Mass. GOP slam ‘political hit job’
As outgoing campaign finance director lobs allegations
State Republicans under scrutiny for alleged campaign finance violations raised by outgoing Office of Campaign and Political Finance Director Michael Sullivan are calling it a rushed “political hit job” filed 48 hours before Sullivan’s last day on the job.
“Sullivan’s actions today are based on his feelings and not facts. Sullivan’s actions today are based on politics and not the law. From day one, Sullivan has shown he is a biased director that overreached his authority and didn’t care about the law,” state Sen. Ryan Fattman said in a statement to the Herald.
One week after a Superior Court judge rejected Fattman’s attempts to block a probe into allegations of wrongdoing over campaign donations that involve his wife, Stephanie Fattman, her re-election last year as Worcester County’s registrar of probate, and several family members, OCPF in eight separate referral letters to the Attorney General’s office on Thursday indicated it “concluded that there is evidence of violations of … campaign finance law, during 2020, warranting referral of this matter to the Office of the Attorney General.”
It’s a move Fattman said “doesn’t surprise me.” The Fattmans and others sued OCPF last month seeking an injunction to block the office from handing a criminal referral to AG Maura Healey. In it, they called Sullivan “biased” and said he rushed to complete his investigation before a new director — former Woburn City Clerk William Campbell, a Republican — takes over on Monday.
“This is a blatant political hit job by Michael Sullivan as he walks out the door — a cowardly hit job,” said Republican State Committee Chairman Jim Lyons, who is named in one of eight inquiries passed to the AG’s office but insists he, the Fattmans and the state party followed the law.
Healey’s office confirmed receipt of the OCPF referrals, but said the matter is not considered an investigation and is under review.
The referral letters allude to “making of campaign contributions, either directly or indirectly, in any name except the contributor’s-own, or in any manner for the purpose of disguising the true origin of the contribution.”
Typically the public wouldn’t have knowledge of the evidence, but the Fattmans’ suit revealed the senator donated $25,000 last August from his campaign account to the Sutton Republican Town Committee — on which he serves as secretary and which is chaired by his brother. The town committee in turn contributed more than $30,000 to Stephanie Fattman’s reelection campaign over several months.
Campaign finance law
limits direct contributions from an individual or a campaign to $100.