Outsourced Referee: After Excess Foulkes Donations Surfaced, RI’s Board of Elections Ran Its Response Through a Lobbying Firm Whose President Had Just Given Foulkes $1,000

What happened

In late September, GoLocalProv reported that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Helena Foulkes’s campaign had accepted donations above Rhode Island’s $2,000-per-year individual limit. The Board of Elections (BOE), the state’s campaign-finance regulator, then expanded its own review. On Monday, GoLocal published emails and text messages it obtained through an Access to Public Records Act request. GoLocal says they show how the board handled the fallout: messaging went through Chris Hunter, a managing director of the State House lobbying and communications firm Advocacy Solutions, which GoLocal reports the board pays $250 an hour for strategic communications.

The chair’s texts. GoLocal attributes these texts to BOE Chair Jennie Johnson, sent in a group thread with Hunter and Executive Director Miguel Nuñez. They refer to Campaign Finance Director Richard “Ric” Thornton, who had been answering GoLocal’s questions. As GoLocal published them in its article:

“I have great respect for Ric [Thornton], but I am very concerned he spoke with GoLocal about an issue involving the governor’s race without consultation. We hear serious — and at times egregious — campaign finance matters in executive session.”

“I have been very clear with Ric that all commuincation [sic] with the media with the media [sic] first need to be consulted with Chris or his firm, even if it seems like an informal reach out.”

The screenshots GoLocal published also show this line: “For the BOE to comment publicly on a matter connected to an active gubernatorial race raises significant concerns. I would like to review any statement and correction before it goes out.”

The lobbyist in the enforcement loop. Other screenshots show Hunter texting a BOE staffer, whom GoLocal identifies as Thornton: “Honest mistake. You should speak with campaign and have Miguel with you.” In a separate thread, Nuñez writes “3pm conference call” / “With Foulkes,” and Hunter replies, “Ok, send me the link.” Later, Hunter asks, “9 instances of incorrect exceedence correct?” The staffer answers that he is “almost sure it’s 9” and that the color-coded portion of a spreadsheet “is BOE error.” GoLocal says neither Hunter nor Johnson would explain why an outside communications consultant needed to be on an enforcement call with a campaign.

Who’s who. According to GoLocal, Advocacy Solutions’ head, State House lobbyist Francis X. McMahon, gave Foulkes $1,000 about three weeks before GoLocal’s first story. GoLocal also reports that Hunter has given $53,335.14 to Rhode Island candidates, all but $250 of it to Democrats. GoLocal says Johnson was appointed to the board in 2018 under then-Gov. Gina Raimondo, to whose campaigns she had given $175.

The board’s response. Hunter did not answer GoLocal’s specific questions. He sent a statement saying that on Sept. 23 “Board of Elections staff provided GoLocalProv with incorrect information regarding campaign contribution exceedances for candidate Helena Foulkes”; that on Sept. 24 the Foulkes campaign asked for a correction and a meeting “to agree on the amount of exceedances that needed to be cured”; and that a corrected spreadsheet went to GoLocal and other outlets that day. “Local and statewide candidates may request meetings with Board staff,” the statement said. GoLocal says Johnson refused to answer its questions.

The calls to resign. In a second GoLocal story Monday, independent gubernatorial candidate Ken Block said, “Jennie Johnson should step down as Chair immediately.” He added: “Why was a taxpayer-funded communications consultant involving himself in an enforcement matter? Why did the Chair insist that the Board’s campaign finance expert clear his communications through that consultant? And why have the Board’s audits failed to uncover violations that reporters found?” Rhode Island GOP Chairman Allyn Meyers also called for Johnson’s resignation and an independent investigation: “Since when does an independent state agency outsource communications to politically connected lobbyists and consultants?”