August 5, 2007 

Interesting activities in political campaign expenses for Worcester DA’s candidates; past and present. 

Former District Attorney John Conte has been freely spending his political campaign war chest; at the height of his surprised announcement not to seek re-election totaled $278,318.73. Many large donations in his 2007 campaign filings are connected to the Diocese of Worcester, while other minor donations are to youth services and other political candidates. 

Several payments listed to Sonitrol, of Dallas, Texas for security amounting to  $263.28 have been sent to the Office of Political Finance for review to see if they are within the guidelines of  M.G.L. Chapter 55 section 18 for residual funds of political candidates.    

Newly elected District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., has been spending a rather large amount on a political consultant, Michael Shea. Campaign expense records for June 2007 illustrate a total payment of $5,000 for Mr. Shea. With the 2010 election three years away to spend such a hefty amount on a media consultant appears debatable. DA Early’s, June 2007 contributions generally can be attributed to lawyer’s doing business in Worcester County tallying $20,500.00.  Campaign expenses for the same time period amounted to $15,934.71.  

Mr. Early campaigned on promises to make juvenile justice a top priority and to improve the lives of all families in Worcester County.

Last week the Worcester Telegram reported that, newly elected Worcester DA Joseph Early had reduced overall payroll expense to the DA’s Office by hiring new employees. This analysis was determined by material provided by the District Attorney’s Office.  

Under further examination, those numbers appear to be a comparison of apples to oranges. First and foremost, Mr. Tim Connolly, DA Early’s spokesperson’s salary is $75,000 per year, yet he is compared with Anthony Pellegrini who was employed by DA Conte as the Victim Witness Program director. Elizabeth Stammo, former Conte Spokesperson is still employed by DA Early as an administrator. Jennifer Nadeau who identifies herself as the scheduling assistant for DA Early actually has a higher salary than her reported counterpart Keri Hoenig. Thus the inner administrative circle of Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early has faced an increase in salary cost, and has not decreased as reported by the Telegram.   

In addition Christopher Hodgens who was the head of the Appeals Division during the Conte regime is still employed by DA Early, his exact position remains unclear. DA Early appointed Jane Sullivan as Head of Appeals Division at cost to the taxpayer of $85,000 dollars yearly. So to compare Jim Reagon who was Conte’s brother in law and the first district attorney to Jane Sullivan is inaccurate.  

This misrepresentation of material facts by the office of Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early along with inaccurate published reports by the Worcester Telegram undermines the public confidence of our newly elected District Attorney. These actions also further the political patronage persona of former DA John Conte.

At eight months into his tenure, Worcester DA, Joseph Early has yet to  deploy  traceable programmatic changes for improvements in the lives of all Worcester County families as of this date.

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