A Lowertown tenant group's complaint against Foundry Row's largest developer is now in the hands of Bellwater's ethics board, which will decide whether Millrace Development Partners improperly funneled campaign money to the council member who represents the district where its stalled affordable-housing project sits.
The Bellwater Ethics and Campaign Finance Board voted 4-1 Wednesday to open a preliminary review of the complaint, which was filed last month by the Lowertown Tenant Alliance, the same group that is a co-plaintiff in a pending lawsuit over an alleged affordable-unit shortfall at the Foundry District Lofts. The complaint alleges that at least nine individuals connected to Millrace Development Partners, including subcontractors and family members of company executives, each donated the maximum $500 to Council Member Luis Bettencourt’s re-election account within a two-week span, shortly before the council approved zoning changes benefiting the developer’s second phase.
Denise Okonkwo-Marsh, the tenant alliance’s lead organizer, said the pattern was too coordinated to be coincidental. “When nine checks for the exact same amount land in a campaign account within two weeks, all connected to one developer, that’s not nine people independently deciding to support a council member,” Okonkwo-Marsh said. “That’s bundling, and it’s exactly the kind of thing our ethics rules are supposed to catch.”
Developer denies coordination
Aaron Kessler, the spokesman for Millrace Development Partners who has also defended the company in the tenant lawsuit, said the donations were lawful and not directed by the company. “Employees and their families are allowed to support candidates they believe in,” Kessler said. “Nobody at this company told anyone how much to give or when to give it. If people who work in real estate development tend to support a pro-development council member, that isn’t a scandal, it’s just politics.”
Bettencourt, who represents Foundry Row’s District 5 and has generally supported the neighborhood’s redevelopment, said he welcomed the review and had done nothing to solicit the donations beyond routine campaign outreach. “I have never asked a developer to bundle contributions, and I’ll cooperate fully with whatever the board needs,” Bettencourt said. “I’d also point out that I’ve voted against Millrace on at least one item this year, which isn’t the behavior of someone who’s been bought.”
Our job isn’t to decide whether a council member’s votes were good policy. It’s to decide whether the money that reached his campaign was reported honestly and whether it was coordinated in a way our ordinance prohibits. Those are two different questions, and we intend to answer only the second one.
Harold Wexler, Chair, Bellwater Ethics and Campaign Finance Board
What the board can and can’t do
Board chair Harold Wexler said the panel’s review would focus narrowly on whether the contributions violated the city’s bundling disclosure rule, which requires campaigns to separately report donations solicited by a single organizer even when the checks themselves come from different individuals. He said the board has no authority to void the zoning vote itself, only to issue findings, refer the matter to the county prosecutor if it finds evidence of a knowing violation, or dismiss the complaint.
Council Member Aisha Muhammad, who chairs the council’s housing committee and was not named in the complaint, said the episode underscored why she has pushed for stricter disclosure rules on donations tied to active development applications. “I’m not going to prejudge Councilman Bettencourt,” Muhammad said. “But I do think this is a reminder that our disclosure rules have gaps, and I’d like to close them regardless of how this particular complaint turns out.”
City Manager Marcus Whitfield, who does not sit on the ethics board but oversees the city clerk’s office that processes campaign finance filings, said his staff had turned over Bettencourt’s disclosure reports to the board at its request and would cooperate with any further document requests. He declined to comment on the substance of the complaint.
The board set a preliminary hearing for six weeks from now, at which Bettencourt’s campaign treasurer and a representative of Millrace Development Partners are expected to testify. Wexler said the board aims to issue findings within 90 days of that hearing, though he cautioned the timeline could slip if either side requests additional document production.
Okonkwo-Marsh said the tenant alliance viewed the complaint as connected to, but separate from, its ongoing lawsuit over the affordable-unit shortfall. “We’re not trying to relitigate the lawsuit here,” she said. “We’re trying to make sure the public understands how a project that shortchanged Lowertown families got its zoning approved in the first place.” Bettencourt said he intended to keep serving his district’s interests regardless of the review’s outcome. “I plan to keep voting on what I believe helps Foundry Row and Bellwater,” he said, “and I trust the board to look at the facts and reach a fair conclusion.”