Cranston businessman John Hazen White Jr. gave House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello almost twice the state’s legal limit for campaign contributions for an individual in 2016.
White made contributions to Matttiello of $1,000 on December 5, and of $200 on January 18, according to the state Board of Elections web site. In addition, White said he personally paid about $750 for an ad endorsing Mattiello that ran in the Cranston Herald shortly before the November 8 election.
State law limits contributions by individuals to a particular candidate to $1,000 in a single calendar year.
After RIPR informed White that his contributions to Mattiello in 2016 exceeded the state limit, he said he got in touch on Thursday with Mattiello’s campaign consultant, Jeff Britt. White said he expects the speaker’s campaign to reimburse him from his contributions that put him over the $1,000 limit.
“I don’t do things out of mal intent,” White said, adding that he was previously unaware that he had exceeded a state limit for campaign contributions.
Britt said the process has begun to reimburse White for the excess contribution beyond $1,000. Britt said Mattiello’s campaign did not initially realize White had contributed more than $1,000, in part since it was reported in November that a nonprofit controlled by White paid for the ad in the Cranston Herald.
Thanks to mail ballots, Mattiello won a narrow victory over Republican challenger Steven Frias, ultimately beating him by 85 votes. Frias led in the initial Election Day count of voting, yet Mattiello asserted even then that he had enough mail votes to win the final tally.
Mattiello spokesman Larry Berman declined to comment.
State Republican Chairman Brandon Bell said he blames Mattiello, not White, for the contribution greater than the state’s $1,000 limit. He called the instance an example of Mattiello not being able to follow campaign finance rules.
White’s contributions to Mattiello came under scrutiny earlier in the campaign. RIPR reported in early November that Lookout RI, a 501(c)(3) organization controlled by Hazen White, had apparently violated IRS violations by taking part in campaign activity through payment for the Cranston Herald ad. The ad itself said it was paid for by Lookout.
Speaking this week, however, White said he wound up paying for the ad personally when an ad representative for the Herald came to his company, Taco, to collect payment around the time of its publication. He said he had not yet reported the contribution to the state Board of Elections.
John Marion, executive director of the good government group Common Cause of Rhode Island, said campaigns bear the responsibility for guarding against individual contributors exceeding state limits.
“It’s incumbent upon the candidates and their campaigns to ensure their accounts follow the law, including staying under the annual $1,000 limit,” Marion said. “Exceeding limits seems to occur more frequently with bigger campaign accounts, particularly when donors are making multiple contributions over the course of a calendar year that in aggregate exceed the $1,000 limit. That said, candidates with larger accounts have the resources to put in place good financial controls.”
As Marion noted, the General Assembly in 2015 “passed a series of modest campaign finance reforms in the wake of Gordon Fox’s plea, including a requirement that paper bank statements be sent to the Board of Elections. The Board has interpreted the new law as taking effect on January 1, 2017. Common Cause hopes that the new law is vigorously enforced by the Board so that the public can have faith that campaign fillings of candidates are accurate and in compliance with all laws and regulations.”
Hazen White said he is considering donating his excess contributions to Mattiello, once they are returned, to charity, possibly the state’s matching fund for political candidates.
He also ruled out a run for governor in 2018, saying he is preoccupied with Taco and other demands.
In related news, Shawna Lawton — who ran against Frias in a Republican primary before later supporting Mattiello — made a filing listing Teresa M. Graham and Victor Pichette as the contributors who helped pay for a mailing backing Mattiello’s campaign.
This story has been updated.
