Tempers flare as GOP-endorsed candidate flops off the September primary

Finger pointing is underway in Massachusetts as the GOP-backed candidate for lieutenant governor accuses a Republican firm of scamming her out of the September primary ballot.

WBUR reports Anne Brensley in a Wednesday statement said her campaign had relied partly on an outside firm to collect the 10,000 signatures required to get on the ballot. But she said the firm, run by Republican Joe Bronske, failed to collect the promised 6,500 signatures.

"Instead of a legitimate statewide signature operation, the campaign fears it has been the victim of an unprecedented fraud scheme involving forged nomination papers and fabricated progress reports," Brensley's said in a statement, adding that three different town clerks contacted the Secretary of State's office to flag forgery concerns.

WBUR reports Brensley won the endorsement of Massachusetts Republicans at their party convention last month and GOP-backed gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue endorsed her for lieutenant governor, despite she and her husband recently owing tens of thousands of dollars in back federal taxes. She told WBUR that they paid their derelict federal bill after WBUR inquired about them.

Brensley’s shouts of “fraud” against Bronske’s firm may giver her a second chance at the bras ring by allowing her an additional two weeks to collect the required signatures to be on the ballot. Brensley said her campaign is petitioning Secretary of State William Galvin to give her and other Republican campaigns who used Bronkse an additional two weeks to collect their required signatures.

A spokesperson for Galvin told WBUR that his office does not have the authority to alter or extend deadlines, however, as they are set by state law.

A spokesperson for failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve was quick to use Brensley’s humiliation to slime GOP primary ballot winner and Brensley endorsee Mike Minogue.

“This outcome proves two things: that Mike Minogue’s first major decision as a gubernatorial candidate is a complete failure, and that the Republican state convention is a poor judge of candidate quality and electability," Shortsleeve spokesperson Pat Nestor said in a statement.