It Was Matos' Election to Lose - How She Lost
GoLocalProv News Team
It Was Matos' Election to Lose - How She Lost
She had all the advantages.
Matos had just come off winning a Democratic primary and a contested general election to be elected Lt. Governor.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTShe had name recognition, union support, and a strong Latino base.
Matos was slated to be the first female Democrat to ever serve in Congress in Rhode Island. She scored the backing of national women's organizations like EMILY's List.
Then, it all slowly started to spiral out of control.
When Tuesday's results came in, Matos won only 3,044 votes and captured just 7.97% of the vote.
Early Stumble
First, early in the campaign, Matos’ team stumbled.
On Friday, April 28, Matos touted in a press release that “over 30” politicians across the state endorsed her candidacy for the soon-to-be vacant first congressional seat.
Just one problem -- of the 31 that Matos claimed support her congressional run, six did not.
At first, two on the list claimed that they did not actually endorse her and then more reporting by GoLocal found that another four never backed Matos.
“Two of the 30 people who Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos said endorsed her run for Congress are saying they have not endorsed the lieutenant governor,” reported Raymond Baccari, Editor-in-Chief for The Anchor at Rhode Island College, first reported.
“Two on the endorsement list, former State Rep. Jean Philippe Barros and Warren Town Council President John Hanley, told The Anchor Friday afternoon they haven’t endorsed anyone for CD1 yet,” Baccari reported.
Then, following questions by GoLocal, the campaign admitted that despite its initial claims, that in addition, former State Representative Anastasia Williams, Newport Council Vice Chair Lynn Underwood Ceglie, Newport Council Member Charles Holder, and Tiverton Council Member Joe Perry did not, in fact, endorse Matos.
24 hours after boasting 30 plus politicians' support -- Matos' list shrunk by 20%.
Moreover, the campaign then refused to correct the record and did not release a media-wide statement acknowledging its significant mistake.
Was this the death knell?
On May 12, one of America’s top political scientists, Jennifer Lawless, chair of the political science department at the University of Virginia, warned that the incident could be a harbinger of things to come.
“I would say that if Sabina Matos continues to have a campaign that in the most charitable interpretation is that it was sloppy counting…she’s going to open herself up to being dishonest,” said Lawless. “It would have been fine to say that she had 25 endorsements, there was no reason to say she had 31. If the campaign can’t keep track that’s a problem, because the campaign is going to have many more balls in the air and a lot more juggling to do between now and Election Day and her staff is going to have a lot more to do if she gets elected.”
The endorsement issue was just the beginning.
Fake Signatures
By mid-July, allegations of fraud emerged against the Matos campaign.
"Matos submitted 32 signatures [in Newport]. Fourteen were rejected outright, and three were referred to the Newport Police Department," Tom Shevlin with the City of Newport told GoLocal on July 16.
The allegations expanded and the investigations were formalized.
The Rhode Island State Police announced a formal investigation.
GoLocal unveiled that, Holly McClaren, the paid staffer on Lt. Governor Sabina Matos’ congressional campaign at the center of the signature controversy, also worked for Luis Estrada — the Democratic political operative who worked for Governor Dan McKee’s campaign and has been tied to a number of other political campaigns.
McClaren, on her social media account, lists Estrada Bookkeeping and Political Consulting as one of her employers.
Press Conference Disaster
On Friday, July 21, Matos’ campaign for Congress took another hit, and, over a five-hour period, spiraled into political chaos.
"The most charitable assessment of the press conference [held at 6 PM on Friday] is that Matos had no idea what was going on with the signature gathering process and played no role in orchestrating it, allowing it, or turning a blind eye to it,” said Lawless after the press conference.
“But if that’s true, then it also means that she had no idea that her campaign appears to be in absolute shambles. She and the campaign admitted to (1) not vetting the firm they hired to do field work; (2) not Googling the name of the woman who collected the many fraudulent signatures; (3) not knowing how many people collected the signatures or how many hours they worked; (4) not conducting an internal investigation to figure out what happened; and (5) not reaching out to the police or the AG’s office,” Lawless said after watching the press conference via GoLocal.
“This entire ordeal happened not because one person dropped one ball. Many people dropped many balls. And based on the content of this press conference, there’s little reason to be confident that more balls won’t soon hit the ground,” added Lawless.
Spiraling Continued
The low point hit a few weeks later.
When GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle tried to ask Matos questions about the ongoing investigations into her campaign's signatures, Matos deferred Nagle's inquiry to New York Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), who repeatedly interrupted Nagle's questions.
Espaillat was in Rhode Island to campaign with Matos.
That day, there was -- and continues to be -- an ongoing Rhode Island State Police and Rhode Island Attorney General investigation, and the Rhode Island Board of Elections voted to consider issuing subpoenas to Matos' ballot signature collectors following the primary.
Nagle first asked Matos if she had spoken with her campaign's signature collectors.
“The campaign signature collectors — have you had conversations with each and every one of them? Obviously, there is now the potential for subpoenas following the primary. You say you have enough signatures; you’ve had several hundred signatures tossed out. What if in the event there is something that is found that signatures aren’t in fact valid?” asked Nagle.
But each time Nagle tried to ask Matos questions, Congressman Espaillat interrupted her.
The exchange became more heated when the Congressman said, “I don’t know who you are [referring to Nagle]— we’re not going to allow you to victimize the victim.”
Nagle interjected, saying she asked Matos the question -- not Espaillat.
“You’re in our state, sir,” said Nagle to his dismissive comment by the Congressman as he continued to speak over Nagle.
“She’s a decent woman. We trust her. We’re here to support her. The Board of Elections said that there’s nothing there. We’re not going to engage in a conversation where she’s victimized again,” he continued.
Nagle continued to press Matos for an answer.
“As a woman, do you appreciate being interrupted by a man when you have a job to do?” asked Nagle.
“You’re doing your job as a reporter and you get interrupted often as a reporter,” said Matos.
“I’m not having any conversations with signature collectors. Right now, we have to wait for the process to continue,” said Matos.
Matos and Espaillat's behavior was condemned by top political scientist Lawless -- whose research focuses on gender in politics.
Lawless said in an interview on GoLocal LIVE that the exchange between Espaillat (NY-13) and Nagle is an example of the persistent sexism that continues today in American politics.
“The level of sexism coming in all different kinds of directions targeted at various people and by various people was really quite stunning. I've spent 20 years studying gender dynamics in Congressional elections and in the political arena and what I saw yesterday sort of summed it all up and, in a lot of ways, highlighted how far we have not come,” said Lawless.
Days later, one of Matos' early endorsers in her run for the Democratic nomination for Congress said he was pulling his endorsement.
In a phone call with GoLocal, Smithfield Town Councilor Sean Kilduff said he is revoking his support for Matos.
Kilduff said, “She is surrounding herself with people that can’t get the job done. It reflects poorly on her and those who support her.”
The Rhode Island State Police continue to have an ongoing investigation into questions regarding her signatures for her endorsement papers.
The Board of Elections invalidated more than 500 of her submitted signatures. And the Board of Elections may subpoena campaign workers and volunteers after the primary.
“There seems to be a lack of valid information from her campaign; I am not comfortable with it. It reflects on all of us,” said Kilduff.
Now, Matos must await the findings of the State Police investigation and see if there is a future in politics beyond her three remaining years as Lt. Governor.