Wilkerson, AG settle campaign dispute

State senator will pay $10k fine, admits violations

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine as part of a settlement with the attorney general's office in which the troubled Boston lawmaker admitted violating multiple campaign finance laws.

In addition to paying the fine, Wilkerson will forgo $29,524 in debt she claimed her campaign owed her for unreimbursed expenditures, donate to the state $2,200 in unlawful campaign contributions she accepted, and agree to a fund-raising reporting schedule more rigorous than other legislators'. Under the agreement, Wilkerson would have to pay a $2,000 civil fine for any future violations.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said her office wanted increased monitoring of Wilkerson's campaign finances to prevent future abuses.

"All of these allegations . . . fit into a pattern of conduct that frankly seems capable of repetition," Coakley said yesterday. "We want to correct the abuses, and if there is a problem, have the ability to respond more quickly."

Wilkerson, who is currently seeking reelection using the slogan "Stick with Dianne," declined to be interviewed yesterday. In a written statement, she called the settlement "timely and fair."

"I consider the matter closed," Wilkerson wrote. "My committee has worked to install several new practices and policies to ensure that these type of accounting errors will not be repeated."

The Roxbury Democrat has faced a string of highly public financial problems over the past decade. The state Office of Campaign and Political Finance has reported Wilkerson to the attorney general's office at least twice for alleged misuse of campaign funds. In 2005, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly sued Wilkerson over allegations that she failed to report $26,935 in donations and to explain $18,000 paid to her by her committee in 2000 and 2001. Wilkerson paid $11,500 in civil penalties for similar violations in 1998.

The Globe reported in 2006 that public auditing documents showed additional concerns about Wilkerson's 2003 and 2004 records, including questions about thousands of dollars in unexplained reimbursements to Wilkerson and payments to her two sons, Cornell and Kendall Mills.

Wilkerson also had problems making federal and state tax payments. She served six months under house arrest after pleading guilty to federal charges related to failing to file federal taxes from 1991 to 1994. She was also incarcerated for 30 days for violating terms of the house arrest by attending late-night Senate sessions. She also failed to file state taxes.

As part of the settlement with that was announced yesterday, Wilkerson admitted she failed to keep proper campaign records between 2000 and 2004 and operating a campaign committee without a properly appointed treasurer between 2002 and 2004.

Wilkerson's campaign committee treasurer from 2000 to 2001, Ajibola Osinubi, also admitted to violating campaign record keeping and finance laws, and agreed never again to serve as a campaign committee treasurer.

To ensure compliance, the state has required Wilkerson's campaign to submit a written contract to the state describing the position and duties of anyone paid more than $2,000 by her campaign.

Wilkerson, a nine-term incumbent, is running for reelection this year against Democratic challenger Sonia Chang-Díaz. The primary is Sept. 16. In her statement yesterday, Wilkerson said she plans to return to her district soon to begin campaigning full time.

Wilkerson beat Chang-Díaz in the 2006 primary, winning by 141 votes. That year, Wilkerson was forced to run a write-in primary campaign after missing the May deadline to file the required 300 certified signatures with state election officials. After surviving a recount, she won the November general election with more than 70 percent of the vote.

The Chang-Díaz campaign issued a statement yesterday saying Wilkerson's pattern of problems "is why we [need] new leadership in the Second Suffolk" District.

"The voters of this district deserve to know the facts of what has happened, and these facts are no longer in dispute," she wrote.