Several days after Newton residents received this mysterious post card in the mail from an unheard of group called the Garden City Coalition — and after questions surfaced about the group here on Village 14 — GCC filed as a political action committee today at Newton City Hall. And here is the required bank form which was also filed with OCPF today. today
Lisa Thorson, the organization’s only listed officer, is a Boston-based jazz vocalist who lives in Oak Hill Park.
First of all, I hope Lisa posts here so she can discuss the PAC and its focus. And also I love Jazz so maybe she can talk a bit about that as well. (sorry, can’t help myself it would be great to know more about jazz in newton since I can’t get into Boston as much these days).
I wonder if our discussions on the blog had anything to do with them filing the proper paperwork?
I also wonder why a PAC was needed. Julia sent out a lovely mailing to my house on Saturday, why not just use one of the candidates own committees?
Finally, as noted before, I’m against PAC involvement at every level. Partly that is due to money in politics, but I also really like to know how politicians get their campaign donations. So I’m unhappy that there is now a political PAC in Newton local politics. Did this PAC coordinate with any of the campaigns endorsed?
I mentioned it on the other thread but it’s worth repeating: this filing represents the only municipal PAC on file in Newton. How does this differ from past campaigns of “special interest groups” or is this just a new form and procedure to register? Does it mean the beginning of more “dark money” organizations of its kind?
Based on the information here, it appears this is one person, Lisa Thorson, exercising her First Amendment rights. The only reason it may be considered a PAC, is because Ms. Thorson used the words “political action committee” on her post card. If she’s the only member, and she’s using her own money, then she could have done the same thing without filing as a PAC. Referring to this as a “dark money” organization seems like an overstatement.
Mike, its called a coalition.
But what does that mean, Nathan? I’ve seen nothing beyond self-labeling to suggest this is anything more than one person. If it’s only one person spending their own money, she could have done this without forming or filing as a PAC.
@Mike: I’m not an expert in this but I don’t think an individual can just act alone, without registering as a PAC, and that’s a good thing.
More to Adam’s point, saying its a coalition implies a group of people. If one person is pretending to be a group of people then it’s deceptive at best and, at worst, might indicate a need for therapy.
Also, if Thorson was acting alone then I’m guessing being a jazz singer pays better than I might have guessed. This was not an inexpensive mailing, which is all the more reason to think it really is more than one person.
@Fig had it right to call Charlie out on being so quick to dismiss this when, it turns out, the suspicions are well founded. Unfortunately when these things happen less than 24 hours before the polls open, it takes on an added urgency.
Which is all the more reason for Thorson to speak up here.
I think the dark money part is irrelevant.
The mayor spends a lot of his time fund raising. Do you really know the motivation of those who fund him? Is that dark money as well then?
Lets have a level playing field, get rid of PACs, non-Newton fundraising by the mayor, and tools such as NGPvan which has your prior voting record etc, and gives you an advantage.
Let Newton politics be about ideas, not these tactics!
@Sam S: The mayor — and everyone else — has to report where their money comes from.
We have no idea where the money for this came from.
@mike Striar – yes “dark money”. If an individual donates to a candidate it’s public record. If the same individual donates to the Garden City Coalition, and they work on behalf of a candidate, it’s untraceable.
Clearly Lisa Thorson has not set up this organization so she can personally contribute,to a candidate. As you point out, you can do that a lot more simply by just giving a donation directly to a candidate.
There,may be a more benign explanation, but as far,as I can see, the only rationale or motivation for setting up this organization would be to obscure the source of money being contributed.
As a point of information, it is my understanding that we would not see a report on deposits and expenses until after the election since the deadline is the 5th of the month. May be a fun post mortem, so to speak :-)
It’s great to see another group formed which is trying to support challengers who always have a hard time fending of the established power group with its network of like thinking peons and plenty of money.
Mike, it is definitely not my attention to pile on Lisa Thorson, and she is well within the rules to establish a PAC. But typically the reason to do that is to bundle multiple people’s contributions to a cause. The rules allow for a PAC to have just one person be an officer and figurehead, and I’m sure that is what we have here.
