Are Rent Control Foes Funding Campbell's Campaign Committee?

According to an April 2021 poll, over 70 percent of Boston's residents now want to see rent control and rent regulation for Boston's tenant majority restored in 2021.

Yet the 2021 Boston mayoral candidate that was recently endorsed by the editors of Multi-Billionaire Red Sox Owner John Henry's Boston Globe, Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, is opposed to restoring rent control and rent regulation in Boston in 2021.

And since Councilor Campbell has been sitting on the Boston City Council during the last 5 years, monthly market rents charged Boston tenants have generally continued to be increased in an exploitative way by individuals involved in Boston's for-profit real estate development business.

Coincidentally, according to the Friends ofo Andrea Campbell Committee's financial disclosure forms, of the 640 individual campaign contributions of $1,000 that Councilor Campbell's mayoral campaign committee deposited in its bank account between Jan. 1, 2021 and Aug. 30, 2021, more than a few were apparently given by individuals involved in the real estate industry (that has, historically, worked to block rent regulation, rent control, rent rollbacks and rent freezes for the Boston tenants it has often economically exploited).

For example, the following individual campaign contributions of $1,000 were deposited in the bank account of Councilor Campbell's campaign committee between Jan. 11, 2021 and Aug. 30, 2021:

1. On March 29, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Groma Managing Partner Angelo Drake (who later also gave a $1,000 campaign contribution to Boston City Councilor Wu's campaign committee on June 28, 2021) was deposited;

2. On Apr. 12, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Groma Realty Corporation Property Manager Grant Fishman of Cambridge (who later also gave a $1,000 campaign contribution to Councilor Wu's campaign committee on June 28, 2021) was deposited;

3. On Apr. 19, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Groma LLC General Counsel Paul Bell of Chestnut Hill, MA (who later also gave a $1,000 campaign contribution to Councilor Wu's campaign committee on June 28, 2021) was deposited;

4. On May 24, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from First Atlantic LLC Co-Founder and Managing Director, New England Baptist Hospital and Business Executives for National Security [BENS] board member and Cambridge Trust Company and Edward Davis, LLC Advisor Christopher Collins of Manchester, MA was deposited;

5. On Aug. 30, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from First Atlantic LLC Co-Founder, Managing Director, Real Estate Investor and Developer and Taft School Trustee Margaret Wagner was deposited;

6. On July 26, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Paradigm Development Developer and Paradigm Companies President and Founder Stanley Sloter of Arlington, Virginia was deposited;

7. On Jan. 11, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Paradigm Properties LLC CEO Kevin McCall of Cambridge was deposited;

8. On Jan. 11, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from former Catalyst Communities, LLC Chair and CEO and current Beacon Communities LLC Executive Vice-President and Partner Michael Polite of Pittsburgh was deposited;

9. On Feb. 22, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Beacon Communities LLC Chairman of the Board, former Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency General Counsel and former Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glousky and Popeo corporate law firm partner Howard Cohen was deposited;

10. On Jan. 11, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Dinosaur Capital Partners Managing Partner and Founder and Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology Trustee Scott Oran of Newton, MA was deposited;

11. On Feb. 16, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from TLee Development LLC Founder and Owner Travis Lee was deposited;

12. On Feb. 26, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Newton-based real estate developer and former 2016 Co-Chair of the Massachusetts state branch of Jews Choose Trump, Joshua Katzen, was deposited;

13. On March 1, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Cliff Moskow of the Moskow Group was deposited;

14. On March 15, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from The Keith Companies Construction Inc. of Canton, MA Founder, Owner and CEO and Curry College Trustee John W. Keith was deposited;

15. On March 15, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Hoon Construction Services and Keith Properties President Shelley Hoon Keith of Milton, MA was deposited;

16. On March 15, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Belmont, MA's Gerald Cohen of SF Properties Inc. was deposited;

17. On March 22, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Criterion Development Partners Principal John J. Englert was deposited;

18. On March 22, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Hexagon Properties Real Estate Developer Sandra Edgerley of Brookline was deposited;

19. On March 22, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from WestEdge Partners Investor Paul Edgerley of Brookline was deposited;

20. On March 29, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Irshad M. Sideeka Real Estate Developer Irshad M. Sideeka of Brookline was deposited;

21. On Apr. 29, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from W/S Development Associates LLC Parnter Thomas J. DeSimone of Swampscott, MA was deposited;

22. On Apr. 30, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Neal Shalom of Waterstone Property Group was deposited;

23. On May 10, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Atlantic Properties Management Corporation President Richard Bendeton was deposited;

