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Date: 4/19/2021
HOLYOKE – The Holyoke mayoral race is heating up with two candidates who serve as city councilors exchanging words over a campaign donation.
The initial conflict took place during the Holyoke Ordinance Committee Meeting on April 13. The committee had just completed a public hearing for a special permit application for MassBiology Technology LLC to build and operate a marijuana cultivation and processing establishment at 6 Appleton St. and were moving on to a similar public hearing for agenda item number three. Before the hearing began for a special permit application for EMB Natural Ventures LLC Marijuana Facilities - Cultivation for the establishment of a marijuana cultivation facility at 140 Middle Water St., councilor Mike Sullivan addressed the committee.
Sullivan went on to reference several marijuana-related items on the agenda, of which included several ordinances and zoning changes to accommodate the industry. He claimed that Councilor and Mayoral candidate Rebecca Lisi, who serves as chair of the committee, had “received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions” from a marijuana business based out of California.
Immediately, Lisi called the comments “inappropriate,” cutting Sullivan off. “I’m sorry this is so inappropriate, I have to disclose my own conflicts. It’s not the responsibility of anyone else to expose conflicts,” she said.
Sullivan continued, telling Lisi she should recuse herself as she was the chair and “we have ordinances before us that deal strictly with marijuana proposed by the chair and campaign contributions coming in as far away as Oakland, California.” He said he felt that Lisi should either “step down as chair” if the committee was going to address the ordinances, or that Lisi should take the donations made from marijuana-related industries and companies and donate them to charity.
Lisi then became visibly angry, questioning Sullivan’s authority to demand such options. “Who are you to dictate what I’m going to do with my campaign contributions and the thousands of dollars you’re collecting from who knows where. I mean it’s so inappropriate,” she said.
Councilor Juan Anderson-Burgos then came to Lisi’s defense, stating that she had signed a document disclosing any potential conflict of interest already. “Councilor Lisi, you signed a document for conflict of interest, there’s no place for this here,” he said. Councilor Libby Hernandez then asked if the committee could ask that Sullivan “remove himself from the meeting because he’s very inappropriate.”
Despite objections from his fellow councilors about his comments, Sullivan said he didn’t think there was anything inappropriate about his statements and continued to discuss the issue. Lisi once again emphasized that it was her job to disclose any potential conflicts.
“If I got a donation from a particular marijuana company I would recuse myself from those votes in particular. I will not recuse myself from voting on general ordinance changes. This is very straightforward,” she said. “These items have been in the jacket well before this year, look they go back to 2018 we’ve been working on these things. We finally had an opportunity to work on them all at the same time to expedite and create a bit of efficiency.”
After Lisi said she would not recognize Sullivan again and called him “out of order,” he announced that he would be leaving the Zoom meeting and exited the meeting.
Following the meeting, Sullivan sent a press release where he stated that the $1,000 contribution to Lisi’s campaign from marijuana investors in California was simply to “buy her influence.” He said, “Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply high. Lisi’s decision to take this money shows a terrible lapse in judgement, and the fact that she is now proposing special ordinances that will impact marijuana growers in Holyoke is the worst conflict of interest.”
Sullivan said he felt that as elected officials, both he and Lisi should “hold ourselves to the highest standards – and can never put our personal interests before public interest.” He then once again called on Lisi to “step down as committee chair and recuse herself from all ordinance business that affects the cannabis industry.” He said, “Personally, I would recommend she returns these contributions or donate them to a Holyoke non-profit.”
Lisi also issued a statement regarding the incident via her mayoral campaign Facebook page. She said that Sullivan had interrupted the meeting “to try to stir up petty sound bites for his campaign for mayor.”
“Sullivan’s ploy to steal political points in this way was unprecedented for a member of the Holyoke City Council. His bullying, barging into a committee meeting for his own political gain, violated rules of City Council decorum,” she said. “I call on City Council President Todd McGee to censure Sullivan for his boorishness.”
Lisi then went on to say that Sullivan’s message was “disingenuous” as “Sullivan himself has received significant campaign contributions from cannabis companies and interests in his past campaigns.”
She defended her acceptance of the donations related to the marijuana industry, stating that since Holyoke residents voted to legalize marijuana in the city that she has seen the industry as a source of revenue and jobs for the city. “The city has succeeded at attracting marijuana-related jobs that are providing living wage jobs to our residents with career pathways for economic advancement,” she said.
“I saw the promise of this industry early on and worked hard to craft the ordinance that allows for marijuana permitting. Many in the marijuana industry are familiar with the leadership and expertise I have demonstrated on the City Council in this area,” she said. “There will be more donations to my campaign for mayor from individuals in the marijuana industry who share my vision for a revitalized downtown.”
She said, “With cannabis as a cornerstone, Holyoke is on a path for economic success.”
In a statement to Reminder Publishing, a representative from Sullivan’s campaign verified that he had not and would not accept financial contributions from any individual or business in the cannabis industry.