Senator Wilkerson agrees to $10,000 fine for campaign violation

August 1, 2008 10:03 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

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 Boston lawmaker admitted violating campaign finance laws for five years.

Senator Dianne Wilkerson

Wilkerson, who is in the midst of a heated reelection fight, also relinquished a claim to almost $30,000 she said her campaign committee owed her for unreimbursed expenditures through 2007 and agreed to return $2,200 in unlawful contributions. The settlement, which involved the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, includes measures to ensure that the senator and her campaign committee fully comply with campaign finance requirements in the future, according to a press release from the state attorney general.

The agreement stems from a Suffolk Superior Court civil lawsuit filed in 2005 alleging scores of campaign law violations, which included failure to report $26,935 in political donations and failure to explain $18,277 paid to her by her political committee. The lawsuit accused Wilkerson of using campaign funds for "personal benefits," accepting prohibited contributions, making improper reimbursements to herself and others, and failing to disclose certain contributions and expenditures in campaign filings.

"I consider the matter now closed," Wilkerson said in a statement. "My committee has worked to install several new practices and policies to ensure that these types of accounting errors will not be repeated."

The 15-year veteran of the state senate is being challenged in the Second Suffolk District by Sonia Chang-Diaz, a former school teacher who almost unseated Wilkerson in 2006.

Under the agreement released today, Wilkerson’s campaign is required to follow reporting controls that are stricter than existing campaign finance rules. That includes enhanced campaign finance reporting for expenditures and reimbursements, additional reporting and screening of contributions, and improved record-keeping protocols.

“This agreement should ensure that Senator Wilkerson and her campaign committee are and will be accountable in the future,” Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a statement. “Senator Wilkerson has agreed to an array of extensive public reporting and … oversight measures that we hope will guarantee full compliance with campaign finance rules."