Rogers pays $30k to settle inquiry
State investigated payments to adviser
House majority leader John H. Rogers has paid $30,000 to settle a state investigation that found he disbursed $96,300 from his political account to a close adviser, who used the money in part to make payments on a vacation house the pair jointly owned on Cape Cod.
While expensive, the settlement was at least a partial victory for Rogers, who escaped a ruling that he converted campaign funds to personal use.
The Office of Campaign and Political Finance stopped short of slapping him with a violation. And it refrained from sending the matter for criminal proceedings to Attorney General Martha Coakley. Instead of a fine, it described Rogers' $30,000 settlement as reimbursement for expenses incurred while investigating his campaign accounts.
Rogers also did not have to bear the expense of the settlement personally; the agreement allowed him to pay the $30,000 out of his political funds.
The agency said it decided against stronger action because Rogers's political adviser, Thomas Drummey, had legitimately earned payments from the Rogers campaign for substantial political work.
Even so, according to the settlement agreement, it determined that Drummey used campaign money to make 22 monthly mortgage payments on the East Falmouth house he owns with Rogers.
"We feel the agreement speaks for itself," said Brad Balzer, the agency's deputy director. "Our decision to reach this agreement rather than to refer the matter to the attorney general's office is the appropriate action."
Still, the ruling could be a setback for Rogers as he engages in an internal power struggle with House Ways and Means chairman Robert A. DeLeo to succeed Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi. Despite DiMasi's insistence that he intends to remain in his post, both Rogers and DeLeo are quietly courting members for their support.
The campaign finance office's investigation was launched after the Globe reported in June 2007 that Rogers, a Norwood Democrat, had used $196,000 of his campaign funds to hire his former law partner, Philip F. Filosa, as a political consultant.
In a statement released yesterday, Rogers said he had requested the Office of Campaign and Political Finance review after the Globe report.
"I am also aware that appearances matter, and I will work even harder with [the Office of Campaign and Political Finance] to ensure that all committee practices are not only proper, but also appear proper," he said. "My constituents demand and deserve the highest standards of public behavior and I'm thankful that this issue is resolved and disposed of."
Rogers and Filosa had previously refused to provide the Globe details of how the money was spent. The campaign finance agency's findings released yesterday are the first evidence of Drummey's role and his involvement in helping to finance the purchase of the Cape Cod summer home.
The payments to Drummey, made from September 2004 to April 2006, were channeled through Bay State Consulting, a firm that lists its address at Rogers's old law office in Wrentham, which he shared for many years with Filosa.
Drummey's mortgage payments for the East Falmouth house began one month after he and Rogers purchased the property in August 2004. Thereafter, monthly mortgage payments were typically made immediately after he received funds from Rogers's campaign committee, according to the settlement agreement.
Rogers said that his committee's payments to Drummey, who has a full-time job at a bank, were appropriate and legal because his friend was actively providing political consulting services. The Norwood Democrat said in the settlement agreement that he "spoke with and received services" from Drummey on a daily basis "about all things political, and the consultant earned his salary."
Filosa, 58, a former legislator, created Bay State Consulting in 2004 after Rogers asked him to take over his political operations. Rogers said he needed Filosa's help because his political expenses were growing too rapidly and his fund-raising lagged. The two shared a law office in Wrentham until 2003.
At the time that the campaign committee began paying a $10,000 monthly fee to Filosa, in August 2004, it had $237,000 in its account. By the end of 2005, the committee had only $34,538. During that period Rogers had no political opposition in his district.
Rogers now has about $78,000, according to his latest filings. 