The term Dark Money wasn’t my creation, there is a lot of folks who are against Political Action Committees of all types. And I’m perfectly fine with multiple mailers in my mailbox. I just like knowing who is influencing my politicians. And I’m surprised this is coming up at the local level.
I’ll also note that with all the rumors put out by the folks against the various developments around town that those same developers are influencing the process with their donations, it is rather ironic that the anti-development folks have a PAC. Am I the only one who finds that kinda funny? Life is weird sometimes.
Sam what is the NGPvan you reference? I’m not against outside of Newton funding as long as it is identified.
@Greg–Of course an individual can act alone without registering as a PAC. It’s freedom of speech, and covered by the First Amendment. If I want to take out a full page ad attacking one of the candidates or espousing certain ideas, I have a constitutionally protected right to do that. The line gets crossed if money is raised from multiple sources, and/or contributed to a campaign. Or if the PAC acts in direct concert with another campaign. It may have been crossed with the inclusion of the words “political action committee” on the post card. But if Ms. Thorson had done this entirely on her own and not included that terminology on the card, my understanding is that she’d be completely within her rights to not register as a PAC.
I’m also curious as to whether the candidates worked with the PAC at all, or at least had heard of it prior to the mailing. I realize it is unfair of me to think they will respond before election day (tomorrow). Lots going on I’m sure.
@Jerry– Do you see any indication that Ms. Thorson is “working on behalf of a candidate”? I don’t. But maybe I’m missing something.
I’m going to go with she registered a PAC, registered a bank for expenditures for a PAC, so the coalition is a PAC for which she is the treasurer. The treasurer signs the forms, so since forms are all we have at the moment, she would be the one we know is involved. It doesn’t mean she is the only member. I’m guessing there are those who share the same, maybe unpopular views, and want to contribute anonymously – which is why they formed the coalition. The Treasurer just takes the flack.
There are a few different reporting requirements for PACs, affiliated with candidates, and IEPACs which make expenditures supporting, or opposing, candidates without their knowledge. From OCPF, “However, if the independent expenditure was made after the 10th day, but more than 24 hours, before the date of any election, a preliminary report must be filed within 24 hours of making the expenditure and a follow-up report is then filed within 7 business days thereafter.”
This mailing was paid for not only before the PAC was registered but within the 10 days before an election. It should have been reported 24hrs afterward but the PAC did not exist then. Screwy!
Geoff, I don’t think Jake lacked for funding. I also admire the turn of phrase “like thinking peon”. I prefer to use the term “lemming” myself in similar situations. Not that I agree with you, especially since many of us lemmings don’t support the mayor. And many of us may vote for Jake (like Gail and maybe me).
Mike: I don’t think Jerry was meaning to say that there was coordination between the PAC and a particular campaign. But clearly the intent of the PAC is to benefit the challengers, since no incumbent made it onto their dance card. I’d also be fine if Ms. Thorson funded this on her own, although I think there are still rules regarding the maximum amount you can contribute to a candidate. But if the flyer said “funded by Lisa Thorson”, I would never have brought up a question about it (except to perhaps google Lisa Thorson).
@fig– IF this “PAC”, which is now an official PAC, was just Lisa Thorson acting on her own, AND if she had not included the words “political action committee” on the card, AND if she did not act in concert with another campaign, she had every right to send this card espousing her personal support for the listed candidates, without filing as a PAC… It’s simply freedom of speech.
@Greg – Mayor has donations from people residing residing out of Newton, or out of the state for that matter. What do you think is their motivation? I couldnt even guess even if I want to.
With PACs or with Mayor’s fund raising apparatus, you will NOT know the intentions and motivations. In some sense, it is more concerning for what mayor is doing, since he can actually impact things directly as opposed to PACs which have to first get people elected before having that impact (2 degrees removed).
I will say it again – PACs, or non-Newton money has no role in Newton politics. Lets denounce both of them, not just what doesnt align with our respective interests or loyalties.
@Jerry –
Why yes I do. As you say, any individual is always free to support a candidate or send a mailer. If an individual sets up a PAC, does a mailing to voters, and registers the PAC with the city the day before the election – i think it’s 100% obvious that the PAC is trying to influence the outcome of the election and I think it’s also obvious that there must also be someone else’s money involved. If not, why would Ms. Thorson go to all this trouble for something she’s already free to do on her own?
