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WALSH ADVISERS USED ACCESS, FUNDRAISING IN INDYCAR PITCH
Just days after leaving City Hall, a former top aide to Mayor Martin J. Walsh representing the ill-fated Grand Prix boasted of her connections to the mayor and said she would “continue to work with him directly” as the city was negotiating a deal to bring an IndyCar race to Boston, emails obtained by the Herald show.
The internal Grand Prix emails also show another Walsh political adviser representing the race, Chris Keohan, using his access to the mayor to advocate for the promoters and even asking the “Grand Prix crew” to raise money for Democrats at Walsh’s request.
Four days after leaving her post as City Hall press secretary and taking a job with the Grand Prix’s consultant, CK Strategies, Kate Norton wrote to the head of the IndyCar race circuit, boasting of her ties to Walsh, according to emails obtained by the Herald.
“Mayor Walsh has been extremely supportive of my move, and I will continue to work with him directly on a number of issues related to the City and my portfolio of clients, and related to his own political efforts,” Norton wrote in a Jan. 9, 2015, email to Mark Miles, CEO of IndyCar’s parent firm.
No r ton offered to help write a letter for Miles to Walsh, adding: “Whenever it is completed, I can share directly with Mayor Walsh, to ensure it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle at City Hall... Looking forward to working with your team! I’ll keep an eye out for the letter, and will share with Mayor Walsh as quickly as possible.”
Norton’s departure from City Hall and move to CK Strategies was announced on Jan. 5, 2015. CK is run by Keohan, one of Walsh’s top advisers in his 2013 campaign. Norton also was spokeswoman for Walsh’s campaign.
A Walsh spokeswoman yesterday said Keohan and Norton’s connections to him did not influence the city’s dealings with race promoters.
“Whoever was working on Boston Grand Prix had no impact on how the city viewed the race,” spokeswoman Nicole Caravella said.
But internal Grand Prix emails obtained by the Herald from multiple sources show how Keohan and Norton capitalized on their access to Walsh. They kept in contact with Walsh and his aides early in 2015, just before he signed a five-year deal to hold the race on city and state roadways in the Seaport District, beginning on Labor Day weekend 2016.
That agreement later blew up and has become an embarrassing failure for Walsh as he readies his 2017 re-election campaign.
Emails obtained by the Herald also show Keohan — at Walsh’s request — asked the Grand Prix team to pitch in for a Democratic party fundraiser; Keohan said it would be “very helpful for us all.”
On March 17, 2015, Keohan wrote to others in the Grand Prix, including Norton, that he had “received a call” from the mayor about an upcoming Democratic party fundraiser where Walsh was being honored.
“This event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the
MassDems and he asked if I could cobble together some checks from clients and vendors to help make it successful,” Keohan wrote. “Do we think we can get to $2500 with the GrandPrix crew? If you can help out it will be very helpful for us all.”
Keohan said in an email to the Herald that the mayor did not ask him specifically to solicit money from the Grand Prix.
“He asked me to fundraise. He did not specify from where,” Keohan said.
“Mayor Walsh made a request to Chris Keohan as an individual, but he did not make any requests of Boston Grand Prix related to fundraising,” Walsh campaign spokeswoman Rachel Goldstein said.
Just two months later, in May 2015, Walsh signed a “memorandum of understanding” with the Grand Prix without any public input or notice. He was heavily criticized by race opponents for potentially putting the city on the hook for millions in road and infrastructure improvements.
Walsh was forced to rewrite that deal and the race collapsed in April 2016 after the CEO, John Casey, pulled the plug, blaming the Walsh administration for the Grand Prix team’s failure to win a crucial permit to build the course in a flood zone. The mayor continued to try to save the event even after its cancellation, but the national IndyCar organization quashed that plan.
An internal email obtained by the Herald shows how Walsh friends used back channels to advocate for the race. Grand Prix investor Sean McGrath, a businessman who knows the mayor, was enlisted to talk to him about shifting the race course out of a controversial flood plain area.
“Marty sounded very supportive of the whole racing event still,” Sean’s brother, David, said in an email to Casey.
“Was sure (that) you guys could work something out. Didn’t sound like he promised anything specific but was enthusiastic about using the parking lot for now.”
A Walsh spokesman confirmed the conversation with McGrath but said the plan proposed by the city to move the course still “would not have represented a solution” to the flood plain issue.
The Grand Prix fiasco now stands as one of the biggest failures of Walsh’s first term. Casey has been sued numerous times for failing to refund ticket holders and pay back vendors and sponsors.
The U.S. attorney is currently investigating the Grand Prix’s spending and its dealings with the city, sources and Casey have told the Herald. The Walsh administration actively sought to recruit the Grand Prix early in the summer of 2015, hoping it would draw tourism money and ease the sting of losing the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Keohan was hired by the promoters and held an equity stake in the race. In December 2015, emails show he was working to “hammer out a deal” to bring Norton into his firm, while she was still Walsh’s press secretary.
“Can you give me a ballpark estimate of what you are thinking for pr costs for next year?” Keohan wrote to the Grand Prix’s former CEO, Mark Perrone, who was then leading the Grand Prix effort. “Will help me as I try to plan out her salary and benefits.”
After Perrone told him he could pay $36,000 “toward Kate” in the first year, Keohan wrote back. “Cool. I think i’m gonna pull the trigger on her.”
In an email to the Herald, Keohan said he did not discuss the Grand Prix with Norton when negotiating to bring her to his firm. Norton, in an email to the Herald, also said she did not discuss the Grand Prix with Keohan or any salary numbers while still employed with the city.
She did meet IndyCar president Miles at a December 2014 reception while still working for Walsh.
“I was not involved with any level of planning or operations around IndyCar during my time at the city,” Norton said. “I did not speak to Chris about them until I had given my notice to the city, and at that stage any conversation was limited simply to my awareness that they were part of the client portfolio.”
She also said she wrote the email to Miles at the request of Perrone. Perrone, contacted by the Herald, declined to comment about Norton’s involvement.
A spokesman for Miles also did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment. Right after leaving the city, Norton helped Perrone write a letter to Mayor Walsh and offered to write a similar one for Miles.
“Looking forward to working with your team!” Norton concluded in her email to Miles. “I’ll keep an eye out for the letter, and will share with Mayor Walsh as quickly as possible.”