Heard Around Town: Larkin explains late filing, blasts Dems

Republican state Sen. Bill Larkin dismissed criticism of his failure to meet a July campaign reporting deadline, saying that he had acted properly, and blasted Democrats who had drawn attention to the filing issue.

Larkin said his campaign noticed irregularities in his account in June, including funds withdrawn for transactions that were never made. He responded quickly by firing the campaign treasurer on June 12, reaching out to law enforcement officials and the state Board of Elections and replacing the campaign committee with a new one, he said.

“The new committee has met its responsibilities to file campaign finance disclosure reports in a timely manner and they can be reviewed at any time on the Board of Elections' public website,” Larkin said in a statement. “The initial committee's file has been placed on administrative hold, per the Board of Elections.”

The state senator added that he had hired an accounting firm to conduct an audit, which was shared with the authorities, and had referred the matter to the Orange County District Attorney.

The Times Herald-Record reported on July 23 that Larkin's treasurer, Carmen Dubaldi Jr., had resigned his post as treasurer for several other local elected officials and stepped down as New Windsor’s Republican chairman. He reportedly had not yet stepped down as Larkin’s treasurer at the time, although Larkin's statement indicates that the state senator had already fired Dubaldi by then as well.

The Orange County Democratic Committee last week sent a letter to the state Board of Elections requesting an investigation into Larkin's failure to submit the latest required periodic report for his older committee. Another Democratic source told City & State this week that the party was looking to challenge Larkin, arguing that the issue with his treasurer had weakened him.

“It is sad and reprehensible that some people would attempt to make political gains from the victim of a crime,” Larkin said in response. “Their statements do not speak well of them. Out of respect for the job that law enforcement authorities need to do we have been unable to comment until this time. We will not take any action that could impede an ongoing investigation.”