SPRINGFIELD — The state Attorney General’s office has reportedly revived an investigation into whether the mayoral candidate of Justin Hurst paid for votes in 2023.
City officials confirmed that a prosecutor and a Massachusetts state trooper visited City Hall May 28 and quizzed Elections Office staff and requested voter records related to the mayoral race that pitted Hurst against longtime incumbent Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.
State investigators showed up at City Hall two days before Hurst pulled papers to run for City Council once again.
Hurst said he believes his work in city government is not done.
“The issues that I campaigned on when I ran for mayor are more present now than ever before. Time and time again, we are failing to meet the moment. And we, the people, feel the pain,” Hurst said.
Days before the November election in 2023, campaign workers for Hurst were captured on building video outside City Hall carting local voters back and forth to the polls. While Hurst was in the convoy of cars, the footage did not show him providing $10 bills for votes, unlike some of his workers.
The voters also were promised a fish dinner once they presented their “I voted early” stickers to Hurst people standing outside City Hall. About a half dozen city officials, as well as a police officer, said in sworn affidavits at the time that they witnessed the distribution of $10 bills.
When the video footage emerged, Hurst claimed it was a last-minute “smear campaign” from Sarno’s camp and denied paying for votes.
Stephen Buoniconti in August, 2019.Hoang ‘Leon’ Nguyen / The Republican file
Around 130 voters registered to vote and cast their ballots early on the same day, according to City Solicitor Stephen J. Buoniconti. Many of those voters logged their addresses as the Worthington Street homeless shelter.
The Republican at the time interviewed a man who confirmed he was paid $10 to vote for Hurst. The city solicitor at the time, retired judge John Payne, called for the Hampden District Attorney’s Office to launch a criminal investigation.
“It is extremely troubling. This is a fraud upon the elections process,” Payne said in 2023. “Before I became a judge, I was active in elections for 30 years, and I’ve never heard of anyone being paid for a vote. It is very serious,” he said at the time.
A state law concerning “voter bribery” provides penalties of up to a year in jail. A state elections official told The Republican in 2023 that there is no scenario under which it would be permissible to pay a voter to cast a ballot.
‘A deeper dive’
Buoniconti on Tuesday confirmed that investigators came May 28 with specific questions regarding “alleged improprieties” by Hurst’s camp during that mayoral race.
“They’re doing a deeper dive in the investigation but it appears to us there’s been a staff change in the AG’s office and they’re going back to start the investigation all over,” he said, identifying the lead prosecutor in the case as Karen Bell.
Bell was an assistant district attorney in Hampden County before leaving for the same role in Berkshire County in 2018, and then moving on to the statewide office.
The Republican has for months been asking Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office about the status of the voting probe. The agency has resisted releasing records, citing the ongoing investigation exemption under state law.
“We have determined that because the exempt information is so interwoven within the text of these records, proper redaction would render them meaningless and therefore, withholding them in their entirety is appropriate in this instance,” reads a response from the office in November.
In response to a request for comment on overcoming questions about voting impropriety, Hurst said he intends to devote his attention to what he sees as the issues of the day.
“I’ll stay focused on what I can control, which is ensuring that our message for a better Springfield gets out to as many voters as possible,” Hurst said.
Buoniconti, the city solicitor, said he is hopeful the matter can be resolved one way or another before the next election cycle in the fall. He also expressed frustration over the length of time it has taken Campbell’s office to address the situation, despite the fact that the city turned over all records that were requested and made its staff available for interviews.
He said the attorney general’s office has obtained records on which voters registered and cast their ballots the same day.
“There’s a cloud that is hanging over the electoral process in the city and we need to resolve that so people have confidence in the integrity of the electoral process,” Buoniconti said.
He noted a climate of “political violence” across the nation and recalled that Sarno’s tires were slashed outside City Hall last year, and the suspect was a man identified as one of the people on the same-day voting list.
Court records show the alleged tire slasher, Steven Kostorizos, was charged with the crime. The case is stayed because he was deemed by a judge as not competent to stand trial.
Hurst said he is running for the council again after pleas from supporters “that I would not stop fighting for them, for their children and families, and for a better Springfield.”
