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Boston Globe
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Why have a House Committee on Ethics at all?
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up That's where the House Committee on Ethics, this year chaired by the newly appointed Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose, comes in. Or should, anyway. Advertisement It has the power to The last time the House committee recommended a member be expelled was in 2014, when Representative Advertisement It shouldn't take a conviction to stir the committee into action, though, because whether someone is guilty in a legal sense is a different question than whether their behavior makes them unfit for their legislative prerogatives. Flanagan is charged with defrauding his former employer, the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod, of $36,000 and using the money to help finance his successful 2022 House campaign as well as pay for some personal electronics; sport coats, dress shirts, and ties from Macy's; and the services of a social media marketing company. According to the 'This alleged scheme was calculated on every level,' US Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said in a statement. 'No one is entitled to power by way of fraud, and the people of Massachusetts deserve better.' A year ago, the state For months Flanagan insisted to OCPF that a woman named Jeanne Louise was responsible for the mailing. In a letter to Flanagan, OCPF Director William Campbell wrote that the investigation 'eventually revealed that you created an alias, 'Jeanne Louise,' to conceal your financial role in the creation of the mail in support of your election.' Flanagan and his campaign committee paid penalties as a result. Advertisement The same offense was included as part of the federal indictment. Since January, House Minority Leader Brad Jones has been trying to get House Speaker Ron Mariano to order the House Committee on Ethics to begin a formal investigation of Flanagan's conduct — long before his indictment but after the OCPF finding and reports that Cape Cod police were investigating the allegations. 'I even appointed my four [Republican] members of the Ethics Committee early this year,' he told the editorial board. 'But I am not aware of any meetings they have held or are going to hold.' Nor did Jones ever hear back from the speaker in response to that letter. 'It's always a catch-22,' Jones explained. 'First they'll say 'we can't do anything while the legal process is playing out.' ' Then once there's a conviction, the point is basically moot. Indeed, Lipper-Garabedian said in a statement Monday, 'Under the Rules of the House, the Committee is prohibited from either confirming or denying whether there is a matter before the Committee. That said, consistent with past practices, the Committee will wait for the judicial process to play out to avoid any possible disruption or obstruction to the ongoing criminal proceedings. 'The Committee will conduct an investigation into Rep. Flanagan at the conclusion of the judicial proceedings,' she added. And at the measured pace the federal courts keep, that could be a rather long time. (Those The speaker could, Advertisement Copying the congressional model, which — unlike any other committees — has ethics committees that are evenly divided between the parties, should go on the Massachusetts Legislature's growing list of overdue reforms. But clearly House Democrats, despite their overwhelming majority, aren't in any great hurry to do anything that would open up a seat that traditionally has been competitive for Republican candidates. And its ethics committee will continue to be a committee in name only. Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Appalling breach of public trust': Mass. State Rep charged in fraud and cover-up scheme, feds say
