Daryl Gould, a Warren resident and three-time candidate for local office, has found himself the subject of a possible probe by the Attorney General’s Office following a report from the Board of Elections that he allegedly owes nearly $58,000 in fines related to campaign finance filings that date back to his first run for office in 2016.

The summary of non-compliance report, released following the Board of Elections’ meeting on Monday, indicates that Gould allegedly has failed to file 27 campaign finance reports dating back to Dec. 6, 2016, and subsequently owes $57,872 in late filing penalties as of July 21, 2022. That amount is increasing at a rate of $52 per day that the filings are not received.

The report indicates that Gould filed campaign finance reports during his 2016 run for state representative — one due 28 days before the election and one due seven days before the election — but that both of those reports were deficient or incomplete. Every finance report the Board of Elections has asked for since, they claim, has been ignored by Gould.

On Aug. 30, 2021 the Board issued a subpoena for Gould’s campaign finance account to audit its activity between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2021. That audit was only able to uncover statements from July 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2017, at which point the account was found to be closed and no successor bank was identified.

The report indicates the Board once again issued a subpoena for bank records on Dec. 16, 2021, which was served on Dec. 27, but no response was received from Gould. He was ordered to appear at a show cause hearing on April 5, 2022 but did not show up, at which point the Board held him in contempt and imposed a $1,000 fine with a $50 per day fine that would be held in abeyance until May 20, 2022 as long as Gould cooperated and complied with their requests.

“Gould did not comply,” the report states.

The Board ultimately voted to refer the matter to the Attorney General’s Office for “possible prosecution”.

Gould responds
Reached on Monday by email, Gould offered a statement in response to the Board of Elections report.

“In short, when I ran for office in 2016, I had a campaign finance account that was used according to campaign finance law. The campaign had very little funds, which were eaten by bank fees. At the time, I had no intention to run again. However, I had not filed my CF-7 form, which closed out my account with the state,” he wrote. “I was subsequently contacted by the Department of Elections, and I hand delivered them with the bank statements for the account. I was subsequently notified that they lost these papers and I have not responded since.”

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Gould expanded upon this answer, explaining that he did not have an active campaign finance account for his runs for office in 2018 or 2020, because he received no donations and did no fundraising for those campaigns — the former for State Rep, and the latter for Bristol Warren School Committee.

“When I ran in 2018 and 2020, there was no money involved in my campaigns,” he said, explaining that he had re-used signage in 2018 from his 2016 run and that the school committee run was more about sending a message than actually aspiring for the office. “I haven’t taken a dime in like six years.”

Gould said again that he had a “nominal” campaign balance in the account during his run in 2016, but that low balance was wiped out due to ensuing bank fees. He admits he did not file the aforementioned CF-7 form to formally close out his account, but that he did deliver his original bank statements from that time period to the Board of Elections as requested. He claims they either told him they misplaced them or had not received them.

“If I’m guilty of anything it’s a paperwork thing. There’s nothing untoward or nefarious or improper with money being shuffled around,” he said.

When asked why he would let what appears, by his interpretation, to be a misunderstanding snowball into a six-year-long process involving subpoenas and fines totaling nearly $58,000, Gould was candid.

“I would say it’s a combination of life getting in the way and probably being a little obstinate about, ‘I gave you what you asked for and you misplaced it,’ so now the onus is on me again to do the work,” he said. “It’s probably more about principles than anything.”

Gould said that he was more than happy to turn over any documents should the Attorney General’s Office request them.

“It’s my hope that they would at least reach out to see what’s going on. I'll give them anything I have,” he said. “If there’s a crime committed it’s that I’m awful with paperwork and can be a little stubborn and principled…Being principled can be expensive.”