I believe that the endorsement card mailed by the Garden City Coalition (GCC) is intentionally deceptive. The GCC PAC endorses several candidates for uncontested offices making it appear that these uncontested candidates support the GCC endorsements in the contested races. I believe that they do this in the hopes that people will recognize names of people they support and trust and then take the whole list into the voting booth with them. However, many of the uncontested candidates have actually endorsed candidates different from the GCC slate for both aldermen and charter commission members.
Perhaps the most curious details about this Garden City Coalition mailer is how cryptic it is. If I received one of these in the mail, and the very vague general message (“keeping the garden in garden city”) resonated with me, and I agreed that this was an important election … I still wouldn’t know which candidates the Garden City Coalition was trying to encourage me to vote for.
@Jerry– “Why would Ms. Thorson go to all this trouble for something she’s already free to do on her own?” One possible reason would be to appear that the candidates she favors personally were endorsed by an organized PAC. In other words, to lend weight to her own selections. I’m not saying that’s the case. But until at least one more person is linked to this PAC, I’m going to assume it to be the case.
BTW, am I the only one who has noticed that during an election season in which there were many complaints about powerful, evil, fat cat developers that its the other side that’s trying to buy results with a secretive political action group?
@Mike Striar – that’s the conundrum of a PAC Mike. Other,than the person listed on the paperwork, anyone else involved can stay completely anonymous. So by design, no one is likely to be linked to this PAC unless,they voluntarily choose,to be.
Greg, I beat you to it. That was my Alanis Morrisette “Isn’t it Ironic” riff a few points back.
Crap, now I’ve got that song in my head. Bah. I’ll be singing that all day now.
The alternative hypothesis, Jerry, is that no one else is linked to this “PAC.” That’s just my gut feeling though. Perhaps Ms. Thorson will see fit to clear the air.
Mike, I’m willing to bet you that we’ll never hear from anyone from the PAC. I’m sure they are reading (you’d be amazed how many folks actually read this blog despite my jokes about us all being in pajamas. I think Blueprintbill draws them all in. Or maybe it is Greg’s bubbly personality). But I’m also sure no one will comment.
But if they do and they state it is all Ms. Thorson, I will send you a gift certificate to the Newtonville diner of your choice. Offer not transferable. Must include picture of you partaking in said breakfast food, which is then posted on Village14 with the header…”suck it, Fignewtonville”. ;-)
Cheers!
Might be a bad bet, fig. For folks who may be trying to fly under the radar, why wouldn’t you think Ms Thorson won’t glom on to the theory that she is all alone on this?
@fig– Until today my choice would have been The Rox. But when I went there to grab some lunch with my son, a mouse was running around between tables. I mention this only in the hope that the Rox will get their act together, and clean the place up.
@Jerry. I have it on good authority that the cash came from a Vatican slush fund. They want to relocate Our Lady’s to the Austin Street parking lot.
This is probably obvious to most here but the Garden City PAC endorsements in the contested races are the same as the 6 alderman endorsed in the Kathleen Kouril Grieser TAB column and the 9 Charter Commission candidates endorsed by by Newton Villages Alliance. It would seem there is a connection between these groups. The one anomaly is that the NVA web site also endorses David Kalis, who was not mentioned in the Grieser column or on the Garden City flyer.
I did not receive the Garden City flyer so thanks for posting.
@Phyllis
It’s about as deceptive and the Newton Democrats putting out a slate telling Newton voters to elect only Democrats in a non-partisan race.
Dollars to donuts The Garden City Coalition is not a member of the NNChamber.
Janet:
Not quite sure I follow your logic. Newton Democrats file disclosure statements, they have the word Democrat in their name, and ask folks to vote for progressive candidates for office. Doesn’t sound like they are hiding anything. You might not agree with them, but they are fully disclosing who they are and why they support certain candidates.
I understand that the email address the Garden City uses on its registration form does not go to the Newton Lisa Thorson. So in addition to not filing prior to sending out the mailing (a violation), the application includes false information.