A Massachusetts State Representative has been arrested for a fraud and cover-up scheme that allegedly defrauded a trade association of tens of thousands of dollars, the United States District Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley announced Friday. Christopher Flanagan, 37, the state representative for the First Barnstable District (representing Dennis, Yarmouth and Brewster) is accused of stealing funds from the Home Builders Association in Cape Cod while he served as Executive Officer in order to pay his mortgage and buy other personal items. Flanagan was arrested Friday morning and will appear in Boston federal court Friday afternoon on five counts of wire fraud and one charge of falsification of records, Foley said. Foley alleges that Flanagan had thousands of dollars in credit card debt, was missing mortgage payments and had hundreds of dollars in bank overdraft fees at the time of the alleged scheme. In January 2023, Flanagan allegedly stole $10,000 from the HBA to fund his campaign for state representative. 'It is further alleged that, in addition to stealing HBA funds via official checks and PayPal transfers, Flanagan also stole hundreds of dollars via direct debit transactions from the association's bank account funds to pay for personal psychic services in July 2022,' Foley states. Flanagan allegedly tried to conceal the stolen funds by logging onto HBA's accounting/bookkeeping software using another employee's account and entering backdated transactions and false transaction codes to account for the stolen funds. Flanagan allegedly told the HBA Board that he withdrew the funds to compensate himself for HBA-related expenses that he said he had previously paid for out of pocket. Flanagan allegedly provided two phony expense reports when questioned by the HBA Board. On one expense report, Flanagan allegedly claimed he had spent $159.36 on 'Technology Expenses' at Best Buy and another $537.26 on 'Office Supplies' at 4Imprint. However, records show the Best Buy purchase was for a portable Bluetooth speaker and that the 4Imprint purchase was for t-shirts supporting Flanagan's State Representative campaign, according to Foley. In the second expense report for $3,784.84 of 'Office Supplies,' Flanagan's $613.70 and $361.24 Best Buy purchases were allegedly for an electric dryer and an air conditioner. Additionally, a $1,050.30 Macy's purchase was allegedly for men's ties, dress shirts, slacks and sports coats; and a $92.86 purchase at Target was allegedly used on children's clothes and toys. Flanagan also allegedly constructed a fake identity, 'Jeanne Louise,' while he operated a campaign mailer during his 2022 campaign. After admitting to OCPF that Jeanne Louise was fake and that he himself was the source of the mailer, OCPF expanded its investigation into Flanagan's campaign finance activity. The OCPF then requested that Flanagan produce evidence that the $10,000 deposited into his campaign account in January 2023 had indeed come from his personal funds. However, according to Foley, Flanagan's bank statements at the time showed he only had $42.28 in his account - showing he could not have deposited the $10,000 campaign check without stealing the HBA money. Flanagan allegedly provided OCPF with another falsified expense reports that claimed that 'the $10,000 check from HBA constituted legitimate HBA-reimbursed expenses; that HBA had a practice of allowing Flanagan to withdraw large sums of money for the purpose of expense reimbursement; and therefore, the $10,000 campaign check was a legitimate donation of Flanagan's own personal funds,' according to Foley. 'Today's charges against Massachusetts State Representative Christopher Flanagan reveal an appalling breach of public trust. According to the indictment, Mr. Flanagan defrauded the very organization he was supposed to serve – allegedly funneling tens of thousands of dollars into his own pockets to pay off personal bills, buy luxury items and bankroll his political campaign. He allegedly stole money and then went to extraordinary lengths to cover it up, going so far as fabricating fake personas to mislead those who questioned his conduct. This alleged scheme was calculated on every level,' said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley. 'No one is entitled to power by way of fraud, and the people of Massachusetts deserve better.' Governor Maura Healey called for Flanagan to resign from this post. 'These are serious allegations against Representative Flanagan that threaten to undermine the important work of the Legislature and cast doubt on his ability to faithfully serve his constituents. He should resign,' Healey said in a statement. In January, Barnstable police announced in January they received a complaint alleging of 'potential criminal activity' involving Flanagan. The charges of wire fraud each provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of falsification of records provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Boston Globe
10-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Can Everett's mayor keep settlement from a lawsuit funded by campaign contributions? Past opinions say no.
'You can't go around litigating things and profiting from it with your campaign funds,' said Bradley S. Balzer, who wrote the opinion in 2005 when he was the office's deputy director. 'That was the gist of the opinion at the time. You couldn't personally benefit from the use of a campaign fund for any type of legal settlement.' In that 2005 case, Frank G. Cousins Jr., then the sheriff of Essex County, was advised that if he used campaign contributions for his legal fees, then 'neither you nor your committee may retain any monetary damages that are awarded. Such funds would need to be donated to a charitable or other entity specified in the Advertisement That clause requires money left in inactive campaign finance accounts to be donated to charity, a scholarship fund, a city or town, or the state, so that money raised for campaign purposes is not converted to personal use. In a second opinion, Cousins sought a few years later, he was told he could use a legal settlement to pay back his campaign for legal fees, but that any excess would have to go to charity. Whether the earlier opinions might be applied to DeMaria's situation is unclear. The Office of Campaign and Political Finance generally only takes action if it receives a complaint or if a candidate seeks guidance. Jason Tait, a spokesman for the office, said he could not comment on DeMaria's situation. But, he added: 'When OCPF is providing guidance on how to resolve issues of settlement, we always go to the law and our past opinions to provide the best and fairest outcome.' Related : Advertisement DeMaria was traveling last week and did not respond to requests for comment from the Globe. George Regan, the public relations representative who announced DeMaria's legal victory in December, would not respond to questions. The mayor's chief of staff said she could not respond to the newspaper's questions because they do not concern city business. Last week, the Everett City Council held a special meeting and voted unanimously to ask DeMaria to pay the city back for so-called longevity bonuses that a recent report from Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro found were wrongly awarded and then concealed by the mayor's administration. While councilors said they intended to grant the mayor a $10,000 bonus for every four-year term in office, DeMaria was paid that sum for each year, inflating the total value of the perk from $40,000 to $220,000, the report found. The inspector general, an independent state office, also called on the council to provide information to the State Ethics Commission to help determine whether DeMaria had violated the state's conflict of interest law. City Council also called for an audit of the payments and plans further challenges at a meeting on Monday – including a potential no-confidence vote in the mayor. Councilors have also demanded details on how much the city has spent on the inspector general's investigation and whether the lawyer representing DeMaria's interests at last week's meeting is being paid by taxpayers. In a prepared statement, the mayor strenuously objected to the inspector general's findings and disputed his interpretation. 'I have worked too hard and too long as a public servant in the City of Everett to stand by while the Inspector General attacks my integrity and the integrity of the members of my Administration,' it said. Advertisement DeMaria filed suit against the Everett Leader Herald in October 2021 after a string of negative stories. The suit alleged that the editor had made up quotes, falsely accused DeMaria of taking kickbacks, and otherwise conspired to undermine the mayor before the November election. The resulting $1.1 million settlement in DeMaria's favor staved off a trial and included a promise to It's unclear how much the lawsuit cost DeMaria, and whether contributions from supporters covered all of it. Jeffrey S. Robbins, the attorney who handled the lawsuit, declined to reveal the costs. DeMaria's campaign account paid Robbins's firm, Saul Ewing, legal fees of $627,772, campaign finance records show. The Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. Defense Fund raised another $280,286 for the litigation. Legal defense funds are not required to report how much of those funds were paid out, however. Gemma W. Martin, a consultant for Chick Montana Group, which established the legal defense fund and receives consulting fees from DeMaria's campaign committee, declined to speak to the Globe. DeMaria's use of a legal defense fund to pay for a lawsuit the mayor himself filed was unusual, though not prohibited by the OCPF. Since 2010, the office has allowed candidates to create such funds to defend against criminal charges or pay costs in civil cases that are 'not primarily personal in nature.' The office has viewed defamation lawsuits as an allowable use of legal defense funds in the past. Advertisement In 2014, gubernatorial candidate Mark Fisher created a legal defense fund to sue the Massachusetts Republican Party, which he alleged had manipulated the convention nominating process to bar him from the primary ballot. He did not end up receiving any contributions in the defense fund, records show, but paid legal fees through his political campaign fund, which he had loaned nearly $400,000 of his own money. When he was awarded a $240,000 settlement from the MassGOP, he repaid his campaign fund – and himself. Related : DeMaria consulted the State Ethics Commission about raising money to fund a lawsuit and was advised that he would be limited by the state's conflict of interest law. Unless he created a legal defense fund, he was told, he could only accept donations below $50 and could not use his title as 'mayor' in fund-raising. Legal defense funds can accept unlimited contributions — unlike campaign funds, which are capped at $1,000 per person — and can collect donations from corporations. The top two contributors to DeMaria's defense fund were Suffolk Construction Co. CEO John Fish, whose company built the $2.4 billion casino in Everett, and J. Derenzo, a subcontractor on the casino project. Each gave his legal fund $50,000. Geoff Foster, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, a nonpartisan advocacy group that promotes government transparency, said in a prepared statement that DeMaria's settlement raises key questions. Among them: 'whether a candidate has a legal obligation in this situation to reimburse either or both the candidate's campaign finance committee and legal defense fund?' Foster said. 'And, in any case, does a candidate have the right to keep any funds awarded as a result of the lawsuit personally, or is there a legal obligation to donate those funds?' Advertisement Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at
