As a 30-year resident of Belmont, I fully support transparency in local government. I became a Town Meeting member by promising my constituents I would keep them informed on town matters. Following this example of disclosure, I will note that I am also a member of the Belmont Democratic Town Committee (BDTC) though I am speaking personally here and not representing the organization.
I wanted to express my deep concerns about the way the recent Town Day inclusion/exclusion issue was handled. I wanted to draw particular attention to the CFRB group, which was exempted from the exclusion of politically-minded groups. Intriguingly, our Sen.[William] Brownsberger, an elected state official, was allowed a table.
The CFRB group strongly protested claims by other town residents of political activity involving endorsing candidates. However, as an undergraduate, I did my thesis on these types of nonprofit money-in-politics groups. As a 501(c)(4), these organizations are *not* limited on how much money they can spend on issues and advertising, as well as fliers and robocalls.
The IRS rules around such groups are quite lenient, as long as they focus most financial resources on “social welfare” causes (which can be vague and open-ended). Even more concerning, they do not have to disclose their donors. If someone is donating to the CFRB and has a financial interest coming before the town, there is no way for the public, residents, or voters to know.
If our Select Board and other town-wide elected officials must disclose donors to prevent conflicts of interest and to keep voters informed, surely the CFRB, which is seeking to influence town policy and Belmont’s tax dollars, should do the same.
Michael McNamara, Marlboro Street