Flier Draws PAC's Ire In Petty-Kennedy State Senate Race

WORCESTER, MA — A political action committee involved in the state Senate race between Worcester Mayor Joe Petty and Robyn Kennedy is taking issue with a flier sent by the Petty campaign.

The Massachusetts Women for Progress PAC's strike against the Petty campaign comes several weeks after Petty filed a complaint against the Kennedy campaign. The complaint accused Kennedy of collaborating with the PAC, a violation of campaign finance regulations.

Petty and Kennedy are headed for a showdown on Sept. 6 in the Democratic primary. The winner will almost certainly take the 1st Worcester District state Senate seat, which state Sen. Harriette Chandler is vacating at the end of 2022.

In a press release Thursday, Massachusetts Women for Progress assailed a recent Petty mail piece featuring an image of the mayor in front of a crowd of people. The flier shows Petty standing in along Russell Street near Elm Park with people who participated in the 2019 Central Mass Housing Alliance walk for the homeless.

"People are showing up for Joe Petty ... because he has always show up for us," the flier says over the image accompanied by a list of Petty accolades.

The PAC had initially claimed the image of Petty at the CMHA walk may have been Photoshopped. But Joe Santa Maria, creative director at the firm Kill The Ball Media, confirmed he took the photo of Petty in 2019. Santa Maria said Petty paid him $150 to use it for the mailer —verified by campaign finance records — but was "in no way endorsing his candidacy or the candidacy of any other politician," he said.

(The CMHA's website has a photo gallery from the 2019 walk, but it also includes a 2016 photo of Petty wearing a different suit than shown in the campaign flier.)

William Eddy, a former Worcester councilor and Petty's campaign chair, called it "beyond the pale" to accuse the campaign of fabricating the photo. He also said the photo in the flier was meant to be a political metaphor for people supporting Petty, not a literal representation of supporters.

"We did not imply, say, state or infer that everyone in that photo is for Joe Petty," he said.

Eddy said the campaign's digital media manager selected the photo to use in the mail piece.

Cara Berg Powers, the Massachusetts Women for Progress chairwoman, said the mailer is still a problem even if the photo is real — particularly because the people in the photo predate Petty's senate campaign by several years. She also said it's unfair to use a photo tied to a nonprofit for political purposes. IRS rules bar nonprofits from getting involved in political campaigns.

"Those attendees, especially ones that may be receiving services, did not ask to be part of a political mailer, and they certainly did not agree, years ago, to 'show up' for Joe Petty as a state Senate candidate," she said Thursday.

Massachusetts Women for Progress is classified as an independent expenditure PAC, and supports Kennedy's bid for senate — but the PAC can't coordinate with Kennedy's campaign. The PAC's two biggest donors are Esler Companies founder John Esler and philanthropist Patty Eppinger.

According to campaign finance records released this week, Petty is ahead in campaign fundraising with nearly $65,000 on hand against Kennedy's $25,500. Both candidates have picked up key endorsements in recent weeks, however.

Kennedy received the backing of state Reps. Mary Keefe and Natalie Higgins, Worcester Councilors Thu Nguyen and Etel Haxhiaj, the Massachusetts Teachers Association — and had a fundraiser hosted for her by former governor Deval Patrick and Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Tim Murray.

Meanwhile, the Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO, West Boylston Select Board Chair Barur Raj Rajeshkumar, former Worcester mayor Joe O’Brien, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and state Sen. Michael Moore have all backed Petty.

Mail-in voting in ahead of primary day on Sept. 6 has already begun, and early voting begins the week of Aug. 29.