LAWRENCE — State Rep. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, who hopes to win a state Senate seat, has come under fire from his two opponents for accepting campaign contributions from a developer facing federal charges.
Martin Raffol, executive vice president of Winn Companies, was charged this week with illegally funneling $12,000 in campaign contributions to four Massachusetts congressmen and $30,000 to members of the Massachusetts Legislature.
Deb Silberstein and Jack Wilson, who are opposing Finegold in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, say Finegold benefited from funds from Raffol and other Winn executives between 2004 and 2009.
Wilson believes donations from Finegold's Winn ties amount to more than $25,000. The candidate says Finegold needs to make a "complete and full disclosure" of how he is paying for his Senate campaign.
"He needs to get his ethical house in order," Wilson said.
Silberstein took it a step further and is demanding Finegold return $7,000 in campaign donations from Raffol and Winn executives.
"Good government demands that public officials return money that is associated with scandal. It's the right thing to do and it's what Barry should do," said Silberstein.
Finegold did not respond. His campaign manager Autumn Gould called Silberstein's demand "a desperate act."
"It is a desperate act by a desperate candidate who does not want to talk about the issues and lies about endorsements," Gould said. "We are not going to participate in a race to the bottom."
Asked if Finegold plans to return the contributions from the Winn executives, Gould said the campaign had no further comment.
Records from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance show the Finegold Committee received $500 from Raffol on May 5, 2004, Silberstein said. On the same date, the Finegold Committee also received $2,000 in contributions from other executives and developers at Winn Development,.
The Finegold Committee also received at least another $4,250 from employees of Winn Development, Winn Companies, Winn Residential and Winn Commercial since 2004, Silberstein said.
A former member of the finance and school committees in Andover, Silberstein, 50, a lawyer, called the contributions from Winn executives "a symptom of a culture on Beacon Hill."
Wilson, 48, also of Andover, noted Finegold admitted his campaign violated campaign finance laws by listing the names of public employees on fliers. Finegold returned $1,000 in contributions received from a Dracut event that had been advertised by some of those fliers. He refused to say whether he returned donations from two other events which also included the names of public employees on the invitations.
Under state law, such violations of campaign finance law call for up to a year in prison or a fine of up to $1,000, though the state instead typically asks only for the money to be returned.
Finegold, 39, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in a special election in 2007.
The 2nd Essex and Middlesex District is made up of Lawrence, Andover, Tewksbury and Dracut.
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