“Chief Elections Officer” Gorbea Fails to Report Campaign Finance Info, Including Her Parents

“Chief Elections Officer” Gorbea Fails to Report Campaign Finance Info, Including Her Parents

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea’s campaign has repeatedly failed to properly report the campaign information that is required by the Rhode Island Board of Election.

While she is not the only candidate or elected official to improperly report donor information, according to Gorbea’s bio on her official state website she is the State of Rhode Island’s “Chief Elections Officer.”

Gorbea is a Democratic candidate for governor in 2022. She has been a critic of her opponents on issues of transparency and campaign finance issues.

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"Rhode Islanders deserve nothing less than full transparency from their elected officials—especially from anyone who is seeking to lead the state," said Gorbea's campaign in April in calling on other candidates to release their past decade of tax returns. Tax returns are not required by law, but properly reporting donor information is required.

 

A review of Gorbea's campaign finance filings shows that multiple entries of donations list a post office box as the donor's address. 

According to the Board of Elections (BOE), reporting the physical address is required.

The BOE promulgated a form that specifically asks for "street address" since that is the normally understood definition of address.

GoLocal spoke with BOE staff who confirmed that reporting the physical address and not a post office box is required by law.

Former Chair of the Board of Election Steve Erickson tells GoLocal, “Enforcement of the law is both proactive and reactive. Reactive enforcement is when a complaint is filed with the BOE, which is then investigated by the campaign finance staff. The Board generally is not aware of such complaints (unless someone had a press conference in the lobby of the BOE to announce the complaint, which has happened).”

“The firewall between the investigatory staff and the board is taken down when the staff finds enough information to proceed with the complaint to a board hearing (or more typically, a proposed settlement agreement). Proactive enforcement, of course, is the process of auditing the filings looking for errors or inconsistencies that may suggest non-compliance with the reporting requirements,” said Erickson.

 

Gorbea’s Campaign Refuses to Answer Questions

GoLocal asked the Gorbea campaign about the failure to properly disclose the information, and asked if Gorbea was aware of the requirement and if she reviews her campaign filings.

Gorbea’s team refused to answer if the Secretary of State was aware of the requirement or if she reviews her filings.

The campaign sent a statement:

“Our campaign finance reports are prepared by a professional accountant who works within the guidelines provided by the Board of Elections and Rhode Island state law. Any time that the Board of Elections has had any questions or requested corrections to inadvertent errors they are immediately addressed.”

 

Parents' Donations

Gorbea’s parents, who live in Puerto Rico, are two of the donors whose addresses are omitted and report post office boxes.

Gorbea's mother's donations began in 2013 and total $7,500. Nellie Diaz uses P.O Box 362196 in San Juan.

Gorbea's father Roberto's donations are also tied to the same P.O. Box.