Though the penalties are small - no more than $250 in fines - statewide candidates rarely miss such deadlines. Williams was alone among six primary contenders - four Democrats and two Republicans - to do so. He cited simple delay in compiling documents as the reason.
A final report filed by state Attorney General Tom Corbett, who won the Republican nomination for governor, showed that he spent $8.5 million during the course of the campaign. The figure includes a 2 1/2 week wrap-up period after the May 18 primary.
Corbett starts his fall contest against Democratic nominee Dan Onorato with $3.36 million in his campaign bank account.
Onorato, the Allegheny County executive, spent $7.5 million on the primary, starting at the beginning of last year.
He heads into the general election with less than one-third of the money that Corbett has - a little more than $1 million.
But Onorato, who had a tougher primary fight than Corbett, should be able to catch up, said political analyst Jack Treadway.
Already, Onorato has started to reload. His campaign said Thursday he has raised $1 million since the primary.
"Onorato is coming off a campaign in which he had to spend a more money than Corbett did," said Treadway, who is retired chairman of the political science department at Kutztown University. "The Democratic money was more divided than the Republican money."
Treadway said that Onorato will benefit from the fund-raising help of Gov. Rendell, who was on the sidelines in the primary.
The primary candidates of both parties raised at least $25 million - including an incomplete total for Williams.
That ranks second in Pennsylvania primary history.
Rendell and fellow Bob Casey Jr., now a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, raised a record $33.6 million in their battle for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2002.
