Patrick campaign says it miscalculated reimbursement
Owed $58,662 at year's end
In November, two weeks after Deval Patrick swept to a resounding victory in the governor's race, his political advisers believed that his campaign was so flush with cash that they reimbursed the candidate $200,000.
Now, his campaign manager, John Walsh , acknowledges that Patrick's political committee made a miscalculation and is struggling to pay off its debts.
At year's end, Patrick's committee owed $58,662 to a host of companies, consultants, and government agencies that provided services to the campaign, including a big-shot national political consultant, the Lowell public schools, and the Quincy police. Some are still waiting for payment.
As a result, Patrick will now have to raise additional money to cover his debt.
"I regret the error. I wish we had made the decision with accurate information," Walsh said this week, after the year-end campaign finance reports were filed, revealing the outstanding debt.
Walsh said he decided to repay the Patrick loan after the committee's financial staff overestimated revenues, making the account appear robust enough to cover all of the campaign's bills. At the time, Walsh told the Globe that he, not the governor, made the decision to reimburse Patrick for his loans, because all the debts had been repaid.
Walsh also decided, based on erroneous accounting, to return to the state $22,640 in unused public campaign funds that could have been used to pay the bills. Instead the committee had only $13,074 on Dec. 31.
Walsh said four of the outstanding bills, amounting to more than $12,000, were paid Tuesday, one day after the Globe began making inquiries. They included payments to the Lowell School Department and Quincy police.
Patrick, who carries a heavy monthly mortgage debt, did not request the loan repayment, Walsh said. "The first time Deval knew about it was when I called him to get his account information, so I could wire the money into his account," he said. "He said, 'You're kidding me,' and asked the question whether I was confident we could pay him. I assured him we could."
A Globe review of the Patricks' finances during last year's campaign showed that while Patrick has accumulated significant resources through his corporate work, he and his wife have also taken on significant debt through their real estate holdings. The couple's mortgage payments in interest alone are currently about $325,000 a year for their home in Milton and their second home in the Berkshires.
Patrick loaned his campaign committee $348,000, but under campaign finance laws can only be reimbursed $200,000. Democratic lawmakers imposed the limit in the 1990s after Republican William F. Weld's committee repaid him $1.2 million for his personal loans, using donations, most from lobbyists and special interests with business on Beacon Hill, that he raised after becoming governor.
Patrick's unpaid bills on Dec. 31 included $21,458 owed to David Axelrod, a national political consultant who heads up AKP Message and Media of Chicago; $900 to DC Rentals of Everett, for election night equipment; more than $900 to
Patrick raised $7.5 million last year, according to reports filed earlier this year, while his Republican opponent Kerry Healey's campaign raised $12.5 million, including nearly $10 million from the candidate.
