Massachusetts Lawyer Common Andrea Campbell’s spending habits along with her taxpayer-funded bank card are stirring a debate between a pair of Republicans seeking to develop into the Bay State’s subsequent governor.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kennealy, a former cupboard secretary below Gov. Charlie Baker, took a shot at his foe shortly after the Herald revealed a report on how the AG spent practically $300,000 on state-issued procurement playing cards, or P-cards, final fiscal yr.
“My primary opponent, Brian Shortsleeve, has donated thousands of dollars to our Democratic Attorney General,” Kennealy acknowledged in a social media put up Friday morning. “He is one of her largest single donors.”
Information present that Shortsleeve, a enterprise capitalist and former MBTA chief administrator, made two $1,000 donations to Campbell, in accordance with the state Workplace of Marketing campaign & Political Finance.
The primary got here in August 2021, a month earlier than Campbell misplaced in a Boston mayoral major, earlier than the second, in March 2022, throughout her marketing campaign for AG.
Massachusetts marketing campaign finance legislation limits the utmost contribution a candidate can obtain per particular person per calendar yr to $1,000.
Holly Robichaud, a political strategist for Shortsleeve, responded to Kennealy’s criticism of the donations to Campbell, drawing similarities to how President Trump has financially supported high Democrats.
Robichaud additionally took a dig at how Kennealy has beforehand mentioned that he blanked the highest of the presidential ticket.
“Mike Kennealy wouldn’t know anything about this because he never voted for President Trump,” Robichaud advised the Herald Friday afternoon. “But as the President made totally clear when explaining his donations to Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, as a business person in a deep blue state, sometimes it is the cost of doing business.”
“Unlike Kennealy,” she added, “Brian Shortsleeve had always voted for the GOP ticket, and that includes voting for Campbell’s Republican opponent.”
The Herald’s overview of P-card spending within the AG’s workplace discovered that Campbell racked up about $288,146 in Fiscal Yr 2025. Expenditures included roughly $13,627 for a convention that the legal professional common attended in France final July, with $9,000 of that quantity going towards transportation by way of Avis Chauffeur.
The Herald additionally discovered that P-card expenditures stemmed from 31 states in FY25, from California to Disney World in Florida
Kennealy and Shortsleeve’s newest beef comes after the two attacked one another earlier this month over fundraising information.
Initially Printed:
