WORCESTER – The campaign for Joe Petty for state Senate has called for an investigation into a PAC supporting Petty’s primary challenger, Robyn Kennedy.
The Petty Committee has requested an investigation by the Massachusetts Office of Campaign & Political Finance (OCPF) into the Massachusetts Women for Progress Independent Political Action Committee and the Kennedy campaign.
The Petty campaign claims the PAC is led “by out-of-district millionaires,” and sent out mailers to support Kennedy that were received by Worcester residents as early as July 2. Petty’s campaign says the PAC has not disclosed the funding sources or costs to OCPF within the required seven-day window.
The campaign also claims Kennedy’s campaign worked directly with the PAC to coordinate the mailers and provide a direct quote from Kennedy.
In a released statement, Kate Norton, spokesperson for the Petty campaign said, “Citizens United was one of the Supreme Court’s earliest decisions to undermine our democracy and this is an example of the harm it causes: A handful of millionaires contributed the $1,000 maximum to a candidate and decided that wasn’t good enough in their effort to substitute their voices ahead of the voters of the district. Moreover, the few boundaries in place governing these PACs appear to have been ignored – so we’re not just gaming the system inbounds, but out of bounds also. We do the voters a great disservice by engaging in political theater over political discourse, and Democrats should hold themselves to a higher standard.”
In response to the Petty campaign claims, in an interview with ThisWeekinWorcester.com on Wednesday, Kennedy said, “It’s not surprising that in the same week that the Massachusetts Teachers Association endorsed me against the chair of the (Worcester) school committee and on the day that we released our first on-air commercial that the Petty campaign would resort to old school tricks of making accusations of this nature.”
Kennedy said her campaign has “…no affiliation whatsoever with that PAC, aside from knowing some Worcester folks involved. We are not actively engaged with them whatsoever, nor are we involved in the mailer, nor am I aware of who their donor list is.”
The Petty campaign also accused the Kennedy campaign of posting the mailer on social media with the caption, “Our mailers are out!”
Kennedy said the social media post was up for only minutes after campaign staff noticed it.
“My campaign has been deliberate about bringing people on to our staff people who haven’t been politically engaged in the past and haven’t felt connected to Worcester politics in the past. It was the mistake of a first time campaign aid who saw that someone else posted a picture of the flier and assumed it was ours and shared it on our page,” Kennedy said. “I’m sure the OCPF will agree that in no way it indicates we are actively working with the PAC, but only the mistake of a supportive campaign aid.”
A spokesperson for the OCPF said they couldn’t confirm the receipt of investigation requests, because of statutory rules, but OCPF reviews every complaint and investigation request it receives.
According to OCPF, Massachusetts Women for Progress is a Super PAC, also called Independent Expenditure PACs, and Super PACs file reports within seven business days of a good or service being utilized. Reports for Super PACs will only exist if the PAC is making an independent expenditure. There are no reports on file for Massachusetts Women for Progress.
In a released statement, MA Women for Progress called Petty’s claims “cowardly,” adding the claims “only reaffirms our understanding of how important this race is. It’s clear that they know this complaint is without merit. The quote from candidate Kennedy can be found easily on the (Kennedy) campaign’s publicly distributed palm cards and is quoted directly; additionally all filings are up to date.”
PAC Chair Dr. Cara Berg Powers said, “The accusations alleged in a press release from Mayor (Joe) Petty earlier today are incredibly serious and without merit. At a time where women are facing the biggest attacks in a generation, Mayor Petty decides to spread misinformation. They are weaponizing OCPF and timing the press release to undermine endorsements from future State House colleagues Mary Keefe and Natalie Higgins and one of the largest labor unions in the state, the Mass Teachers Association. This political trickery and conflating things you don’t like with breaking the law is beneath the decorum expected of an elected official and state employee.”
“OCPF’s complaint process isn’t a political tool and the Mayor should apologize immediately for abusing this critical lever in our democracy to make easily debunked claims,” Powers added.
The statewide primary is Tuesday, Sept. 6.
