Official lays off staffers in R.I. Financing woes affect Senate bid

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Secretary of State Matt Brown has laid off key campaign staff members amid questions about campaign financing that dried up his fundraising and threaten to end his candidacy for U.S. Senate.

“Our campaign is reorganizing and bringing in new people,” campaign manager Tim Patterson wrote in a statement Monday, saying the campaign would run “leaner and smarter” as it faces the five months until the Democratic primary.

The statement did not say who was laid off or explain why, and Patterson did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

But former Brown spokesman Matt Burgess said he was laid off Friday.

“The campaign is paring down, and I wish them the best of luck,” Burgess said.

At least two other staffers were laid off – field director Rich Pelletier and finance director Bob Pilon – according to a person with knowledge of the campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Media consultant Matt MacWilliams of the Washington firm MacWilliams Robinson & Partners was also let go, the source said.

MacWilliams and Robinson did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Pelletier and Pilon did not have telephone listings and could not immediately be reached.

The layoffs come about a month and a half after Brown acknowledged his campaign took $25,000 in donations from state Democratic parties in Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts, then steered its most generous donors to give money to those parties. Pelletier, former executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, arranged the deals.

Watchdogs and political opponents accused him of trying to circumvent campaign finance laws, and the Republican parties in Hawaii and Rhode Island sent a complaint to the Federal Election Commission asking for an investigation. Brown denied wrongdoing but returned the money.

The news made a big dent in Brown’s campaign funds. His campaign announced last week that his fundraising badly lagged his opponents’ in the first quarter, and he has just $35,000 cash on hand to last him until the September primary, far less than he would need to keep his full staff, according to reports filed with the FEC.

In the fourth quarter of last year, the most recent numbers available, payroll and related taxes for the campaign staff averaged about $50,000 per month. MacWilliams was paid more than $20,000 for the quarter.

Brown’s major primary opponent, former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, has more than $1.3 million on hand for the primary, according to reports filed with the FEC this month.

They are both vying for the seat held by Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee. Chafee faces his own opponent in the Republican primary, Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey.