THE MASSACHUSETTS Republican Party this week settled a 2 ½-year-old case that focused on efforts by Sen. Ryan Fattman of Sutton to financially support his wife’s campaign for register of probate in Worcester County.
The state party, which had been accused of serving as an illegal conduit channeling $137,000 from Fattman’s campaign to his wife’s campaign, agreed to pay $15,000 in three separate installments to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance to make the case go away without admitting any wrongdoing. The cases involving Ryan and Stephanie Fattman remain outstanding.
Amy Carnevale, the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, issued a statement on Friday saying she wanted to put lawsuits that originated during the chairmanship of Jim Lyons, her predecessor, behind the party.
“I inherited a party that was under grand jury investigation for campaign finance violations, involved in multiple lawsuits, but most importantly a desire from Republicans to move the party forward. This week’s settlement, and the earlier resolution of four inherited lawsuits, allows the party to focus on the future,” she said.
The settlement agreement with the Massachusetts Republican Party was signed on Wednesday by Carnevale and William Campbell, the director of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. It was negotiated by the state attorney general’s office.
It’s unclear whether the Fattmans would settle. He has proclaimed his innocence and unsuccessfully went to court to block the Campaign and Political Finance Office from referring the matter to the attorney general’s office. He has also formed a legal defense fund that has raised nearly $220,000.
His allies have suggested the case is a witch hunt against the Republican power couple and assert that Democrats have engaged in similar behavior.
Campaign finance documents indicate Sen. Fattman’s campaign made donations to the Massachusetts Republican Party and the Sutton Republican Town Committee, which in turn made donations of similar size to Stephanie Fattman’s campaign for register of probate.
Sen. Fattman’s donations to the state party and the town committee were legal, but they could be viewed as illegal if they were made with the understanding that they would be passed along to his wife’s campaign as a way of sidestepping the $100 limit on campaign-to-campaign donations.
