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New evidence found in voter fraud case

Date: 8/20/2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW — In the fast-moving story of voter fraud in East Longmeadow, Hampden County District Attorney Mark Mastroianni told Reminder Publications on Aug. 17 that new evidence gathered through multiple search warrants on Aug. 16 was being assessed.

Mastroianni declined to officially name the people who are the subjects of the investigation but added that such an announcement might come soon due to the new evidence.

Selectman James Driscoll also declared that he would stay on as a member of the Board of Selectmen until the smoke surrounding the current investigation into voter registration fraud has cleared.

Speaking with Reminder Publications, Driscoll said that he was asked by fellow Selectman Paul Federici to remain in his position despite the fact that Driscoll recently announced his intentions to step down from his post effective Sept. 4 due to time constraints placed on him at his new job with Secure Bill Pay.

"Because of the severity of this situation, I will remain a member of the Board of Selectmen until such time as this situation is resolved," he said. "My work responsibilities have not changed, but given the situation, I feel this is the best course of action. I will not be able to put the full 30 to 40 hours worth of work into it that I normally would, but I will be here for the town. My primary residence is still in East Longmeadow and I intend to stay here."

On Aug. 16, the same day that members of the Massachusetts State Police shut down Town Clerk Thomas Florence's office to search and take evidence from the scene, Driscoll expressed disappointment in the situation.

"It's crushing," he said. "We're going to be the butt of jokes for a long time. But the people of East Longmeadow can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that this was the unfortunate work of two individuals and it is not a widespread problem in the town."

Driscoll declined to identify the two subjects he believed to be responsible for the scandal, however, the focus of the investigation remains on Florence's office and an employee's possible involvement.

While no timetable for the investigation has been set, Florence said it was the intention of all parties to close the matter quickly.

"We are working together and we would like to resolve this as quickly as possible," he said.

Secretary of State William Galvin also declined to identify any suspects or targets in the investigation conducted by his office that prompted the District Attorney's office's criminal investigation, but stated that he did not believe Florence was suspected of any offense.

"Because the changes were recorded through our system, we were able to track and identify specifically when and at which work station this occurred," Galvin said. "My office made no specific identification [of any suspects], however, we know it occurred in the clerk's office and the system was not hacked from the outside. I will say that I do not think that [Florence] was party to this."

Florence refused to confirm or deny a report that a member of the clerk's office staff had been placed on administrative leave.

"I'm aware that there was an email from one of the selectmen stating that someone was being put on leave, but I cannot comment on that," he said.

A request for a copy of the letter was sent to the Board of Selectmen, Florence and Information Technology Director Ryan Quimby by Reminder Publications, citing the Public Records Law, however, Quimby replied that he would be unable to acquiesce to the request because Town Counsel James Donahue told him the email was part of a personnel file and therefore was not subject to public records.

Quimby added that any copy of the email currently seen by the public was not obtained from his office.

Florence expressed his frustration in the fact that his office was at the center of such a scandal.

"It's really unfortunate and what [the person responsible] did was totally unnecessary," he said. "It puts a lot of stress on the people of this office and makes a lot more work for everyone here."

Galvin explained that he felt an investigation by the District Attorney's office was necessary because in the course of his office's investigation into reports of hundreds of absentee ballots requested on the behalf of unsuspecting residents, many of whom were registered Democrats, for the Sept. 6 Republican primary between Marie Angelides and Jack Villamaino, he determined there was possible criminal activity.

Florence told this newspaper that the number of absentee ballot requests was roughly four times that of previous elections.

"We were right around 100 in 2008 and 130 in 2010," he said, adding that he received a large number of ballot requests at the same time in mid-July. He said that his office found no pattern in address to which the requested ballots were to be sent.

Florence and representatives from Galvin's office became aware of the anomaly when his office contacted the state for more absentee ballots because they had run out.

"The issue came initially from this office when we were requesting more ballots and they said that it was a very unusual request for them," Florence said. "At that point, they talked with Michelle Tassinari from their legal department and got her in touch with me. We talked and agreed that there was something wrong that we needed to investigate."

Florence's account of the events prior to the investigation refutes a report in the Boston Globe that stated that Angelides had logged the initial complaint with Galvin's office.

Former State Rep. and retired Hampden County judge Robert Howarth, a representative of Angelides' campaign, also denied that report.

Howarth did say that Angelides' campaign did conduct an informal investigation and passed their findings along to Galvin's office.

"We hired somebody to make a couple hours worth of phone calls and in the first 37 phone calls, 33 people said, 'What are you talking about?'" he said. "We relayed the information to the secretary of state's office because that's a high percentage, especially when so many of them were Democrats."

Florence confirmed that Angelides contacted him with her concerns, at which time he advised her to contact the state.

In a letter sent to Reminder Publications on Aug. 17, Angelides praised Florence and his office for their diligence in addressing the matter.

"I want to commend the town employees of East Longmeadow and in particular the Town Clerk, Tom Florence, for their prompt and honest efforts to disclose and correct the problems with recent absentee ballot applications. Acting with integrity and in the best traditions of the hard working community of East Longmeadow, they acted swiftly to reveal these irregularities to Secretary Galvin's office. I have every faith in our political process. Rather than revealing flaws, this incident reveals the checks and balances of our system and the integrity of our election workers," she said. "I look forward to primary day and urge you to vote. When you do vote on Sept. 6, be sure to thank your election workers for their tireless effort to facilitate the free exercise of our right to vote."

Galvin said that once his office completed its investigation with a determination that a possible crime was committed, he passed all information on to Mastroianni, who is conducting a separate investigation that could result in prosecution.

"I can't comment on [Mastroianni's] office's investigation, but I have great confidence in him," Galvin said.

Galvin added that because of the irregularities, criminal or not, found during his investigation he decided it was prudent for his department to take over election procedures in East Longmeadow.

"Given the irregularities we have found, I have decided to take control of the election. I will be appointing someone to run the election on Sept. 6 and probably on Nov. 6 as well," he said. "This person's job will include overseeing all of the prep work being done to ensure that party enrollments are accurate, that absentee ballots go to those who indeed requested them and overseeing Election Day operations."

While Angelides and her campaign have made themselves available to Reminder Publications, Villamaino has not returned messages requesting comment. His office phone, the number for which was provided by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, where he works in the design department, was also not answered and no voicemail service was available.

G. Michael Dobbs contributed to this story.