Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos on Friday made her first public comments about a signature-gathering controversy engulfing her campaign in Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District, apologizing for what happened while also blaming the situation on what she called a betrayal of trust by paid workers.
Reading from a statement during an evening news conference at her Providence campaign headquarters, Matos described the situation as “a widespread and outrageous attempt to defraud my campaign, the people of Rhode Island and the democratic process. Let me clear: I did not ask for that. I did not need this.”
“Nonetheless, this betrayal of trust was in the name of my campaign,” she added, “and for that I’m deeply sorry that this happened.”
Congressional campaigns in Rhode Island are required to collect 500 certified signatures to qualify for the ballot. Reports surfaced earlier this week about fraudulent signatures gathered in Jamestown and then Newport by Holly McClaren, a worker for Matos’ campaign, as well as signatures collected by a different worker in East Providence. The faulty signatures included dead people and people who told reporters they had not signed nomination papers for Matos.
McClaren, since fired by Matos’ campaign, did field work for Gov. Dan McKee’s campaign last year and appeared in a commercial for the governor.
These signature problems are under investigation by Rhode Island State Police and Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office.
Matos faced reporters after the state Board of Elections, during a Friday afternoon meeting, voted five to one to forward to Neronha all the nomination papers collected by Matos’ campaign. She said she waited to speak until the BOE had addressed the matter.
Matos, who came to Rhode Island from the Dominican Republic as a young woman, served as Providence City Council president before McKee chose her to be lieutenant governor in 2021. She has held elective office since first winning a City Council seat in 2010.
Asked why her campaign struggled to get enough signatures without the problems that became a focus of news coverage this week, Matos said, “We did what every campaign does. We relied on volunteers and also some paid field workers … We have not done anything [wrong] intentionally. We have not done anything to defraud the people of Rhode Island. We were victim of someone that unfortunately we trusted and didn’t follow our instructions.”
As noted by Jon Berkon, a lawyer for Matos’ campaign, the Elections Board found that Matos received 543 legitimate signatures – more than enough to be one of the 12 Democrats on the CD1 primary ballot on Sept. 5.
Matos took questions from reporters for about 30 minutes. She said she remains committed to her campaign and expects to win.
“The people of Rhode Island know me,” she said. “I have a track record.”
Matos became emotional when asked if she will stay in the race if criminal charges arise from the problematic signatures. “I’m going to defend my name and the family name until the end, and I’m going to stay in this campaign because they need people like me to go to Washington and fight for every Rhode Islander and to be an example for little girls that get so happy when I go to see them in Woonsocket, because they see someone that looks like them.”
Matos’ campaign manager Brexton Isaacs said field workers were paid on an hourly basis to gather signatures. He said he could not identify how many troubled signatures were gathered for her campaign.
Rival Democrats Gabe Amo, Don Carlson and Aaron Regunberg have been the most outspoken in criticizing Matos over the signature-gathering controversy.
Without mentioning his name, Matos accused Amo and some other Democrats of politicizing the issue.
In a statement after her news conference, Regunberg said Matos was trying to avoid responsibility for the signature problems.
“I know Sabina Matos, and I respect her. I don’t think she would have ever actively directed this fraud,” he said. “But a candidate is ultimately responsible for their campaign, and I was disappointed to hear the Lt. Governor spend far, far more time in her press conference discussing how this fraud has impacted her reputation and political ambitions, rather than taking ownership for how it has shaken public confidence in our electoral processes at a time when faith in elections has never been more urgent.”
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org
