Source: Jerry faked 'em, too

Source: Jerry faked 'em, too

City Councilor Jerry McDermott recently charged his opponent, Paul Creighton, with falsely signing circulation papers when he was not the circulator. Now, one of his campaign workers is accusing him of doing the same thing.

Meanwhile, Creighton is upset about last week's Allston-Brighton TAB story on the issue and threatened to sue this newspaper for what he called a smear job.

Responding to last week's story that McDermott failed in his effort to get thrown off the ballot for technical violations, someone who has worked on all of McDermott's campaigns called to say he collected many signatures on behalf of the councilor, who signed off on the sheets even though he had not witnessed them himself.

The caller, who asked not to be named, said, "I don't know what the big deal is. I personally collected signatures, when he wasn't standing next to me, so I don't know why he's trying to deny someone else the same thing."

The caller said he has worked on many campaigns and this is common.

"It is difficult for a candidate to witness every signature and campaign at the same time," he said.

"I think McDermott's a great guy, but I can't have him disqualify someone on something he himself did."

McDermott denied this.

"Anything I have signed, I have personally seen and circulated," he said.

John Donovan from the Boston Election Commission said the candidate does not have to be the official circulator, and anyone who circulates nomination papers can sign off on the signatures collected.

"Anybody can circulate papers, but [they] must indicate which signatures they collected," he said. "It could be the candidate or someone who is helping the candidate."

Creighton charges

McDermott objected to Creighton's nomination, alleging Creighton had signed off as the circulator on signatures he had not personally collected, that many of these signatures were not genuine and that one signature came from a nonregistered voter and should not be counted.

The State Ballot Law Commission heard the arguments and decided Aug. 2 this was splitting hairs. It found some of the allegations true, but said they were so small that Creighton could stay on the ballot, McDermott said. In its decision, the commission said McDermott did not present "evidence of intentional fraud or guilty knowledge on part of [Creighton's] circulators."

McDermott said the commission broke its own laws and said he will fight to make sure the circulator law is abolished, if it is not being followed.

"We won the complaint, but lost the decision," said McDermott last week. "Baasically the commission said the law doesn't matter."

Creighton's lawyer, Jefferson Boone, disagreed. He said they won the hearing in all fairness and Creighton did nothing wrong.

He also admitted last month that although Creighton did not personally see every supporter sign his name, he was certain the signatures and the residents are genuine.

Creighton responded to last week's story via e-mail threatening to take measures against this newspaper for "reckless and irresponsible journalism."

"I have instructed my attorney to take all necessary steps to clear this sullying of my family name and me," he wrote.

He is travelling abroad and could not be contacted for comment this week.