The ProJo's Steve Peoples today catches up with a story unearthed last week by Pat Crowley at Rhode Island's Future -- how the Moderate Party of Rhode Island is using a fundraising approach that, depending on your perspective, doesn't pass the sniff test or is a creative way of helping a fledgling third party:

On Sept. 21, Moderate Party founder and current chairman [Ken] Block personally donated $10,000 to his organization’s state committee. The donation matched the annual individual maximum allowed by state law for party building, which covers expenses related to staffing, rent and utilities, but not individual elections.

On Sept. 26, Block, a Barrington software engineer, wrote another $10,000 check. This time the recipient was the Barrington Moderate Party Town Committee, which had been formed just two days before.

And on Sept. 28, according to state filings, the Barrington committee sent $10,000 –– all but $100 in its bank account –– to the state committee.

As Peoples reports, the state Board of Elections is reviewing the approach. The matter bears watching, not just for the inherent details of the case, but also as a demonstration of the hurdles facing a third party in becoming financially competitive.