RICHMOND — The former treasurer of the Richmond Democratic Town Committee is under investigation by the Rhode Island Attorney General, and the state’s Board of Elections has recommended improving the committee’s internal controls after an audit found he willfully used money from a committee account for personal use.
A campaign finance audit over the past five years for Lawrence M. Valencia, who served as treasurer for the Richmond Democratic Town Committee, determined that two $700 checks were paid to Valencia in 2019 and 2020 that were not reported. The audit also found additional problems with both contributions and expenditures in which the committee’s account did not match campaign finance reports submitted to the state.
During interviews with Valencia held in cooperation with the audit, the findings stated that he admitted to taking funds for personal use, but has since returned any funds that were taken back to the account.
“Valencia took the committee’s funds by keeping cash received at fundraisers or by writing committee checks to himself,” the audit states. “Valencia stated that, although there were extenuating circumstances in his personal life at the time, he makes no excuses, takes full responsibility for his actions and knows that what he did is wrong.”
The Board of Elections is not responsible for enforcement of criminal violations. The matter has been referred to the Rhode Island Attorney General for further investigation.
Valencia could not be reached for comment Wednesday. An email left with the Richmond Democratic Town Committee was not returned.
According to details from the audit report, the violations discovered all occurred while Valencia was serving as treasurer, a role he held from November 2015 until June 2. The potential violations were reported to the Board of Elections in August after the role was taken on by a different individual who identified the issue, officials said.
A five-year review further determined that $2,621.11 in contributions were reported but $1,796.11 were not supported by deposits in the committee’s bank account; $5,659 including $4,649 in cash, were deposited into the committee’s account but were not reported as campaign contributions; and $2,877.97 representing 26 valid campaign expenditures were paid through the account but never disclosed on campaign finance reports.
“Records to support contributions received and expenditures made were not always preserved,” the audit report states.
Due to the wide number of concerns, members of the board voted to forward a series of recommendations to the committee in order to prevent further issues in the future. The board said in the audit report that the recommendations are designed to identify and resolve finance abuse earlier in the process.
Among recommendations made, the committee should be reviewed each month by someone who is not the one who authorized and signed the checks and someone other than the organization’s treasurer and bank accounts should be reconciled with state finance reports before the finance report is filed.
The committee was also asked to consider implementing policies that would prevent checks from being payable to the individual signing for them, and to avoid the individual keeping accounting records for the organization from being the one to handle incoming cash, checks or money orders.
The audit and recommendations were made by Richard E. Thornton, director of campaign finance for the Rhode Island Board of Elections. They were provided to the Richmond Democratic Town Committee earlier this month.
