It took more than two months, but the Federal Election Commission has finally gone public with a letter dropping its case against former Idaho Rep. Bill Sali.

In the June 10 letter, released on Friday, the FEC said the Sali campaign had made "extensive efforts" to correct software problems that had caused delays in Sali's July 2008 fund-raising report. Consequently, the FEC has said it will take no further action against the Idaho Republican.

Here's what the commission said:

"(The Sali campaign committee) made extensive efforts beginning more than a month before the report was due to get help fixing problems with amended reports but there was a repeated failure on the part of commission staff to promptly follow up with committee staff and help solve your software problem."

Sali cited this FEC's letter in a July note to supporters. Sali chastised reporters and Democrat Walt Minnick's campaign for accusing his campaign staff of incompetence, and blamed the news media for blowing the story out of proportion.

Now that I've finally seen the letter for myself, I'll agree with Sali, to a point.

I was unfairly skeptical of Sali's explanation. In an August 2008 column, I lampooned it as his "the-software-ate-the-homework" defense. The FEC now accepts Sali's explanation. Based on that, I believe I jumped the gun.

But I won't buy the charge that the fund-raising story was blown out of proportion. Sali was one of only two lawmakers who failed to meet the July 2008 deadline. The problem was serious enough to the FEC that, in September 2008, the agency sought a $2,750 fine against the Sali campaign. Sali protested the penalty on Oct. 29, days before losing to Minnick.

The FEC has since dropped the fine.

Still, fund-raising is an important issue for reporters to cover — a candidate's filings (or filing problems) are certainly relevant. And let's spin that ahead. Last month, Sali told supporters he is still considering a 2010 run for Congress. His campaign debt from the 2008 election — pegged last month at $110,000 — is definitely worth covering.

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