State Senator Scott Brown said he was alerted that a state worker called the head of the National Guard to see if Brown could run for office because of his position with the Guard.
(John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff)
US Senate candidate asks Patrick to investigate
Brown asks if state workers checked his eligibility
State Senator Scott Brown said he was alerted that a state worker called the head of the National Guard to see if Brown could run for office because of his position with the Guard.
(John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff)
State Senator Scott Brown, the Republican frontrunner for Edward M. Kennedy’s US Senate seat, asked Governor Deval Patrick yesterday to investigate whether state employees spent public time and resources researching if Brown could run for office while serving in the National Guard.
Brown said he was alerted last week that an unidentified employee of the state Executive Office of Public Safety had called the head of the Guard, Adjutant General Joseph Carter, to see if Brown would be disqualified from running because of his position with the Guard. Brown, of Wrentham, has been a guardsman for 29 years and is a lieutenant colonel, serving as a lawyer in the office of the Judge Advocate General.
Brown said he was told - he would not say by whom - that the state employee even sought a legal opinion from the Guard that showed there was no prohibition against his running or serving. According to Brown, full-time career soldiers, not citizen soldiers such as him, are barred from serving in elective office.
“I am bringing this to your attention because it represents highly inappropriate partisan political conduct on the part of your administration,’’ Brown wrote Patrick, a Democrat. “I know you appreciate the seriousness of this situation and that you share my disappointment if someone in one of your cabinet agencies has behaved this way. I hope you find it serious enough to commence an investigation.’’
The Patrick administration issued a statement denying that an investigation was conducted or a legal opinion issued. It said there was legal research done by the National Guard, but that it was prompted by Brown.
Administration officials said that after Brown left a message for Carter saying that he planned to run for Senate and maintain his active status in the Guard, National Guard lawyers simply checked the law to make sure he was on safe legal ground.
“The governor called Scott Brown this morning to wish him well in his US Senate race and learned during that call of Brown’s concern,’’ Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke said in a statement. “In follow-up, we learned that Senator Brown notified the National Guard of his intention to maintain his status as an active member of the Guard while running. In keeping with common practice, the National Guard notified the Executive Office of Public Safety, and the National Guard later confirmed that his candidacy would not impact his status in the Guard.’’
Brown spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom disputed the administration’s version of what happened.
“Senator Brown has the greatest respect for Adjutant General Carter, and as a courtesy he notified him of his plans to become a candidate, but he never asked for legal guidance,’’ Fehrnstrom said.
The field of potential Republican candidates for the job has thinned considerably, as Andrew Card, former White House chief of staff, bowed out and threw his support to Brown.
Also declaring they would not run were Kerry Healey, former lieutenant governor, and convenience store magnate Christy Mihos, who decided last week, after toying with the idea of a US Senate run, to stick to his original plan to run for governor. He ran as an independent in 2006.
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