24. On May 17, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from ViewPark, California's Christopher Pearson of Hudson Pacific Properties was deposited;

25. On May 24, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Brookline's Kevin Liss-Riordan of Philbrick Holdings was deposited;

26. On May 28, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Abbott Investments LLC Real Estate Investor Michael Rothschild of Natick, MA was deposited;

27. On June 15, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from William P. McGuillan of Boylston Properties was deposited;

28. On June 21, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Joyner Development Real Estate Developer Derrick Joyner was deposited;

29. On June 28, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Chestnut Hill, MA's Rebecca Shulman of Real Estate Development Design/Bird Rack Associates/Beach Plum Properties was deposited;

30. On July 9, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from James Keliher of Keliher Real Estate Inc. was deposited;

31. On July 30, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from D2 Development Real Estate Developer Joseph Digangi was deposited;

32. On July 21, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Rever, MA's Boston Common Holdings Developer Brad R. Cangramila was deposited;

33. On Aug. 30, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Wayland, MA's Will Catlin of Boston Realty Advisers was deposited;

34. On Jan. 11, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Wingate Capital Associates President Jeffrey Goodman of South Dartmouth, MA was deposited; and

35. On Aug. 16, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from The Kraft Group Property Manager Catherine Carreiso of Chestnut Hill, MA was deposited.

Coincidentally, on Apr. 26, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from The Kraft Group President, Massachusetts General Hospital Board of Trustees Chair and Partners Health Care, Belmont Hill School and Dexter Southfield Trustee Jonathan Kraft of Foxborough, MA was also deposited in the Friends of Andrea Campbell Committee's bank account; and on June 7, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Brandeis and Brigham and Women's Hospital Trustee Josh Kraft of Chestnut Hill, MA was later deposited in the same bank account of Boston Councilor Campbell's campaign committee.

Besides depositing a lot of $1,000 contributions from individuals who have apparently been making a lot of money from their real estate investments (since rent regulation and rent control for Boston's tenant majority was undemocratically ended in the 1990's) in its bank account, in 2021 Councilor Campbell's campaign committee also deposited the following $1,000 contributions between Jan. 26 and Feb. 27, 2021:

1. On Jan. 26, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Dagle Electrical Construction Corp. Construction Manager Peter Grela of Weston, MA was deposited;

2. On Jan. 26, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Linda Grela of Weston, MA was deposited;

3. On Jan. 26, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Dagle Electrical Construction Corp. President Maureen Dagle of Melrose was deposited;

4. On Jan. 26, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Dagle Electrical Construction Corp. Manager Jamges Dagle of Melrose was deposited; and

5. On Feb. 27, 2021 a $1,000 contribution from Dagle Electrical Construction Corp. Administrator Matthew Scheier was deposited.

"Non-profit" institutions in Boston (that still aren't required to pay a fair share of local and city taxes in Boston), like GBH, Harvard University, Boston College, BU, The Boston Foundation and the Barr Froundation, are (in exchange for their corporate tax-exempted status) not supposed to be supporting campaigns of candidates for political offices.

Yet on June 1, 2021 Councilor Campbell's campaign committee deposited a $1,000 contribution from the president and CEO of The Boston Foundation (whose total assets currently exceed $1.6 billion and whose vice-president, Stephen Chan, gave a $1,000 contribution to Boston City Councilor Wu's campaign committee on Jan. 11, 2021), former Emerson College President Lee Pelton (who also gave a $1,000 contribution on June 10, 2021 to Boston Mayor Janey's campaign committee).

In addition, a $1,000 contribution from the co-founder, former president and current board of trustees chair of the Barr Foundation (whose current assets exceed $2 billion and whose total revenues of $321 million exceeded its total expenses of $121 million in 2019), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Life Trustee and Museum of Fine Arts [MFA] and Boston Symphony Orchestra Board of Trustees Chair Barbara W. Hostetter (who also gave a $1,000 campaign contribution to Councilor Wu's campaign committee on Feb. 1, 2021) was deposited by Councilor Campbell's campaign committee on May 24, 2021--the same day that Councilor Campbell's campaign committee also deposited a $1,000 contribution from Billionaire Pilot House Associates LLC Chairman Amos Hostetter.

And, coincidentally, the Boston Globe media firm of Multi-Billionaire Boston Red Sox Owner Henry (whose editors recently endorsed 2021 Boston mayoral candidate Campbell, despite Councilor Campbell being opposed to re-establishing rent regulation and rent control in Boston in 2021) was given a $300,000 "charitable grant" by the Barr Foundation on July 19, 2019, according to the "non-profit" Barr Foundation's most recent Form 990 financial filing.