RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond's General Registrar Keith Balmer resigned on Wednesday after Richmond’s government watchdog agency cited Balmer and his department with 25 counts of waste, fraud, and abuse.
"As the General Registrar and the director of this department, the buck stops here. It stops with me. So I accept that," Balmer said following his resignation.
The Richmond Electoral Board voted unanimously to accept Balmer's resignation, effective Dec. 31, after discussing the inspector general report in closed session for more than three hours on Wednesday.
"We gave him the option of resigning. If he didn't want to resign, we were unanimous in that that we would have him removed," Board Chair Starlet Stevens said after the meeting. "I think the citizens of Richmond deserve to have an elections office that's run efficiently."
The Deputy Registrar Jerry Richardson has also submitted her resignation, according to the electoral board.
Following the meeting, Balmer made his first public remarks about the investigation that determined Balmer and employees of his office violated dozens of city policies which led to wasted taxpayer dollars totaling nearly $500,000.
For example, the investigation found Balmer contracted unreasonable personal security services for himself, bought unnecessary high-end furniture, and bought alcohol with city funds and during work hours.
Investigators said Balmer also committed fraud by submitting inaccurate documentation for meals expenses.
"It showed just a lack of awareness of city policies and administrative regulations, and it showed that this office had made some serious missteps," Balmer said about the report.
While Balmer said most of the report was accurate, he added he felt there were some inaccuracies and it lacked context.
In a rebuttal letter that he submitted Wednesday to Inspector General James Osuna and Richmond's Chief Administrative Officer, Balmer disputed that he ever intentionally submitted fraudulent documentation for meals expenses or that he used public funds to pay for alcohol.
"So you never drank on the job or during work hours?” CBS 6 reporter Tyler Layne asked Balmer.
“Did I ever drink on the job? No. I did not ever drink on the job," Balmer replied. "Anytime that I had any thing to drink was off site.”
Though Balmer told reporters that he took full responsibility for the shortcomings of his department, in his rebuttal, Balmer blamed his deputy registrar for failing to "manage the administrative aspects of our office."
"The report acknowledges a lack of oversight on my part regarding my Deputy General Registrar. Ms. [Jerry] Richardson has served in this role for over 10 years, and when I assumed the position of General Registrar, I relied heavily on her guidance due to my lack of experience in administrative management," Balmer wrote in his rebuttal. "Unfortunately, she did not meet the expectations of her role. Since the investigation began in May, our office has implemented significant changes to ensure these issues do not arise again."
Balmer told reporters he did not feel like he did anything wrong. Rather, he just misunderstood city policies.
"Would you go back and do anything differently?” Layne asked.
“Absolutely. So the thing I would do differently, thanks for the question Tyler, is that I would come into this job brand new, and then I would just make sure that everyone here has adequate training regarding city policy, city rules, including myself," Balmer said.
In summary, Balmer said, "I would characterize this whole episode as more so administrative sloppiness."
The Richmond Electoral Board said it would now begin the process to find a replacement.
In his role as general registrar, Balmer was responsible for managing all election activities in the City of Richmond.
He was appointed in 2021 by the Richmond Electoral Board, a republican-majority governing body of three members who served as his bosses.
City Hall’s Inspector General James Osuna opened the investigation after receiving a complaint of alleged misspending and nepotism within the elections office.
A separate investigation by Richmond Human Resources found Balmer and Richardson employed multiple family members within the department, a violation of city policies that aim to prevent nepotism.
Findings of fraud, waste, and abuse
Between January and May of this year, Balmer and his deputy registrar hired a company to provide security services totaling $200,144, according to the report. The hiring of the company did not go through the proper procurement process, and the City of Richmond already had a security contract in place that the elections office could have used.
The company provided personal security for Balmer and accompanied him at events outside the office, including a four-day, out-of-town conference, a marathon race, and a high school basketball tournament.
Balmer cited threats and safety concerns as the rationale for buying personal protection services; however, investigators found the threats were generalized, not against anyone specific, and were not reported to Richmond Police.
The investigation found the security company also bought alcohol for Balmer and employees during work hours and invoiced the city for those purchases.
At one point, the Office of Elections could not afford to pay the security company’s last three invoices due to depleted funds, so Balmer had to request for money from Richmond City Council, according to the report.
Investigators said Balmer did not have reasonable grounds for purchasing private security services, calling it a waste of government funds and abuse of authority.
In another instance, the report said the deputy registrar bought a gun with a procurement card (p-card) for a temp employee to act as an armed security guard. However, the temp agency was not licensed or insured to provide armed security services.
Investigators said the city’s security manager warned the deputy registrar not to buy a handgun, but she did it anyway.
The report said this was an unauthorized purchase and an abuse of authority. The city confiscated the gun after learning of its existence.
Another finding on the report revealed Balmer approved remodeling of their leased office building for carpet, flooring, wall, interior, bathroom, and electrical work totaling $229,969 between August and November 2023.
However, investigators found no bidding process was done, and the landlord’s project manager did not approve of the modifications.
The project was paid for over 21 purchase orders, none of which were over the threshold to require a bidding process. Investigators determined the work was structured that way to avoid the need for a bidding process, a violation of the policy that prohibits knowingly splitting purchases to circumvent procurement requirements.
When interviewed by investigators, Balmer and the deputy registrar did not know how much was spent on remodeling the building.
Osuna found an additional $16,293 was wasted on art for the space.
Between February and December of last year, the report said Balmer paid VCU students a total of $7,500 to paint murals at the office. He also used his p-card to buy 12 pieces of artwork from a local art center for $8,793.50
Investigators determined the proper procurement processes were not followed for any of these purchases.
According to the report, another $14,647 was wasted on high-end furniture including a sofa, desk, cabinets, table, shelving units, chairs, and a mirror for the office.
Investigators determined Balmer was provided with several lower-priced furniture options but chose the highest priced vendors.
Then in December 2021, the report said Balmer committed fraud for submitting inaccurate information about a meals purchase. Investigators found Balmer used his p-card to buy food for attendees at a regional meeting, including non-city employees.
Balmer was given a reimbursement check for $735 to pay for the non-city employees' meals, but he never cashed the check, according to the report. Investigators said he also inaccurately reported the number of attendees whose meals were purchased.
Additionally, Osuna’s report detailed violations of policies governing travel expenses. In one instance in February 2024, Balmer booked a hotel room in Arlington for $550 using his p-card.
Balmer reported he was there to attend conferences; however, investigators confirmed with organizers of the conferences that Balmer was not a registered attendee. The events were scheduled for multiple days, but Balmer only booked a room for one night, according to the report.
Investigators determined there was no legitimate business purpose for this travel and that Balmer wasted city funds for personal reasons.
Other findings in the report included:
- Employees drank alcohol during work hours
- Balmer used a government p-card to purchase room service alcohol at a resort
- Deputy registrar intentionally approved pay for employee who was not working
- Balmer approved a private security company for an unauthorized investigation into alleged election interference
- Balmer paid his wife for consultation services
- Balmer intentionally failed to submit vacation and sick leave taken
- Elections office paid for travel expenses for non-employees
- Elections office improperly paid for college tuition for employees
The purchases cited by the inspector general as violating policies totaled about $475,000 in taxpayer dollars.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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