MassGOP hires ex prosecutor
$600,000 in unpaid bills has party scrambling
The MassGOP is attempting to balance the books after learning the party — or some candidates — have more than $600,000 in unpaid bills.
“The MassGOP has retained former federal prosecutor Brian T. Kelly of Nixon Peabody LLP to serve as outside counsel. Attorney Kelly is working diligently to bring to a close several ongoing legal issues,” new party Chairwoman Amy Carnevale told the Herald.
At the end of January, Carnevale defeated twoterm incumbent Jim Lyons to take the reins of a state party machine seemingly steered toward a cliff, with little money in the bank and nothing to show when asking for more.
It comes after Republicans did not do well during the last election cycle, losing the governor’s office, several state House seats and making no gains in the state Senate, among constitutional officers, or in the congressional delegation.
Hiring Kelly, Carnevale said, is the first step toward earning back the support of voters who picked Republicans like Bill Weld, Mitt Romney and Charlie Baker to lead remarkably independent Massachusetts.
“We recognize the Massachusetts Republican Party must get its own affairs in order before the party is able to win back the trust of the voters,” Carnevale said. “This work is well underway.”
Kelly, a former federal prosecutor with decades of experience tackling whitecollar crimes, is perhaps best known as the man who put infamous Winter Hill Gang boss James “Whitey” Bulger away for life.
Lyons lost his job as a consequence of the elections and perhaps, in no small part, after he responded to the party’s losses in November with lawsuits and allegations of sabotage against fellow party insiders.
In the days ahead of his election loss, Lyons was reported to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance by the party treasurer, who alleged the former chairman had violated campaign laws by hiring a private investigator to look into now-Gov. Maura Healey and not reporting the spending.
That unreported expenditure, totaling just over $55,000, was just the tip of the iceberg, the Herald has learned.
“Vendor invoices presented to MassGOP total $602,151.93 to date which includes many unsubstantiated invoices that appear to not be the responsibility of the Party. Our legal counsel as well as our compliance firm are diligently reviewing these to better understand who authorized these payments and in what capacity they were acting,” the MassGOP wrote in a finance and audit update to be sent to the party committee and obtained by the Herald.
In addition to Kelly, the MassGOP has also hired an outside consultant to look at their books and see if anything else is awry.
“The party has also retained national treasury management and compliance firm Red Curve Solutions to review the finances of the MassGOP and to ensure full and complete transparency and compliance with federal and state regulations moving ahead,” the new chairwoman told the Herald.
The party may not owe as much as they are being billed, according to the audit update.
“Though the Chair does not believe we are liable for this total amount, it is important for the committee to be aware of the situation,” the report reads.
Once the correct amounts are figured out dozens of Republican candidates will need to update their own campaign filings, according to the report.
“Because these invoices were either reported incorrectly or not at all the MassGOP did not make candidates aware of their responsibility to report these as inkinds. Once MassGOP has reconciled its reporting with OCPF each candidate will also have to amend all relevant reports. The number of candidates effected appears to be at least thirty,” the audit report reads.