Lynwood Councilwoman Blames Campaign Fine on Rogue Firm

Lynwood Councilwoman Aide Castro agreed to pay $3,500, to settle violations by her campaign that she blames on a now-defunct political bookkeeping firm.

Castro paid the fine after state regulators ruled that a political action committee established to push the 2007 recall of city council members was, in fact, connected to her campaign group, Friends of Aide Castro.

Castro said she hired Durkee & Associates to handle her bookkeeping.

“To fight it out, I would have had to hire an attorney, travel to Sacramento and do bunch of things I can't afford,“ Castro told Patch. “It was actually much cheaper to settle for the $3,500.”

According a June 20 statement from the state Fair Political Practices Commission, Castro's former campaign treasurer, Matthew Lemcke of Durkee & Associates, was also the treasurer of Voters Against Corruption, a political action committee created to support both the 2007 recall of the incumbent City Council members, as well as the replacement candidates.

Chris Robles, of the Pericles group, also worked as a campaign consultant to both groups, the FPPC said.

“Respondents failed to disclose information regarding a $3,000 contribution received and over $10,000 in expenditures made of $100 or more,” the FPPC found.

The commission voted 5-0 in favor of the fine in their consent calendar, and there was no discussion on the item, said Tara Stock of the FPPC press-office in an email to Patch.

The FPPC could have sought a higher penalty, but decided not to “because Respondents cooperated with the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission by agreeing to an early settlement,” the order said.

“Through this interaction between the two committees by the same agents, (Voters Against Corruption) became a controlled committee of Aide Castro,” said the FPPC decision. “As such, all contributions and expenditures were required to go through Friends to Elect Aide Castro.”

Castro insisted that she was unaware of the actions carried out by members of her campaign.

“Respondent Castro contends that she did not know of the requirements prohibiting the agents of her candidate committee from running a separate committee for the same election, was unaware of the extent of their actions and trusted the wrong people,” according to the FPPC document.

The FPPC also added that none of the respondents involved in this case had previously violated the rules, which led to the penalty. 

Castro’s case was just the latest in a stream of problems for Durkee & Associates.

In September 2011, Durkee & Associates was ordered by California regulators to stop providing accounting services, after authorities found out that the firm was unlicensed and had no certified accountants on its staff, according to a September 2011 Associated Press article.

The firm also faced lawsuits on allegations of campaign fund mismanagement, from politicians across the state, such as Senator Diana Feinstein, according to a September 2011 article in the OC Register.

Kinde Durkee, the former head of the firm, was arrested in 2011 and later sentenced to 8 years in prison for fraud, according to a November 2012 article in the Los Angeles Times.