Charlie Shapiro would you care to defend this as well?
Greg,
The silence is driving you nuts !
Greg, I just looked OCPF’s sample registration form for a municipal pac . There was no requirement that the Chair or Treasurer provide an email. They must provide names and addresses. Section 1 requests information about the organization, including an email address for the organization.
@Lisap: I’m not sure what legally is required but the municipal form includes a place for it and one is listed. And really whether it is “required” or not is kind of besides the point. The point is it Thorson signed a document that reprorts an email address that doesn’t go to her.
But @Lisap while you are researching the law, can you determine if the chair and treasurer of a PAC can be the same person? Thanks.
@Charlie: Cute but really doesn’t explain why the PAC would list an invalid email on a form that was improperly filed AFTER the mailing. But I realize you don’t care about any of that since they endorsed you.
I recently moved to Newton Centre from Boston. To me, the city’s alderman voting system is extremely confusing. This Garden City Coalition mailing is the only one that I’ve received that actually explains how the votes work. I’m going to vote the entire slate on this postcard simply because it is the only anti-McMansion mailing I’ve received. All the others talk about meaningless vague terms like “responsible development.”
@Greg-
I refer you to this:
http://whatculture.com/offbeat/10-hilariously-stupid-conspiracy-theories-people-actually-believe.php
I’d always been under the belief that they must be different people.
Greg, will check it out and update in a bit.
BTW, you might argue this Garden City Coalition is crazy like a fox. They gain the effect of the mailing, and worry about the legalese much later, if at all.
If you are curious about the mailing, it looks like it cost about $2,700. At least according to the state OCPF filing: http://www.ocpf.us/Reports/DisplayReport?menuHidden=true&id=552188#report-summary
Greg: oh, snap!
You’ll also notice that the form was amended Monday morning to include the handwritten words “Political Action Committee.” The OCPF did not seem to make a fuss about the requirement for “2 or more people” to form a PAC (yes, Mike, that’s what the OCPF told me yesterday) …also, something about individual contributions over $50 requiring special reporting, so if the Chair & Treasurer is really the only contributor (should be among Charlie’s silly conspiracy theories) expect more paperwork?
Thanks Adam. I think we all know by now that Charlie would only see a conspiracy here if this PAC hadn’t endorsed him.
@Doug: I’ve been told by someone with experience with these things that judging by the amount of the expenditure for the mailing/postage, that could cover about 5000 mailers.
@Greg-It’s amazing you can be so successful at the Chamber, when you spend so much time online insulting people. You’re just sounding mean these days.
So who is Progressive Newton (described on its website as “A Local Chapter of Progressive Massachusetts”) and where does their money come from? (Bryan Barash sent out a announcement that indicted he was pleased with their endorsement of him last night.) I noticed that they are endorsing all the incumbents for Alders. Their motivations for picking candidates seem to mirror those articulated by the Supporters of Engine 6.
Does anyone know?
I meant: …an announcement that indicated… (jet lag)
Sallee:
They are an arm of Progressive Massachusetts, which is a 501c4. NOT A PAC. Progressive Newton lists a steering committee at the following link:
http://progressivenewton.com/about/
So with about 30 seconds of research I found out who they were, what their parent 501c4 was, the 11 people on their steering committee in Newton, and found a link to post for you. Since Engine 6 is another “progressive” type organization, it isn’t surprising that they support similar people.
But Sallee, if your intention is to compare Progressive Newton with the Garden City Coalition, and make a “everybody does it” argument, I think that is very unfair to Progressive Newton. Progressive Newton has a website that goes into great detail about who they are, has an 11 member steering committee which is public and bios for each of those folks (including Shawn F.), has a publicly filing 501c4 designation as its parent entity. Garden City Coalition has…NOTHING. I repeat. NOTHING.
You can support whomever you want in the election, but one entity is a overboard arm of a 501c4, and the other is a dark money PAC. C’mon now.
