Former Providence City Councilor fined $5,000 for decade old campaign finance violations

A campaign sign posted in 2014 on Davian Sanchez’s Facebook Page. (Screenshot)

A former Providence City Councilor will pay a $5,000 fine to settle a slew of decade-old campaign finance violations under an agreement approved by the Rhode Island Board of Elections Wednesday.

The fine charged to former Providence City Councilor Davian Sanchez — the highest imposed in more than two years — reflects failure to report more than $9,000 in donations, and another $9,000 in expenditures, during Sanchez’s single, four-year term in office, which ended in 2014. Another $6,500 in campaign donations received during that time period did not include required details such as the name of the donor, while $1,200 spent from his campaign did not name who the money was going to. Sanchez also reported $1,800 in campaign expenses that lacked documentation proving the spending was related to his campaign, according to the agreement.

Sanchez, who was elected in 2010 to represent Providence’s Ward 11, declined to comment when reached by phone Thursday. According to the written order, however, he blamed his campaign treasurer for failing to meet campaign finance reporting requirements. Sanchez also denied receiving written communications or calls from the Rhode Board of Elections.

Not for lack of trying by state elections officials. For the last 10 years, the state elections board has sent regular notices to Sanchez regarding the nine campaign finance violations and eight missing reports, according to Ric Thornton, campaign finance director for the state elections panel.

Thornton, who recommended the amount of the fine to the elections board, said he tried to balance the severity of the violations against Sanchez’ ability to pay, along with other factors.

“We want to make the penalty be punitive enough because the violations are serious,” Thornton said in an interview Thursday.

The fine is higher than most penalties historically imposed under agreements for campaign finance violations, according to John Marion, executive director for Common Cause Rhode Island.  The last fine that exceeded $5,000 was a $6,000 penalty to State Rep. Ramon Perez, a Providence Democrat, under an August 2022 agreement. 

But more significant to Marion than the amount of the penalty was the decade that passed between when the violations occurred and the audit began.

Thornton acknowledged that it was a “long lookback,” citing staffing issues and other resource constraints as explanation.

“In a perfect world, I would not want to go 10 years,” Thornton said. “But anytime we do an audit, we’re always looking in the rearview mirror.” 

Thornton and his team relied on bank statements from Sanchez’ account, obtained by subpoena, to find the discrepancies between actual donations and expenses, and what Sanchez reported to the state. It was lucky that the bank records were still available, said Thornton, noting that statements older than seven years are often no longer on file.

Sanchez has until March 31, 2025, to pay the first $2,500 of his fine, with the remainder due by the end of the 2025 calendar year. 

The settlement does not cover late fees incurred for missing quarterly campaign finance reports from 2014 to 2024, when his account was closed as part of the investigation. The state elections panel will set the fees for late and missing reports at a later date, Thornton said.