Katie Castellani
State House News Service
Republican write-in candidates are coalescing around a legislative audit and election integrity measures as part of an effort launched by activists last week to place at least 10 Republican candidates on November's ballot through write-in campaigns.
The Action, Commitment & Engagement Network, or ACE Network, is not associated with the state Republican Party. The group said it is recruiting candidates who are "committed to legislative transparency and voter integrity" and its formation comes as some Republican candidates' ballot hopes are in limbo over allegedly fraudulent signatures.
So far, five candidates have joined the push including Anne Brensley, a Wayland attorney and the GOP convention-endorsed lieutenant governor candidate who said she failed to secure enough certified signatures to make it onto September's primary ballot. Brensley said this was a result of her hired signature gatherer, Joe Bronske, returning signatures she says were fraudulent.
Other candidates include: Chris Shepley of Andover who's running for the 18th Essex District House seat; Ken Willette of Methuen, a candidate for the 4th Essex District House seat; Ruth Pereen, who is running for Governor's Council; and Tara Martorella of Everett, a candidate for Middlesex County Register of Probate. Pereen, a former Essex Select Board member who lost her bid for reelection last year, has not organized an account with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Martorella is already on the ballot as a non-party candidate and aligned with the Justice for All designation, according to Deb O'Malley, spokesperson for the secretary of state's office.
Martorella unenrolled with the Republican Party when she pulled nomination papers earlier this year but can still run as a Republican write-in, O'Malley said.
The coalition's leader is John Kolackovsky, who backed initiative petitions to repeal the MBTA Communities Law, which failed to get enough support for the ballot.
He said a full slate of candidates will be announced July 10 and the statewide write-in initiative starts July 18.
"We cannot offer the people of Massachusetts an alternative to the status quo without getting more candidates on the ballot,” he said.
The coalition has support from one of the House's most conservative members, Rep. John Gaskey, who said, "We believe the battle for an audit is bigger than any one campaign."
To win a primary, write-in candidates must earn more votes than any other candidate and receive as many votes as the number of signatures they must file for the office they're seeking, according to the secretary of state's website