Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Dianne Wilkerson's been in trouble before and managed to survive, but this sounds bad. Attorney General Tom Reilly and Michael Sullivan, director of the state's Office of Campaign and Political Finance, are suing Wilkerson for seven separate campaign-finance violations.

Face to face, Wilkerson is charismatic and charming--the kind of person you could imagine becoming Boston's first African-American and first female mayor. But she also seems to have a serious self-destructive streak. (In 1997, Wilkerson copped to not filing federal income taxes between 1991 and 1994; last year, Wilkerson's car was booted and towed when she failed to pay approximately $1300 in outstanding parking tickets.)

Here's the meat of the Attorney General's press release:

"State Senator Dianne Wilkerson (D-Boston) has been sued for numerous campaign finance violations, including more than $26,000 in unreported contributions and more than $18,000 in unexplained personal reimbursements, according to a lawsuit filed today by Attorney General Tom Reilly and Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) Director Michael J. Sullivan.

The complaint, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that Wilkerson, her political committee, and her former campaign treasurer Ajibola Osinubi, violated campaign finance laws in seven separate ways between 2000-2001. Among the violations alleged in the complaint are:

• $26,935 in contributions that were never reported to OCPF
• $13,503 in expenditures that were unreported or under-reported to OCPF
• $20,264 in reimbursements, including $18,277 in personal reimbursements, for which Wilkerson has been unable to provide a legitimate campaign-related purpose
• $15,550 in "consulting fees" to four individuals, including Wilkerson's sons Cornell and Kendall Mills, for which Wilkerson has been unable to provide a legitimate campaign-related purpose
• $3,200 in contributions from six Political Action Committees (PAC) that were not reported to OCPF.

This is not the first time Wilkerson has been sued for campaign finance violations. In 1998, Wilkerson entered into an agreement with OCPF and the Attorney General resolving allegations of unexplained expenditures and undisclosed PAC contributions. She and her committee agreed to pay back all unaccounted for expenditures and to pay civil penalties totaling $11,500."

And here's a just-issued response from Wilkerson's office:

"The Wilkerson Committee through its counsel, Attorney Thomas R. Kiley, was notified this morning by the Attorney General of his intent to file a complaint. It is our understanding that this is a civil complaint regarding record-keeping dating back to 2000 and 2001. We have not had time to review the complaint but will respond within the 20 days allotted to do so. We are confident that the outstanding matters will be fully resolved with complete and sufficient documentation. 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."

Stay tuned.