"Former Virginia governor James S. Gilmore III, the state's Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, submitted false information on two financial disclosure forms that hid his ties to a government contractor embroiled in a legal dispute over allegations that two of its executives had conspired to defraud the federal government.

On the forms, the first filed in June 2007 for his presidential campaign and the second in May after he joined the U.S. Senate race, Gilmore said he was on the board of Windmill International.

Gilmore, who signed his name attesting that the information on the forms was "complete and correct," reported that Windmill International was based in Nashua, N.H.

But Gilmore was on the board of a Virginia-based company also called Windmill International. The two companies are not affiliated. The Virginia company, headed by Douglas Combs, a former Navy official, is at the center of an ongoing lawsuit alleging that Combs and others tried to secure fraudulent government contracts in Iraq.

In a statement yesterday, Gilmore's campaign said his financial adviser made a "clerical error" in filling out the forms. "As a former prosecutor and a former attorney general, Gov. Gilmore is a forceful advocate for transparency by public officials," the statement says. "Neither Gov. Gilmore nor his staff noticed this clerical error as the Senate form was signed and forwarded to the Secretary of the Senate, but the Governor today instructed his staff and his financial adviser to amend the Senate disclosure form and provide the correct information as soon as possible."

The statement says Gilmore attended only one board meeting of the Virginia company. He declined a request for an interview. "There is no story here," said his spokeswoman, Ana Gamonal.

Gilmore has had a long-standing relationship with Combs, a prominent Republican donor who was acting undersecretary of the Navy in 2003. Combs, who has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Gilmore's political efforts, served on the State Council of Higher Education during Gilmore's term as governor in the late 1990s.

In 2005, Combs's company filed a report with the State Corporation Commission listing Gilmore as vice chairman of the company. SCC records do not list Gilmore after that.

But Gilmore's forms for his Senate campaign incorrectly say he was on the New Hampshire company's board from December 2004 to December 2007. The Web site of the Virginia company still lists Gilmore as a member of its "team."

Gamonal said she did not know why Gilmore's name was on the Virginia company's Web site. In the campaign's statement, Gilmore says he served on the Virginia company's board as an unpaid adviser from May 2005 to June 2006. Gilmore also reported that Windmill International is a "veterans contract group."

Richard L. Manganello, founder and chief executive officer of the New Hampshire company, which describes itself as a contracting firm run by veterans, said neither he nor his business has had any ties to Gilmore or Combs's company, which is based at Combs's home in Rappahannock County.

"I don't recall ever hearing of Jim Gilmore. . . . He clearly made a mistake, or someone publishing on his behalf made a mistake," Manganello said. "We are not affiliated with the Virginia company. . . . It's just a coincidence we have the same name."

The Virginia-based Windmill describes itself as "a leading consultancy for financial and government services, as well as project management in Central and Eastern Europe." The description, on its Web site, does not mention veterans.

Gilmore submitted his disclosure form June 14, 2007, five days before the federal lawsuit involving the Virginia-based company was unsealed in federal court.

In the lawsuit, filed in 2006, two plaintiffs allege that Combs and Hansford T. Johnson, a member of the Virginia company's board of directors, conspired in 2005 with a U.S. contractor banned from doing work in Iraq to obtain additional contracts there. The lawsuit alleges that Combs and Johnson "knowingly conspired to defraud the government regarding the suspensions."

Combs and Johnson, acting secretary of the Navy from February to September 2003, deny the allegations. They have asked a judge to dismiss the case.

Combs and his attorney, Peter Hutt, declined to comment. E. Andrew Burcher, Johnson's attorney, did not return calls. Amanda R. Johnson, a lawyer representing Windmill International Ltd. in Virginia, also named in the suit, did not return calls.

Gilmore is not named in the lawsuit, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

Johnson has also donated to Gilmore's political efforts. In February 2007, the Virginia-based Windmill International helped launch Gilmore's presidential bid by registering a "Gilmore4President" Web site. Four months later, Combs and Johnson contributed $2,300 and $1,000, respectively, to Gilmore's presidential campaign. Combs also donated $25,000 to Gilmore's state political action committee last year.

In July 2007, Gilmore dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for president. In November, he entered the race to replace U.S. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.).

Gilmore had to file another financial disclosure report with the secretary of the Senate for his bid against Mark R. Warner (D). In that report, Gilmore amended the information to note that he had left Windmill's board in December. But the report still said the company was based in Nashua. "This was a clerical oversight that will be amended as soon as possible," Michael Joyce, Gilmore's financial adviser, said in a statement.

Candidates who file disclosure forms have to certify that their statements are "true, complete and correct to the best of" their "knowledge and belief."

"This is one of the basic disclosure documents that tells you where that person is coming from as a candidate, and they are swearing the form is accurate," said Kent Cooper, a former Federal Election Commission official. "They are saying, 'These are the assets I have and these the connections I have.' "

Cooper said candidates should scrutinize the information on the forms. "This is one of the only documents they have to sign," he said." (Tim Craig, The Washington Post, July 24, 2008)

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.