Former city council candidate, Providence NAACP president guilty of campaign finance law violation

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Former Providence city council candidate and the president of the Providence NAACP Gerard Catala has been found guilty of violating state campaign finance laws.

Catala, 45, was found guilty of two counts of failing to file campaign finance reports and was ordered to perform 20 hours of community service.

Catala is proven to have willfully failed to file two required finance reports, which stemmed from his candidacy for the Ward 9 city council seat in the 2022 election.

The Board of Elections referred the matter to the Office of the Attorney General and the Rhode Island State Police for investigation in 2022.

This referral came from repeated failures by Catala to file required campaign finance reports in a timely fashion, despite numerous communications to do so.

Catala failed to file required reports on two occasions, one due 28 days before the primary and a second due seven days before the primary.

“In this instance, this Office stepped in at the request of the Board of Elections to prosecute a candidate for public office who blithely and repeatedly ignored campaign finance laws,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Neronha.