Super PAC Boosts Framingham, Worcester, Marlborough Candidates

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A super PAC affiliated with supporters of Gov. Charlie Baker has spent big on some local municipal races recently, spending about $130,000 to support candidates from Worcester to Gloucester.

The Mass Majority PAC first emerged in the 2019 municipal races. That year, the PAC benefited Framingham At-Large Councilor Janet Leombruno and Worcester At-Large Councilor Donna Colorio, helping them win their first city council races.

Although candidates may benefit from PAC spending, they do not legally have a say in how the Mass Majority PAC spends its money. The PAC has also supported both Republican and Democratic candidates, although municipal races are nonpartisan.

In 2021, the Beverly-based PAC has spent more than $15,000 supporting Colorio in her run for reelection, and her bid to become Worcester mayor against five-term incumbent Joseph Petty. The PAC is also supporting first-time candidate Richard Cipro, who is trying to unseat District 1 Worcester Councilor Sean Rose.

In Framingham, mayoral challenger Charlie Sisitsky received close to $10,000 in support from the PAC as he aims to unseat first-term Mayor Yvonne Spicer. Incumbent Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant also received a boost from the PAC. He got over $14,000 in support in 2019.

In response, Spicer used the Mass Majority PAC filings to attack Sisitsky.

"We should all be concerned that Republicans have invested dark money from a Super PAC in support of my opponent’s campaign," she said in a news release. "This is a continuation of the GOP’s deliberate strategy to take over Framingham’s local government. Two years ago, Republicans invested tens of thousands of dollars to elect local Trump-supporter Janet Leombruno to the Framingham City Council. Leombruno won her election by only 53 votes during a low turnout election and is now one of the chief architects of Charlie Sisitsky’s campaign for mayor."

Sisitsky responded, highlighting that Spicer has accepted thousands of dollars from outside of Framingham. He also said that he's a lifelong Democrat, and has the support of key local Democrats like state Reps. Maria Robinson and Jack Lewis.

"The incumbent’s desperate, last-minute effort at fear-mongering and misrepresenting that our campaign had anything to do with the entity in question is not surprising from someone who is unable to run on her own record because it so abysmal," the campaign said in a statement Wednesday night.

The Mass Majority PAC raised over $900,000 in 2021, including two $100,000 donations from Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish and Granite Telecommunications CEO Robert Hale. The Framingham-based Atlantic Management Corporation real estate investment company also chipped in $25,000.

Here's how much support local candidates received this fall:

• Worcester At-Large Councilor Donna Colorio — $15,969 for digital ads and direct mail pieces
• Framingham mayoral candidate Charlie Sisitsky — $9,900 for digital ads and direct mail pieces support
• Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant — $6,408 for digital ads and direct mail pieces
• Worcester District 1 candidate Richard Cipro — $516 for digital ads