BOE orders House Speaker to repay $72K to his PAC

April 25, 2018 7:02 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – The Board of Elections ordered House Speaker Nick Mattiello to repay roughly $72,000 to his political action committee (PAC), finding he violated campaign finance law, following more than a year of investigating his finances.

The Board found Mattiello’s campaign received a total of $73,067.80 in goods and services from the Fund for Democratic Leadship, the PAC of which Mattiello is the chairman, but the statute only allows for PACs to give up to $1,000 to each candidate (not to exceed $25,000).

Mattiello told reporters Wednesday the money in question was supposed to be taken from his campaign account (which ended the campaign season at $192,033.21), but mistakenly taken from the PAC, repeatedly. He calls it an honest mistake. "It was kind of an oversight,” said Mattiello. “Bad decision making in a hurried campaign and it’s nothing more. We used the wrong account."

Government watchdog group Common Cause Rhode Island feels the Board only gave Mattiello a slap on the wrist. "Essentially he was told, ‘move money from one account to another and we’re done here,’" said Executive Director John Marion. "That’s not going to dissuade someone from doing this in the future."

The Board’s investigation also found issues with a controversial mailer sent by former Republican Candidate Shawna Lawton endorsing Mattiello, finding evidence at least two of Mattiello’s staffers coordinated it but that he had no knowledge. Since the mailer itself, at $2,150, cost more than an in-kind donation, Mattiello had repaid Lawton the difference, so the Board let him off with a warning.

Four people failed to answer subpoenas issued by the Board of Elections, including Lawton and the two staffers believed to have coordinated the mailer. The Board voted to schedule show cause hearings for them to argue why they should not be held in contempt of court.

"I had no knowledge [of the mailer],” Mattiello said. “If I had any knowledge about that mailer, it wouldn’t have gone out."

GOP Chair Brandon Bell, who filed the finance complaints that led to the investigation, finds Mattiello’s arguments hard to believe. Now he’s calling on Mattiello to step down from his leadership role.

"He’s up there making the laws and at the same time he’s breaking the laws, so I think that’s pretty disturbing," Bell said.

Mattiello said he hired a CPA with expertise in campaign finance after the election to handle all of the finances. He said his focus right now is on the budget and would not speak to Bell’s comments.