris of Baltimore County.

Harris, who unseated moderate Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest in last year's primary, spent almost $3 million and is seeking a rematch with Kratovil in next year's election.

Kratovil, a former Queen Anne's County state's attorney, "campaigned on his rule-of-law credentials, then got caught violating campaign finance rules," said Andy Seré, a spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee. "It’s a bit like campaigning as a Blue Dog, then voting like a lap dog for the National Energy Tax and the so-called ‘stimulus’ plan."

Kratovil, of Stevensville, is the first Democrat in 18 years to represent the First Congressional District, which takes in the entire Eastern Shore, plus portions of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Harford counties.

The Baltimore Sun previously reported that Kratovil, who campaigned as an outsider, attracted more than $20,000 in post-election campaign donations from political action committees representing some of the nation's most powerful interests. They included the banking industry, pharmaceutical manufacturers, broadcasters, Realtors, dairy farmers (Kratovil was given a seat on the Agriculture Committee) and companies such as Verizon, Microsoft and Disney.