WASHINGTON - Insufficient oversight and poor accounting practices by a committee that raised money for Elizabeth Dole's 2002 Senate campaign and the N.C. Republican Party "created an environment" that led to the embezzlement of $155,750 by the committee's assistant treasurer.

That was among the findings in an audit released Tuesday by the Federal Election Commission.

The audit, performed by the FEC's staff, also includes recommendations, though it is up to the full commission to vote on whether to enforce them.

One of the staff's recommendations: That the Dole North Carolina Victory Committee should be held responsible for refunding a total of $81,230 in prohibited contributions from corporations. The FEC staff rejected the Dole committee's view that it was not responsible for returning the contributions because the money was stolen.

In May, Earl Allen Haywood -- the committee's assistant treasurer -- was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing a total of $175,000 from the Dole committee and from the Salute to George W. Bush Committee.

Cleta Mitchell, a Washington attorney representing the Dole committee, released a letter she sent to the FEC disputing several findings in the audit report.

The Dole committee did have written procedures that assigned separate staffers to receive and deposit contributions, Mitchell said. It also prohibited the deposit of corporate contributions, which are against the law.

"One dishonest person ... deliberately circumvented and disregarded (these rules)," she wrote in the letter. "The committee cannot and should not be held responsible for the fact that it was victimized by a thief."

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