The Boston Globe (here’s a link) highlights an extraordinarily far-reaching and audacious scheme by a Boston law firm to circumvent state and federal campaign finance rules.

The story points out that former state representative and assistant majority leader Garrett Bradley, long a partner at the firm, Thornton Associates, abandoned his State House duties in quite a hurry to take the reins of the firm after the Globe started sniffing around.

What you won’t read, and we wanted to be sure you know, is Bradley sponsored H543, an infamous bill aimed at curtailing political speech passed in the dead of a hot July night. Insiders, including Boston Globe reporters, called it the “MassFiscal” bill. Its sole intent was curtailing our ability to communicate our mission.

Like most of the bills the Beacon Hill Establishment pass, H543 turned out to be ineffective. MassFiscal is stronger than ever.

Today, we called on the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) to fully investigate the illegal laundering of corporate contributions through Garrett Bradley’s law firm. The Bradley scheme boldly circumvents this prohibition. Contributions received by candidates and organizations regulated by OCPF would, in fact, be tainted. Such contributions must be returned as part of restitution, as the monies constitute an unfair advantage. The Bradley scheme may be the largest campaign finance law violation committed by a state lawmaker.

To read a copy of our letter to OCPF, click here.

To download a copy of the complete list of donation records to state candidates by Garrett Bradley and Michael Thornton, click here. 

To download a copy of the list of donation records to incumbent officeholders by Garrett Bradley and Michael Thornton, click here.

If you cannot vote on Election Day, there are new options this year. Massachusetts joins 36 other states in allowing voters to vote early in the 2018 election cycle for local, state and federal elections. 

Early voting will run to Friday, November 2. In addition to voting early, one might also choose to vote by mail, the same way one would cast an absentee ballot.

Here are the details:

EARLY VOTING: You can find where your early voting location is by visiting the Secretary of State's website. Use the drop-down menu and find your town. To get started, click here.

VOTE BY MAIL: If you prefer to vote by mail, please download the Vote by Mail Application here. Simply print the form, complete it, sign, and mail it back to your Town Clerk. The Clerk will mail you your official ballot. All vote by mail ballots that were sent domestically, must be received by your town clerk by election day. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions at [email protected].

Did you get one of our mailers on Prop 80? If so, here’s a challenge for you: poke around the official House and Senate websites, and try to find how your legislator voted on advancing Proposition 80, the proposed income tax hike headed for the 2018 ballot. We sent over 100,000 of these cards to people in key towns and cities around the state. 

Prop 80 proposes a constitutional change away from the state’s flat tax rate in Massachusetts, in which all taxpayers pay the same percentage, and toward a graduated income tax. Tax-happy special interests have been pushing similar schemes for years, and voters have consistently rejected graduated income tax proposals.

Under the current plan, some taxpayers will see an outrageous 80 percent increase in their tax rate.

If you can find the vote on the legislature’s website, take a screen shot. Email us at [email protected]. We’ll send the first 20 respondents one of our “I Oppose Prop. 80” coffee mugs, free of charge!

If you’d rather, you can click on the links below to be taken directly to the votes on our scorecard: Senate vote: http://massfiscalscorecard.org/189th/votes/251 House vote: http://massfiscalscorecard.org/189th/votes/252.