California Lawmakers Claim Accounts Looted

Several California Democratic politicians have been looted by the Bernie Madoff of campaign finance treasurers. Rep. Susan Davis said her campaign was robbed of about $250,000 at the hands of a longtime Democratic campaign accountant whose clients included U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Sen. Feinstein who is said to have $5 million in campaign funds says

“I was wiped out too, we don’t know how much.”

Kinde Durkee, who served as treasurer for hundreds of politicians and political committees, including several members of Congress, has been accused of defrauding state Rep. Jose Solorio out of $677,000. Rep. Loretta Sanchez , who used Durkee as her treasurer, is missing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her reelection account, which had a balance of more than $378,000 at the end of June. Politico reports:

Durkee was one of the most widely sought after treasurers in California Democratic politics with dozens of state, local and federal clients. An FBI special agent told a federal judge in California that Durkee had access to “more than 400 bank accounts” at the time of her arrest, and the scale of alleged diversions of funds is only now starting to become clear.

To date Durkee is only charged with defrauding Solorio. Supposedly she used the proceeds of her thefts to pay for her mother's nursing home care.