Durant Received Significant Money From Outside Special Interests

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Ken O’Brien

State representative Peter Durant is among a numberof freshman House Republicans who have been the beneficiaries of an informalnetwork of political donors that have helped keep the conservative lawmakerscompetitive as they try to retain the seats they won just two years ago,according to a report by Matt Murphy of the State House News Service
The freshman lawmaker is facing a challenge fromDemocrat Kathleen Walker ofCharlton. 
Campaign finance records show that a smallcollection of political donors from around the state have been givingsignificant sums to a number of House GOP freshmen from outside theirdistricts. In many cases, the donors are linked by their affiliations with sociallyand religiously conservative groups, including the Massachusetts FamilyInstitute and the Coalition for Marriage and Family.

Durant was the second most heavily subsidizedcandidate by these outside the district interests.  He received contributions totaling $27,640 exceededonly by Steven Levy of Marlborough who took in $31,545. Jim Lyons of Andoverraised $14,950, George Ross of Attleboro raised $12,150, Angelo D’Emilia raised$8,600, and Shaunna O’Connell raised $7,600.
Fourteen families and five political actioncommittees have contributed $102,485 to just those six GOP freshmen over thecourse of their young political careers, according to Office of Campaign andPolitical Finance reports.
The PACs include the Catholic Citizenship PAC($3,000); Citizens for Limited Taxation PAC ($7,200); Masschusetts IndependentPAC for Working Families ($11,000); Marlborough Republican City Committee($12,295); and the MA Save America’s Free Enterprise Trust PAC ($1,250).
Tom Breuer, the CEO of a financial managementsoftware company Breuer &Co., has been an active political donor fordecades. He and his wife Carol, who live in Winchester, have donated $11,500 tothe six freshman Republicans over the past several election cycles.
“I’ll promote the things that my wife and I believein,” Breuer told the News Service.
As a board member with the Coalition for Marriageand Family, Breuer said he knows other political contributors who have alsobeen trying to help some of the same candidates, but deemphasized any seriouscoordination.
“I just try to be a good citizen. Democracy, if it’sgoing to work, demands that people take their civic duty seriously,” Breuersaid.
In addition to the Breuers, other donors showing upon multiple campaign finance reports include Robert Aquadro, a constructionmanager from Florence; Stephen Binder, a capital investment manager fromLincoln; John and Christine Dematteo, of Wellesley and the Park Square RealtyGroup and Dematteo Construction; Scott Fitzgibbon, a law professor at BostonCollege; James, Kris Mineau, the executive director ofthe Massachusetts Family Institute,  Maureen and Thomas Morgan, of Marblehead;Frederick Muzi, the retired owner of Muzi Ford from Dover; Len Picard, asoftware engineer from Newton; Chanel Prunier, campaign director for Coalitionfor Marriage and Family; John Shaughnessy, of Milton; Thomas and MadelynShields, the former owners of Shields MRI from Beverly; and Kathleen and WalterWeld, of Dover, who have ties to the Massachusetts Family Institute and theCoalition for Marriage and Family.
The Marlborough Republican City Committee came underscrutiny after the 2010 election when Democrats questioned how the committeewas spending significant sums on races outside of Marlborough, taking indonations from outside the district and funneling it to Republican candidatesaround the state.

Though town and city committees tend to below-budget operations designed to help local candidates, the Office of Campaignand Political Finance determined that the Marlborough Republican committee didnot violate campaign finance laws.
Thelogical question in light of these revelations is “Whose interests will Mr.Durant be serving if he wins a second term?”