Did Senator Barrios Break The Law?
TAGS: Boston Herald, Deval Patrick, YouTube.
The Fluffinator himself, Senator Jarrett Barrios may have violated state campaign finance laws over the weekend, the Boston Herald reports.
State Sen. Jarrett Barrios raised eyebrows over the weekend by “hinting” that Deval Patrick supporters gathered in a public school gym in Everett should pony up some cash for the cause.
“Deval almost made a real mistake a little earlier because there’s some things you can’t say in public buildings. You can’t ask for money in a public building. No sir,” Barrios said with a whiff of sarcasm during a speech at Everett’s Whittier School on Saturday. “But it helps. That’s how you win campaigns. So consider yourself hinted.”
Barrios’ comments were in reference to state campaign finance laws that ban soliciting political donations in government buildings. Patrick and his running mate, Tim Murray, were standing behind Barrios during the speech, which was posted yesterday on the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube.com. The free site has become a public dumping ground during the campaign for political ads and videos depicting various candidates’ controversial sound bites.
While Barrios stopped short of specifically asking supporters for cash, his suggestion was followed by requests for volunteers to fill out pledge cards to help Patrick’s push over the final week of the governor’s race.
Barrios last night rejected any suggestion he may have run afoul of state laws. He added that the school gym had been rented by Patrick’s campaign for the event.
“Telling people how they can help a campaign is not asking for money and is not breaking the law,” Barrios said.
What is not reported is the little bit Senator Barrios spoke in Spanish for his friends from Chelsea. It was at that time that he literally did tell the Spanish speaking audience members “you have to vote. You have to vote, you have to give money if you can.”
I wonder what state campaign finance laws have to say about violations made in Spanish?
The Barrios Fluff Advisory has been raised to HIGH.
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Aaron Margolis is a life long resident of the Bay State, and works at an architectural firm north of Boston. Aaron has a Master of Architecture Degree from Boston Architectural College and is currently in the process of becoming of a Registered Architect.
He certainly violated the spirit of the law if not the letter. And it makes it pretty hard to claim ignorance when you first say “you can’t ask for money in a public building” and then ask for money.
This absolutely breaks the law, in several respects. First, there is no “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” hinting exception in the law. He was soliciting donations when he said donations drive campaigns and “hinted” that his audience should donate. But that’s really beside the point, since he went on to explicitly ask for donations in Spanish and Portuguese. THEN he made a reference to pledge cards – the fact that those cards were there, being handed out, is a violation in and of itself – by the Patrick campaign as well as Barrios. Which brings up the final point: there is a strong case to be made that not only did Barrios break the law, but Patrick did as well by standing there and grinning while a surrogate solicited funds on his behalf. This is a no-brainer. It’s also a felony, by the way, not just an ethics violation – punishable by a $1000 fine or up to a year in jail. It will be very interesting and telling to see whether the Office of Campaign Finance shrugs this off.
“It’s also a felony, by the way, not just an ethics violation – punishable by a $1000 fine or up to a year in jail.
Nothing would kick my gigglebucket more than seeing that hypocrtical, gun-grabbing piece of crap with a felony conviction on his record.
Eat that, Fluffboy!
I know enough about campaign law to agree wholeheartedly with Frank’s assessment of this appalling campaign activity. And Patrick would be at fault legally. And he, a lawyer as he reminds us often, can’t claim he didn’t know the law. Good grief.
I’ve done some research on the law (Mass. Gen. Law Chapter 55 Section 14) and the letter of the law does state that you can’t solicit or accept a political donation in a public building, no matter who you are. You are allowed to use public buildings for other campaign purposes so long as any other campaign could use the building under the same terms. The Campaign Finance guide and the little case law that exists indicates that the spirit of the law is to allow all people in public buildings either as employees or patrons to be free of pressure to contribute in the exercise of their business within said building. No question in my mind that Barrios violated the letter of the law. Not so much with the hinting part, that was cheeky but not on its face a violation. What he said in Spanish however was a direct request for money. ‚ÄúHay que votar, hay que voluntar y hay que dar un poco de dinero si puedes‚Äù ‚ÄúGot to vote, got to volunteer and got to give a little money if you can.‚Äù That pretty much does it as far as the letter of the law goes. The spirit of the law is another matter. He was talking to a group of people who were presumably open to solicitation and he probably can‚Äôt be said to have exerted any pressure on employees in the school. I don‚Äôt think that his behavior would bring an indictment, it just wasn‚Äôt flagrant enough. This would probably only bring a slap on the wrist if anything. Nonetheless, he clearly knew better and I think elected officials shouldn‚Äôt be so flippant with campaign finance regulations. As far as it touching Patrick goes, unless there is also video of him requesting that Barrios solicit on his behalf or video of him taking money in the building it shouldn‚Äôt reach him.