Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo’s campaign has released a copy of a fundraising agreement reached last month between her campaign and the Providence Democratic City Committee.
The agreement was seen by some local political observers as an end-run around the Rhode Island Democratic Committee (which is effectively controlled by House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello) and a way for Raimondo to attract additional “party-building” contributions from affluent out of state donors, since donations to individual candidates in Rhode Island are capped at $1,000 a year. Yet the undisclosed nature of the pact was growing into a perception issue for Raimondo,
According to a copy of the “Mutual Support Agreement” released by the governor’s office, it was signed January 31 by Raimondo’s campaign manager, Jonathan Blair, and Patrick Ward, the chairman of the Providence Democratic City Committee. Ward stepped down from that post after coming under criticism for a meme that he briefly posted on social media in December.
According to the agreement, Ward — in his capacity as chairman of the Providence Democratic City Committee — was authorized to open three campaign fundraising accounts, a federal account called Victory 2018 Federal, a nonfederal account to be called Victory 2018 Nonfederal, and “a nonfederal building account” to be named Victory 2018 Building. The agreement stipulated that money raised by Raimondo would go to the pertinent accounts.
In turn, the pact called for Ward to have exclusive authority “to spend, transfer and otherwise disburse funds from the accounts for any lawful purpose …. “and shall be the only signatory on the accounts,” beyond any designee chosen by Ward.
Ward, who is married to Providence City Councilor Sabina Matos, was hired last year for a job in the state Department of Human Services. The timing of Ward’s state job and the subsequent fundraising agreement with Raimondo became grist for criticism by state Republican Chairman Brandon Bell, who has filed a state ethics complaint against the governor.
In filing the ethics complaint, Bell said, “Governor Raimondo’s decision to enter into an agreement with a local party committee, whose chairman is a subordinate state employee, and was approved under secretive circumstances, is unusual. We anticipate that the facts when they are exposed will reveal that a sophisticated political operative on behalf of Raimondo proposed this scheme to Ward.”
Following the release of the agreement, Bell said, “There is nothing in this Sunday news dump to justify why it was kept secret for two weeks for strategic reasons. It shows it is clearly a violation of Rhode Island ethics laws and regulations and possibly also a violation of campaign finance laws.”
But in a memo accompanying the release of the memo, Jonathan S. Berkon, a lawyer for Raimondo’s campaign, said, “Mutual Support Agreements are standard in political campaigns. Before we entered into this agreement, we consulted with the Rhode Island Board of Elections on January 9, 2018 to confirm that it shared our interpretations of Rhode Island campaign finance law on which the agreement is based. This agreement between the Providence Democratic City Committee and Friends of Gina Raimondo is fully compliant with Rhode Island’s campaign finance laws governing political parties and candidates.”
Berkon continued, “The purpose of the agreement is straightforward: to set forth the protocols that the Providence Democratic City Committee would follow in establishing the accounts required by law to run a ‘coordinated campaign’ on behalf of Democratic candidates and in expending funds from these accounts. Our goal was to ensure that both the campaign and the committee were fully complaint with Rhode Island campaign finance law.”
The chairmanship of the Providence Democratic City Committee remains vacant following Ward’s resignation.
As it stands, Democrat Raimondo has an enormous fundraising advantage on her potential rivals, with about $3.4 million in her campaign account, compared with less than 14 times that amount for her nearest fundraising competitor, Republican Cranston Mayor Allan Fung.
According to the agreement between Raimondo’s campaign organization and the Providence Democratic City Committee, “The Committee agrees to collaborate with the Campaign to develop a budget for the coordinated campaign.”
A coordinated campaign is a statewide effort to boost candidates of a particular party. For 2018, Raimondo and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse are considered the two Democrats who would most benefit from a coordinated campaign. Such a campaign for this year is planned, but has not been finalized.
Another aspect of the agreement between Raimondo’s campaign organization and the Providence Democratic City Committee indicated, “The Agreement shall remain confidential and neither party may reveal the terms or existence of this Agreement to any third party without the express consent of the other party to the agreement.”
