Politics

The MassGOP misreported hundreds of thousands of dollars — and may be in $600K of debt, report says

“We knew there were financial issues. ... But it is a harder road to hoe when you have deficits that you have to make up before you can start building up to what you want to do."

Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale, left, and former Chair Jim Lyons, as seen last month.
Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale, left, and former Chair Jim Lyons, as seen last month. Jim Davis / The Boston Globe

By Christopher Gavin

3 minutes to read
MassGOP

The Massachusetts Republican Party may be $600,000 behind on its bills, and the party also misreported hundreds of thousands of dollars to state campaign finance officials, the new MassGOP chair says.

Chair Amy Carnevale, who replaced former Chair Jim Lyons last month, wrote to Republican State Committee members Tuesday, informing them the party has as much as $602,152 in unpaid bills from vendors, according to The Boston Globe.

The total is over five times what party leadership estimated in January.

Carnevale wrote that she and other officials are working to “get our financial house in order,” the newspaper reports.

Notably though, Carnevale wrote many of the invoices are “unsubstantiated” and seem to not fall under the party’s responsibility. According to the Globe, some of the party’s large unpaid obligations, such as cash spent on ads for Geoff Diehl’s gubernatorial campaign last year, may not be listed on the party’s ledger as a result.

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But party officials are working to gain a better understanding of where the MassGOP’s finances stand. The party hired Red Curve Solutions to figure out “who authorized these payments and in what capacity they were acting,” Carnevale wrote.

“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,” a memo obtained and reviewed by the Globe states.

Among the invoices are a bill for $55,415 from the Stirm Group, which the MassGOP hired to probe Gov. Maura Healey’s private life last year, for opposition research and a $119,157 tab for mailings.

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Candidates provided funding for the latter, however that money was “redirected elsewhere,” Carnevale said.

Jay Fleitman, the state GOP vice chairman, told the Globe the party’s financial situation is “worse than we thought.”

“We knew there were financial issues. … But it is a harder road to hoe when you have deficits that you have to make up before you can start building up to what you want to do,” he said.

Lyons, before he lost his re-election bid last month, was often criticized for a lack of transparency with the party’s funding.

Party treasurer Pat Crowley said last month the party had only $35,000 in the bank at the end of December and that there were $117,000 in debts owed to vendors.

“I had grave concerns about what eventually we would find out when Jim exited, and unfortunately my worst fears appeared to have come true,” Mike Valanzola, a Republican State Committee member, told the Globe. “Anybody, after all of this, who stands by and supports Mr. Lyons probably needs to have their head examined.”

Lyons did not respond to a request for comment from the Globe on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper, the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance is also conducting an audit of the party and has already found the GOP misreported $372,652 in expenses. The party also failed to report the approximately $119,000 spent on coordinated mail costs, Carnevale said.

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In her letter, Carnevale wrote she and other party leaders are working to stabilize the MassGOP and correct its money problems.

“We must take these steps to win back the trust of voters, supporters, and contributors to our party,” she said.

Last month, the Globe obtained emails suggesting Lyons appeared to have coordinated with an independent expenditure political action committee to conduct opposition research on Healey — a violation of state law.

Yet the revelations are only the latest to rock the MassGOP. Lyons’s tenure was marred with party infighting, including squabbles in the past year over depositions, financial records access, and who exactly can authorize payments on behalf of the party.

According to the Globe, the party has retained Brian Kelly, a former assistant U.S. attorney, to review four pending lawsuits the MassGOP is involved in and help with the ongoing financial matters.

“I came into the position knowing we had little to no money,” Carnevale said Wednesday. “I did not anticipate we would have invoices totaling $600,000. That makes my job all the more difficult moving forward.”

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