AG files complaint against
Wilkerson
Dogged by yet another round of charges alleging campaign finance
improprieties, State Senator Dianne Wilkerson has vowed to comply
with the state Attorney General’s Office.
“We are confident that the outstanding matters will be fully
resolved with complete and sufficient documentation,” Wilkerson
said in a statement through her attorney Thomas R. Kiley. “Most
of the requested documentation listed in the complaint has already
been submitted to the Attorney General. We look forward to resolving
this matter expeditiously.”
The recent complaint, filed last week by state Attorney General
Thomas Reilly and the head of the state Office of Campaign and Political
Finance, stems from alleged campaign violations during the 2000
and 2001 campaigns and include failures to report $26,935 in political
donations and failure to explain $18,277 paid to her by her political
committee.
“These violations suggest that these reimbursements may have
been used for personal use,” the complaint alleges. The reimbursements
included $15,550 in “consulting fees,” nearly $5,000
of which went to Wilkerson’s two sons.
The complaint comes on the heels of a federal tax conviction on
campaign finance violations in 1998. That conviction led to an agreement
which Wilkerson paid $11,500 in civil penalties and served six months
house arrest.
“It is unfortunate that Senator Wilkerson allowed this situation
to reach this point, but I am committed to do what is necessary
to make sure that our campaign finance laws are enforced,”
Reilly said in a statement. “This is a very serious matter…It
calls for a full accounting of all unreported payments to and from
her campaign, repayments to the Commonwealth, an injunction preventing
her from any further reimbursements from her campaign, as well as
stiff penalties.”
What made matters worse this time around, Reilly and the campaign
finance office explained, is that Wilkerson was given numerous opportunities
to explain the discrepancies found in her 2000 and 2001 campaign
finance reports.
Those conversations continued until August when, according to the
lawsuit, Wilkerson told the state “we have discovered a very
large leather satchel or documents, left by Ajibola Osinubi, all
related to the year 2000.” Osinubi was Wilkerson’s campaign
treasurer until 2002.
“The prolonged non-compliance of Wilkerson and the Committee
with these requirements…has made it impossible for (the state)
to determine …how and from whom Wilkerson, as a member of
the Senate, raised campaign funds, and to whom and for what purpose
the Committee paid those funds out,” the complaint said.
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