FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Evan Lips, communications director
617-523-5005 ext. 245
WOBURN — Republican Helen Brady, recently booted off the 2020 ballot despite using the same signature-gathering mechanisms as 39 other qualifying candidates, is taking the state Ballot Law Commission to court.
Brady, who gathered more than enough signatures to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. William Keating, said Thursday the SBLC’s treatment of her candidacy “is a real example of collusion.”
“The SBLC somehow decided that the system put in place by the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling was acceptable for 39 other candidates except for me,” Brady said. “This is what actual voter suppression looks like. They have no shame.”
The state Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to review her appeal Friday at 9 a.m.
Brady pointed to the testimony delivered during her SBLC hearing by Brian Fitzgibbons. Fitzgibbons’s Cohasset-based business developed the electronic signature-gathering process used by Brady and 39 others — including 15 Democrats. Fitzgibbons testified that the system used by Brady was no different than the system used by others who qualified.
“This is about keeping a Republican woman from challenging a career Democratic politician in Rep. Keating,” Brady said. “This is about (Secretary of State) Bill Galvin circling the wagons to protect a fellow member of the Beacon Hill Old Boy’s Club.”
Keating was first elected to the state Legislature in 1976, before being elected to Congress in 2010.
Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons called the complaint filed against Brady and the subsequent decision by the SBLC to uphold it “disgraceful.”
“Helen Brady was singled out solely for having the audacity to challenge a well-connected career politician like Bill Keating,” Lyons said. “Democrats like Keating don’t want to have to campaign and defend their positions.
“They don’t have the guts to confront their challengers, they just want them to go away. They’re terrified of having to run against strong women like Helen.”
Read a copy of the complaint here: Brady-v-SBLC