Roofing Company Agrees to Pay $45,000 for Trying to Conceal Contributions To Boston Mayor Marty Walsh

Reliable Roofing and Sheet Metal, a Framingham-based company, made a $45,000 payment to the state’s general fund to settle campaign finance matters concerning prohibited corporate campaign contributions to Martin Walsh’s Boston mayoral committee and disguising the true source of those funds, according to a disposition agreement between company president and owner James O’Donovan and OCPF.

The Walsh committee had no knowledge that the contributions were made using corporate funds, and it has voluntarily donated the money to charity.

OCPF’s investigation into the matter started after a routine review of campaign finance reports.

OCPF concluded that Reliable Roofing made corporate contributions to Walsh’s committee in 2013 by reimbursing or paying its employees or their relatives for making the contributions. The state’s campaign finance law prohibits corporate contributions to candidates and disguising the true source of campaign contributions.

Based on interviews with Reliable Roofing employees, persons associated with the company and a review of personal and corporate bank records, OCPF determined that $15,500 in contributions were disguised by the company to make contributions to the Walsh Committee.

According to the agreement, two events were held on April 30, 2013, at the Stockyard Restaurant in Brighton: one was held to celebrate O’Donovan’s birthday and the other was to raise money for the Walsh Committee. At least 20 individuals associated with Reliable Roofing attended the events or made contributions totaling $10,500 to the committee on or about the same day as the events. Another $5,000 was contributed by people who were apparently related to those individuals.

Each person interviewed by OCPF indicated that he or she made a contribution using their own personal funds. However, the bank records subpoenaed by OCPF indicated that some contributors deposited funds received from Reliable Roofing into their personal checking accounts either shortly before or shortly after the April 30 event. Some of the payments were made in the exact amount of the reported contributions, and “reimbursement” was noted in the memo section of some checks.

As part of the agreement, Reliable Roofing and O’Donovan agreed not to make any independent expenditures, make contributions to independent expenditure PACs or to permit solicitation of contributions on its premises for any Massachusetts candidate or political committee, through Dec. 31, 2016.

The agreement was signed by O’Donovan and OCPF Director Michael J. Sullivan, and is available by clicking here.

The Office of Campaign and Political Finance is an independent state agency that administers Massachusetts General Law Chapter 55, the campaign finance law. Established in 1973, OCPF is the depository for disclosure reports filed by candidates and committees.