Less than a day after City Auditor Gary Blackmer announced that Portland Police would be looking into claims that the Emilie Boyles city council campaign engaged in fraud, the investigation has been handed over to the state attorney general's office.

Police spokesman Detective Paul Dolbey couldn't say specifically why the investigation is going to the state, but said the attorney general was a more "appropriate agency" to handle the investigation.

Boyles was one of the first city council candidates to qualify for public money under the Voter-Owned Elections system. In order to qualify, she had to gather 1,000 signatures and $5 contributions. Now, however, she is under fire for the actions of her campaign manager, a Ukrainian immigrant named Vladimir Golovan, who is alleged to have engaged in fraud while collecting signatures from the Russian community.

Lucinda Tate, who is running against City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, also used the services of Golovan.

Without going into specifics, Attorney General spokesperson Kevin Neely said, "We've had cases like this before and almost never has the candidate been complicit in the unlawful activity. But that's why we do investigations."