Judge rules against Fattmans in campaign finance case
A SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE on Tuesday refused to prohibit the head of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance from referring the results of his investigation of Sen. Ryan Fattman and his wife Stephanie, the register of probate in Worcester County, to Attorney General Maura Healey.
The Fattmans, rising stars in the state Republican Party, alleged that Michael Sullivan, the head of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, was biased against them, acted improperly during his investigation, and refused to release all the evidence he had gathered so they could properly refute the charges.
Under state law, the Office of Campaign and Political Finance has no enforcement powers. Its job is to gather information secretly, much like a grand jury, and give the target of an investigation the right to refute the charges. If the office still feels a crime has been committed after giving the target an opportunity to refute the charges, the office can pass its investigative materials off to the attorney general, who will make her own determination about criminal prosecution.
In her 18-page decision, Judge Christine Roach sided with Sullivan on all the key issues, ruling that he was not required to give the Fattmans all of his evidence and that he was not required to recuse himself even though he allegedly said “I don’t care about the law” in one interaction with the senator. Roach also refused to block a potential referral to the attorney general because there was no evidence such a referral would cause “irreparable harm.”
Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/judge-rules-against-fattmans-in-campaign-finance-case/
Ryan and Stephanie Fattman.