GOV. CHARLIE BAKER may be preoccupied with dealing with COVID-19, but his political operation is remaining busy.
Massachusetts Majority, a super PAC with close ties to Baker, raised $177,500 during March and April, bringing its total fundraising haul over the last year to $1.1 million. The PAC has doled out just over $300,000 for direct mailings in support of 20 Republican and Democratic candidates for local offices.
Donors have said they gave money to the PAC to support Baker’s political agenda, which is to back allies and moderate candidates from either party. Baker, a Republican who does not support Trump, has been trying to chart a new course ever since the state Republican Party elected former rep Jim Lyons, a Trump supporter, as its chair.
A super PAC can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and businesses, but it is barred from coordinating with campaigns on how to spend it. According to state campaign finance records, the big donors over the last two months were retired advertising executive and well-connected philanthropist John (Jack) Connors Jr. and Carl Ferenbach, the chairman of High Meadow Foundation, who each contributed $50,000. Wye River Insurance, a Baltimore-based insurance broker, donated $35,000 and Kevin Kennedy, an investor based in Gulf Stream, Florida, contributed $25,000.
Previous big donors
include Robert Hale, the CEO of Granite Telecommunications; John Fish, the president and CEO of Suffolk Construction; Niraj Shah and Steven Conine, the founders of Wayfair; Daniel Quirk Inc., the auto dealership; and philanthropists Amos and Barbara Hostetter. Hale donated $100,000, the Hostetters donated $25,000 apiece, and the others each donated $50,000.
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Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
The latest beneficiary of the Massachusetts Majority PAC is Michael Nicholson, one of four candidates vying to be the mayor of Gardner in a primary scheduled for next Tuesday. According to the super PAC’s latest report, it spent $6,398 on two direct mailings supporting Nicholson that were sent out on April 23 and April 28.
Nicholson is currently the administrator of the town of Rutland and previously worked as an aide to the former mayor of Gardner, Mark Hawke. He is running against Scott Cordeiro, a barber shop owner; City Councilor Scott Graves; and former city councilor Christine Johnson.