Charlie, not sure if it is an insult if it is a true statement. You were very quick to embrace the Garden City Coalition PACs support, and were very complementary as to their mailing and their independent status. When folks challenged the status of the Coalition, you defended them and made it about how unfair it was for folks to incorrectly malign the PAC without knowledge, even though many of us, including me, where simply upset about the PAC itself. Then when the PAC was determined to have NOT followed the rules, that it filed late and filed with an incorrect email address (I admit I’m not troubled by the last that much, but still), you posted a joke in response.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It ain’t bullying to call someone out on their bull.
You may disagree with Greg’s statement that you’d only object if the PAC had not endorsed you. It is a blunt statement to be sure. Perhaps you feel that this is a mountain out of a molehill. But thus far from your actions I don’t consider Greg’s statement an insult. Or to be inaccurate.
And for my part, I will also pledge to this group to object when the mayor or someone else forms a PAC for the local elections. This was the first time I’ve seen this in Newton. I’m upset by the concept, not by the politics. I want to know who is contributing to politicians I vote for. Same goes if this was Ted or Setti or Lynne or Jake. And I welcome for folks to call me out on my bull if I conveniently forgot… ;-)
And Charlie, I say this as someone who really likes your program, and has enjoyed our various discussions on this blog over the years. You add a lot to Newton. Just happen to really disagree with you on the PAC.
@Greg,
Looking at the statute, M.G.L. c. 55 sec. 5 says that the statement of organization shall include “(4) the name and residential address of the chairman and the treasurer”. I’m taking a fairly cursory look (very pressed for time) but I do not see anything in the statute that says that the chair and treasurer must be two separate individuals, nor did I see anything in the Code of Mass Regulations addressing that point.
Thanks @Lisap
I just spoke to the communications person at OCPF. The chairman and the treasurer can be the same person.
@Fig-I’m not sure there’s an actual disagreement. GCC and any individual group/PAC should follow the rules and be completely transparent. One would guess they and all others who seek to have an impact on elections will be more diligent in the future.
@fignewtonville: FYI I don’t currently support the mayor.
In the past when he was in favor of small neighborhood schools, I was a supporter. But that changed with Zervas which was rammed down the community’s throat much like Austin St may well be.
The affordable housing effort being pushed by Setti, Ted et al will just make Newton less pleasant and less affordable. It’s just like Zervas: a giant step in the wrong direction.
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Otherwise, it is amusing to see the heavy scrutiny of the Garden City Coalition effort when the local democrat organization has acted as a pseudo PAC for years, choosing candidates from their diminishing talent pool and the forcing them down the community’s throat by deploying all of their network resources.
If the DEMPAC could only be further weakened so it does not interfere in non-partisan elections, a great service would be done to Newton.
Their influence in Newton parallels the influence of big money on national elections.
DEMPAC candidates benefit from the big money flowing from local DEMPAC supporters, while the challenger candidates fight off the DEMPAC network fairy tales designed to bring them down and generally end up in debt at the end of their campaigns.
@Geoff Epstein
Hear hear!
Geoff, I realize you are very much opposite the incumbent political base here in Newton, but calling the local democrat organization a “pseudo PAC” and trying to equate the fact that they have been effective at convincing folks to their world view with acting as a PAC ignores the main issue here. Effectively you are saying that the Garden City Coalition is justified in being a PAC in order to compete with the already existing DEMPAC, which ignores the fact that DEMPAC doesn’t actually exist as a PAC except in your mind.
The scrutiny in my view is well deserved. I hope we find out who donated to the Garden City Coalition after the election, and I hope it is posted on this blog. Perhaps that will amuse you as well. Sunlight cures a variety of ills…
@Geoff: You may not like what the Democrat incumbents represent in Newton and you may take issue with how they behave, but don’t equate them to a PAC that spent money before registering with the state in order to push candidates. You know who contributes to all of the many elected officials with whom you take issue in Newton. You don’t know — at least I don’t think you know — who contributed to the Garden City Coalition.
Minor nitpick: “democratic party.” Not the biggest deal but for some reason always drives me batty/
Editing to clarify: it is the references to “democrat party” that drive me crazy. That is generally employed by folks who hate the party (probably not exclusively members of the “republic party”) and used as a condescending pejorative. Not that that was necessarily meant in the uses above, but that’s what the term evokes to me.
According the the United States Supreme Court, PACs are people, too! ;-)