RICHMOND, Va. — The chairman of the Richmond Board of Elections has called on the city’s elections director to address campaign finance reporting concerns surrounding District 6 City Council candidate Tavares Floyd.
Starrett Stevens leads a three-member body that oversees Richmond’s general registrar, Keith Ballmer, and election operations in the city.
On Friday, she sent an email to Ballmer, copying a representative from the state elections department, asking him to contact U.S. Attorney Colette McEachin.
“As for Tavares-Floyd, the situation appears to be ‘recovering’,” she wrote to Ballmer. “I strongly encourage you to call Ms. McEachin or anyone in her office to ensure we are proceeding appropriately in this situation.”
Stevens said she sent the email after seeing the CBS 6 news report Thursday night.
“I think we have to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s. No matter how small the situation seems, we have to deal with it,” Stevens said. said.
Mr. McEachin acknowledged speaking with Mr. Ballmer and issued the following statement late Friday:
“The United States Attorney’s Office is aware of recent media reports regarding campaign finance filings filed by District 6 City Council candidate Tavares Floyd,” McEachin said. “My office has been in contact with numerous local and state law enforcement agencies and election organizations to determine the most timely and productive means to address this allegation. The agency does not publicly comment on the existence of any investigation and will continue to do so.” ”
Attention: Lack of investigation into Richmond campaign’s financial reports raises concerns
Lack of investigation into Richmond campaign’s financial reports raises concerns
As CBS 6 previously reported, the Floyd campaign claims to have raised a total of just over $140,000 in donations, according to campaign filings.
This was a significant increase over his opponents, which CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holdsworth called “unusual” for a city council race.
But some of the people the Floyd campaign listed as donors said they had never donated and did not know who Floyd was.
That reportedly includes $20,000 from a Chicago businessman, $5,000 from a Tennessee lawyer and $5,000 from a funeral home owner. All denied the reported donations.
Ms. Stevens said she had already discussed the situation once with Mr. Ballmer earlier in the week.
“I went through this one-on-one with him and said, ‘I’m a little worried about this.’ What are you doing?’ He said, ‘You know what, what I can do. There’s nothing,”’ Stevens recalled.
Ballmer previously told CBS 6 that he does not have the authority to investigate, and that his only responsibility is to make sure financial reports are submitted on time.
But the Virginia Department of Elections maintained that Ballmer was the appropriate official to take action.
“We have reviewed all of Mr. Floyd’s reports and have been advised to send candidates an ‘incomplete report notice’ alerting them to the flaws in their reports,” said department spokeswoman Andrea Gaines. ” he said.
CBS 6 asked Ballmer if he plans to take the proposed action and is still waiting to hear back.
Lack of research and confusion about who is responsible for addressing concerns raises questions about Virginia’s current campaign finance reporting laws and whether they are clear or strong enough .
“I would rely heavily on the state in this case,” Stevens said. “We reached out to someone locally and they said, ‘Yes, that’s the city’s responsibility.'”
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