PROVIDENCE – The gubernatorial campaigns of Gina M. Raimondo and Patricia L. Morgan both said Monday they filed complaints against the campaign of Allan W. Fung with the R.I. Board of Elections, alleging violations of campaign finance law.
Common Cause Rhode Island on Monday also filed a complaint with the Board of Elections against the Fung campaign and Carpionato Properties, the property management arm of Carpionato Group LLC.
The complaints center around the rent that Fung’s campaign paid, or didn’t pay, to Carpionato, which owns Chapel View in Cranston, where the campaign headquarters are located.
Morgan, R-Coventry, a state representative, is expected to face Fung in the Sept. 12 GOP gubernatorial primary. Raimondo, a Democrat, is seeking re-election to a second term.
The Raimondo campaign reported it has requested an investigation into whether the Fung campaign violated state law concerning acceptance of in-kind contributions in the form of free rent or construction services, and failure to report accounts payable on campaign finance reports.
Morgan, in a press release, said the Board of Elections should “challenge and question” the Fung campaign finance activities over the past four years.
Common Cause in its complaint requests the Board of Elections to find both Fung and Carpionato Properties in violation of state campaign finance requirements for issues including contributions in excess of allowed limits.
Fung, the Cranston mayor, challenged Raimondo in the general election in 2014, and ran for re-election as mayor in 2016.
The Fung campaign said Monday the filings were a “desperate attempt at grabbing headlines from candidates who feel threatened with recent poll numbers.”
“This is about $2,500 in rent that the campaign has paid; nothing more and nothing less. We will have no further comment on this nonissue of a matter,” the Fung campaign said in a statement.
The alleged violations occurred during the 2014, 2016 and 2018 election cycles, according to the complaint released to the media by the Raimondo campaign. According to the complaint, which cited reporting by WPRI-TV CBS 12, the campaign issued three $500 checks to Carpionato in 2016, but the following July in its election finance report to the state the campaign indicated the amounts had been refunded by Carpionato.
In 2014, the Fung campaign also received a refund of $1,000 on its $4,500 paid in rent, which it reported to the state two years later, the complaint states, again citing WPRI-TV reporting.
The Board of Elections, through a spokeswoman, said it could not confirm or deny whether the complaints were received.
A representative of the Carpionato Group could not immediately be reached for comment. Carpionato President Kelly Coates told WPRO-FM radio last week the three checks had been held because the property manager wanted to check on an issue.
“It was an error,” Coates said. “If [the Fung campaign] had notified us, we would have requested reissued checks.”
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
