As of September 1, 2011, ALL 1,875 retail establishments are prohibited from providing light-weight, single-use plastic carryout bags to customers at the point of sale. MORE

By Ann K. Williams
Lookout Staff

September 8, 2011 -- Kinde Durkee, a political accountant and behind-the-scenes player in recent Santa Monica election controversies, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Friday for allegedly embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from one of her clients.

In a complaint filed with United States District Court, FBI Special Agent Reginald L. Coleman claims that Durkee transferred checks totaling some $677,000 from the Solorio For Assembly 2010 campaign into her own accounts to cover Durkee and Associates payroll and to pay for her personal expenses.

Then, Coleman alleges, she falsified state campaign finance disclosure documents to cover up her fraud.

In an interview with FBI agents Thursday, “Durkee admitted that she had been misappropriating her clients' money for years and that forms she filed with the state were false,” Coleman says.

The investigation that led to her arrest stemmed from a referral to the FBI by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), which questioned the veracity of Durkee's disclosure reports.

This is not the first time Durkee has been under scrutiny by the FPPC.

Last October, her accounting firm, Durkee and Associates, was named in a complaint to the FPPC by Santa Monica Coalition for a Liveable City (SMCLC) for Durkee's part in concealing the sources of funding for mailers on behalf of a group called Santa Monicans for Quality Government (SMQG), mailers which many said were misleading.

Only at the tail end of the campaign was financial disclosure information filed with the City Clerk, revealing that the mailers were bankrolled by development interests.

In particular, one mailer used the Santa Monica Police union logo, but didn't include City Council candidate Kevin McKeown, whom the union had endorsed.

“I think it's a misrepresentation of our endorsement,” Police Officers Association Chair Jay Trisler said at the time. “The mailer looks like it's coming from us, and it's disingenuous,” Trisler said.

Other mailers sponsored by the group endorsed a slate of candidates that excluded McKeown, who was known for his anti-development stances.

Four years earlier, a group called “Friends of Santa Monica College” sent out mailers slamming Santa Monica College Board of Trustees candidate and former SMC Interim President Tom Donner.

The organization's Burbank address on the flier was that of Durkee and Associates, and the group's “Statement of Organization” on file with the City Clerk's office showed only one name: Kinde Durkee.

Santa Monica College Faculty Association President Lantz Simpson told The Lookout in October 2006 that although his group opposed Donner, (we're) “not involved in any way, (we have) nothing to do with (the mailer).” He added that the Friends of Santa Monica College had been formed “for the purpose of opposing Donner.” Donner lost his bid at a seat on the college board.

McKeown, who went on to win a seat on the City Council despite the 2010 mailers, said that, in light of last week's arrest, it's hard to draw any conclusions about Durkee's clients, and that “many will turn out to be victims.”

“On the other hand, some, based on Durkee's history with FPPC citations, may have been choosing the firm for its expertise in reporting the minimum amount of information required by law, which, for instance, benefited last year's stealth campaign by developers operating as Santa Monicans for Quality Government,” said McKeown.

“The lesson for voters is that what gets reported during an election campaign may not be the whole story,” he said.

“The sage advice to 'follow the money' in political campaigns requires that local candidates and campaigns play fair with voters by practicing full disclosure and going beyond minimum legal reporting requirements,” said McKeown.

Durkee's firm, Durkee and Associates, has “worked for five presidential campaigns, four gubernatorial campaigns, numerous senate, congressional, state and local candidates, initiatives, political action committees and many non-profit associations and small businesses,” according to its website.