“I request that the Office of Campaign and Political Finance investigate the alleged improprieties on the part of Mr. McLaughlin,’’ Murray wrote in a letter to Michael J. Sullivan, the office’s director. A Murray spokesman said the lieutenant governor was concerned that the story suggested that McLaughlin may have coerced some donors, such as housing authority employees, into giving.
“If any of that money ended up in Tim Murray’s account, we want to identify it and return it,’’ said the spokesman, Scott Ferson.
McLaughlin, whose activities are the subject of multiple state and federal investigations, quit abruptly in November after Governor Deval Patrick demanded his resignation amid a furor over his $360,000 compensation.
In the past, Murray denied that McLaughlin was a fund-raiser, insisting he was merely a campaign volunteer. But more than two dozen housing authority employees, politicians, and political activists said he played a much bigger role, helping to organize fund-raisers and pushing employees and Chelsea tenants to attend at least one Patrick-Murray rally, even providing buses from Chelsea to Everett.
Several employees said McLaughlin aides asked them for political contributions, including significant cash gifts, in apparent violation of federal and state law. State law allows cash donations up to $50, but the employees said they were asked for $100 in cash and their donations were not reported.
Records show McLaughlin and Murray’s chief fund-raiser, Kellie O’Neill, have called each other 51 times since 2008, though O’Neill said the two never discussed fund-raising. State and federal law do not allow fund-raising by appointed public officials and prohibit political activity of any kind on public time or in public buildings. McLaughlin’s political efforts on behalf of Murray and other politicians may also violate the state’s conflict-of-interest law. A spokesman for the lieutenant governor yesterday said that Murray has not decided whether to ask the state ethics commission or any other agency to launch its own investigation.
