CRANSTON – With a 5-1 vote during a lengthy executive session Friday, the R.I. Board of Elections is referring all congressional nomination papers submitted on behalf of Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos to be reviewed and investigated by the R.I. Office of the Attorney General.
Additionally, the board is also calling for Peter F. Neronha’s office to report its findings back to the board within 30 days.
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The board also voted Thursday in public session to not hear Democratic candidate Don Carlson’s objection to Matos being on the ballot, citing that neither Carlson nor his campaign manager, who filed the objection, were present during Friday’s meeting. With the challenge dropped, Matos will be on the ballot for the Sept. 5 primary election.
The board’s decision to send all papers to Neronha is the latest state action taken against Matos involving allegations and investigations into alleged fraudulent signatures submitted by the Matos campaign to local boards of canvassers within the 1st Congressional District. The vote on Friday came after the board of elections met for more than 90 minutes in executive session.
As of Thursday, Neronha’s office had taken full control of the investigation into Matos’ campaign after multiple local police departments began investigating claims of Matos’ nomination papers containing signatures that were either forged or signed by people who are deceased. Media reports have also confirmed that the R.I. State Police is also investigating Matos’ campaign. Prior to Friday, discrepancies were found on a few of Matos’ nomination papers in Jamestown, Newport, Barrington and East Providence.
Brexton Isaacs, Matos’ campaign manager, did not respond Friday to requests for comment in response to the board’s decision. He also has not responded to multiple follow-up questions sent Thursday from Providence Business News, including if the Matos campaign had done its own investigation into who within the campaign may have failed to follow proper signature protocols and how did the campaign respond if any campaign staff had submitted fraudulent signatures.
Matos campaign spokesperson Evan England declined Friday to offer comment to PBN.
Matos during a news conference later on Friday evening said she is staying in the race and added she was “deeply sorry” for what has happened, according to WPRI-TV CBS 12.
“Let’s be clear: My campaign is not under investigation,” Matos said. “A vendor hired by my campaign is under investigation.”
She said the vendor, Harmony Solutions, “… betrayed the trust of [her] campaign and may have broken the law.”
The elections board may meet on Aug. 21 – two weeks before the Sept. 5 primary election – to listen to Neronha’s investigative findings.
Matos, a Democrat, is one of 14 total candidates – 12 of whom are Democrats – seeking to succeed David N. Cicilline in the U.S. House. Multiple fellow candidates, including Gabe Amo and Republican candidate Gerry W. Leonard Jr., have criticized Matos in their respective statements for not explaining publicly about the matter.
In a statement Friday, Carlson’s campaign said it is “gratified” that the challenge helped establish jurisdiction for the board of directors to address the fraud allegations against Matos. Carlson’s campaign said it has “full faith” in Neronha’s office to bring this matter to a “just and satisfactory” conclusion.
(SUBS paragraphs 8-10 with Matos comment from news conference. Minor edits throughout to tighten.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
