Gaithersburg's Board of Supervisors of Elections cleared three city council members Friday of alleged campaign finance violations and found a mayoral candidate's campaign literature in violation of city code.

"We're the accused," said Councilman Jud Ashman with a half-laugh at a preliminary hearing Wednesday. At his side were his 2007 campaign partner Councilwoman Cathy Drzyzgula and his 2005 campaign partner Councilman Michael A. Sesma, who hopes to be re-elected Tuesday.

Tom Rowse, who is running for one of two open seats on the council, filed a formal complaint Oct. 19 with the city's election board saying that three council members had carried forward money from previous campaigns. He cited "collusion" and said that under the old election rules, carrying money forward is illegal.

Councilman Henry F. Marraffa is also running for re-election.

Violations to the city's election code are punishable by misdemeanor, disqualification or removal from office.

"I was confident that that would be the result all along," Sesma said Friday. "As I said in my response to the complaint, there was no violation and I have complied with the letter and spirit of the law." Sesma said that he had disclosed all contributions and expenditures and carryovers properly and filed his reports on time.

At issue were $100 cash transferred from Ashman's 2007 campaign fund, a stack of paper door hangers Ashman and Drzyzgula jointly contributed to Sesma from their 2007 campaign and $217.81 Sesma carried over from his 2005 campaign.

A city committee appointed by the mayor and council and the city attorney revised the city election code in 2008. Changes were enacted June 15.

Rowse and his attorney pointed to one passage in the old code while the three council members pointed to others they said conflicted.

Drzyzygula, who said she was "saddened" by the finger-pointing, told the election board that rules remain unclear. She sought guidance on how to proceed on several issues.

The city's election board noted conflicting language the old code and determined it "not unreasonable for the individuals to believe that they were not in violation of the code."

The board also investigated mayoral candidate Richard Koch.

Denise McQuighan of Pointer Ridge Drive, whose husband is helping Sesma's campaign and helped implicate Spiegel in 2007, filed a complaint Oct. 27 against the Richard Koch for Mayor Campaign, saying that she had received "two illegal postcards" that did not include the mandatory "by authority of" statement required by the city code's advertising requirements.

"There is also no such statement on his Web site, or any of his yard signs," said McQuighan, who said Koch's campaign should make signs compliant.

Koch responded that the omission was an oversight and returned 5,000 mailers to the printer this week to add an authorization line, he said. He also volunteered Thursday to go around town with a marker and stickers to update his yard signs.

The election board decided not to go to a public hearing, but unanimously found, based on evidence and Koch's own admission, that he was in violation and had not included the mandatory language on his campaign literature and signs. In a formal response, the board said that once Koch was made aware of the requirement he was "extremely responsive in addressing the deficiency" and ordered him to use the authorization language in all future campaign literature he disseminated. The order did not require Koch to address signs and literature already posted.

Koch and Marraffa missed Oct. 19 and Oct. 26 deadlines to file campaign finance reports. Both filed the reports one day late.

Late filings have no penalties in Gaithersburg, but elected officials cannot take their oath of office if they have not filed all campaign finance reports, said Lauren Klingler, a city paralegal. The code essentially says that one could file after elections ended.

Correction: This story was corrected to include that Richard Koch's campaign was found in violation, as well as to clarify information regarding the election board's decision.