First, it was Amaad Rivera and Tommy Ashe taking heat for not getting their reports filed properly on time.
Now, John Lysak and Jimmy Ferrera have joined their City Council colleagues in the uncomfortable spotlight over their campaign finance accounts.
As Pete Goonan reports in the Springfield Republican, Ferrera, an at-large councilor, last month got a letter from the Mass. Office of Campaign and Political Finance pointing out some questionable math on his campaign’s part. It seems that, between 2005 and 2011, Ferrera loaned his campaign $21,990—and then paid himself back $26,395. For those of you without a calculator handy, that means the candidate paid himself $4,405 more than he was actually owed. (Side note: what the heck was Ferrera doing pumping almost $22,000 of personal funds into his campaign? Isn’t that what devoted constituents are for?)
Ferrera’s explanation for the overly generous repayments: his campaign treasurer, Catherine Cocchi—a.k.a. Jimmy’s grandmother—messed up. No big deal, Ferrera told Goonan; he’s since paid back the money and advised Grandma to “be more careful.”
Meanwhile, Lysak, the Ward 8 councilor, is facing questions about his political spending, after his opponent in this fall’s race, Orlando Ramos, sent a press release to the local media pointing out that the incumbent has been spending an awful lot of his campaign dough at restaurants and fast-food joints, including $517 at Osaka steakhouse since May.
“It is an insult to the people who have donated to his campaign,” Ramos charged. “Those donations are intended to help him get re-elected, not for him to be out eating sushi.”
Ramos also pointed to several recent overdrafts to Lysak’s campaign account. “[I]f he is not responsible enough to manage his own campaign funds, how can he be trusted to manage the taxpayers’ money?” the challenger asked.
Lysak told the Republican that the restaurant tabs were for meetings with campaign workers; he also charged his campaign for trips to McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Cumberland Farms, which he said were stops to buy snacks for volunteers.
As for the overdrafts? Lysak called them an accident, pointing out to Goonan that his campaign has been without a treasurer for several months—ever since his 85-year-old grandma gave up the job.
With grandmothers now, apparently, the political scapegoat of the season, perhaps some can be found in the School Department to take the fall for the “payroll error” that led to lightning-rod Superintendent Alan Ingram being underpaid by more than $13,000? On second thought, scratch that; after all, the person who first blew the whistle on the questionable details of Ingram’s employment contract, School Committee member and mayoral candidate Antonette Pepe, happens to be a grandmother herself.
