HOLYOKE — As he campaigns against incumbent U.S. Rep. Richard Neal in the 1st Congressional District, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse has often highlighted Neal’s status as the top recipient of corporate money in the House. Now, Neal is criticizing Morse’s fundraising, past and present.
In a press release issued to news outlets Thursday, the Neal campaign accused Morse of “accepting questionable campaign contributions,” both in the current congressional race and when previously running for mayor.
“At the height of hypocrisy, Alex has made campaign finance the focus of his campaign — yet for the past eight years he has filled his campaign coffers with money from people who have business before the city,” said Kate Norton, a spokeswoman for the Neal campaign. “At a minimum, and particularly amidst his repeated disingenuous grandstanding, Alex should hold himself to the same standard.”
The Neal campaign detailed what it says are at least $5,591 in contributions from Morse’s political appointees to his congressional campaign, as well as $19,980 from appointees to his mayoral campaigns. Norton also raised questions about decisions made to benefit Morse donors, including auto dealers, a towing company and marijuana companies.
In a response, Morse said in a statement that Neal is “Wall Street’s favorite Democrat,” adding that Neal is the largest recipient of corporate PAC money in the House “and votes accordingly.”
“Richard Neal wants the voters to believe that it doesn’t matter who he takes money from — because everyone is beholden to special interests, just like he is,” Morse said. “But that’s simply not the case.”
Morse was first elected in 2011. Upon request, the Neal campaign shared with the Gazette a list of current and former mayoral appointees who it said have given nearly $20,000 to Morse’s mayoral campaign since 2015, when the state began recording campaign contributions online. Many on the list gave to Morse’s campaign while in their appointed positions; others made contributions after leaving those roles.
For example, the Neal campaign included former Conservation Commission member Adrian Dahlin on the list, showing he gave $1,525 to Morse since 2015. However, Dahlin only served on that body until 2015, according to his LinkedIn. State campaign finance records show that $1,475 of those donations came after 2015. Former city solicitor Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ross, who served from 2012 to 2013, is also on the list Neal’s campaign provided. Rodriguez-Ross gave $580 to Morse’s campaign between 2017 and 2018.
Neal’s campaign also accused Morse of rewarding large donors. The campaign pointed to several examples, including Morse’s attempt to erect a monument to a donor who was neither a city resident nor a veteran in a park for Holyoke residents who died in war.
The Neal campaign also pointed to an auto dealer, Marcotte Ford, whose employees have given $12,000 to Morse since 2015. Marcotte Ford received a property tax exemption in 2015 for new construction on Main Street — a tax break unanimously approved by the City Council, according to The Republican newspaper.
Neal’s campaign also noted that Morse’s mayoral campaign has received money from employees of Gary Rome Hyundai, which in 2015 received a zoning change for a $10 million dealership on Whiting Farms Road in a decision Morse supported. That zoning change was also unanimously approved by the City Council, The Republican reported.
The Neal campaign questioned the city’s decision not to renew the contract of Reardon’s Garage for towing in 2016, noting that Red’s Towing has given $6,500 to Morse’s mayoral campaigns since 2015. At the time, Morse said that after all towing contracts expired in 2015, the city decided to contract with companies who were able to do both light and heavy towing.
“Reardon’s doesn’t have the capability to do heavy tows,” that statement read. “Therefore it was decided that we would only re-execute contracts with Hampshire Towing and Red’s Towing. Both companies have property in Holyoke, employ Holyoke residents and have been working with the city for years.”
Finally, Neal’s campaign alleged that Morse has taken at least $21,675 from marijuana industry operators and “people who stand to profit directly from the pro-cannabis policies that Morse has championed as mayor.”
“Morse’s donors include owners/principals of no fewer than seven cannabis businesses seeking City Hall and state approvals to operate in Holyoke or already doing so,” Norton said. She added that $5,500 in donations from the marijuana company GTI came weeks after Morse vetoed a City Council moratorium on permitting recreational marijuana sales.
In a statement, Morse’s campaign said he was one of the first politicians in the state to come out in favor of cannabis legalization.
“Morse has been driven by the strong understanding that the 40 year plus war on drugs has failed to curb substance abuse but has managed to criminalize marginalized, poor and communities of color throughout the country, including in Holyoke,” the campaign’s statement reads. “Upon legalization, he has also welcomed the industry to the city as a natural match for economic development opportunities.”
The Morse campaign’s statement goes on to say that because of the mayor’s “principled convictions and savvy economic development strategies,” cannabis entrepreneurs decided to donate in 2017, making up a small amount of his support and financing.
The Morse campaign also highlighted recent examples of what they said showed Neal letting big money influence his decisions to the benefit of “his corporate benefactors” and at the expense of Massachusetts residents: a bill Neal helped through the Ways and Means Committee, which he chairs, that would block the government from offering free online tax filing; and Neal’s apparent stalling of bipartisan legislation to end surprise medical billing.
“When I’m in Congress, the people of western Mass will know that I’m not beholden to my corporate donors, because I won’t have any,” Morse said. “I’ve received 25 times more contributions from residents of MA-1 than Neal, because people who live here invest in campaigns that truly represent them — while Wall Street and pharmaceutical companies invest in politicians like Neal who will help increase profits for their shareholders.”