NOTES BETWEEN PRINTED EDITIONS
by Kristen Brissette
Signature Failure Deals Major Blow to Brensley’s Lieutenant Governor Campaign
Despite securing the endorsement of the Massachusetts Republican Party, Anne Brensley fell short of the ballot-access threshold required to compete in the September primary for lieutenant governor. Candidates were required to submit 10,000 certified signatures by the May 5 filing deadline. Brensley’s volunteer-driven grassroots operation succeeded in collecting more than 7,500 legitimate signatures, but ultimately failed to meet the statutory requirement necessary to secure a place on the ballot.
In April, Brensley’s campaign retained Joe Bronske, former chair of the Weymouth Republican Town Committee, former member of the Weymouth Board of Registrars, and owner of Ancestor’s Trail, to collect an additional 6,500 signatures at a rate of $5.00 per signature. Bronske provided the campaign with optimistic daily updates reporting that more than 6,200 signatures had already been gathered and that additional collections were on pace before the filing deadline. The campaign paid Bronske approximately $15,000 for the effort.
Bronske ultimately delivered fewer than 1,000 signatures, far below the totals he had represented to the campaign. Election officials in Scituate, Hanover, and Rockland subsequently flagged numerous signatures for possible forgery and referred the matter to the office of William Galvin for further review. The Brensley campaign has characterized the episode as an unprecedented fraud scheme involving fabricated progress reports and allegedly forged nomination papers describing it as potentially one of the most significant election-related fraud cases in modern Massachusetts political history.
Brensley’s campaign has submitted roughly 4,000 signatures to date, with additional filings still pending, but remains short of the required threshold. In response, the campaign will launch a write-in effort, seek reimbursement from Bronske for the failed signature operation, and pursue legal action over the alleged misrepresentation and irregularities in the collection process. The campaign has also petitioned for a two-week extension to the filing deadline; however, the office of William Galvin has indicated that it lacks the authority to grant such relief, noting that nomination deadlines are established by statute and cannot be altered administratively.
Bronske also worked with GOP candidate for Attorney General Michael Walsh and GOP Lieutenant Governor Candidate Anne Manning-Martin, both who are now facing similar ballot problems.
Taken from a press release from the Brensley campaign, “For Anne Brensley, this experience reinforced something she says she learned during the convention fight last month: the real political divide in both parties is no longer Republican versus Democrat. It is grassroots versus establishment.”
Bronske has not commented publicly nor could he be reached at the time of submission of this
article.
The following is a Press Release from the Anne Brensley campaign:
“Days after a Massachusetts man was sentenced for nomination paper forgeries in Rhode Island, Anne Brensley, the endorsed Republican candidate for Lt. Governor is taking legal action against a republican insider she believes participated in the largest electoral fraud scandal in Massachusetts history.
Like almost every statewide campaign in Massachusetts, Anne Brensley’s campaign relied partly on a professional signature gathering operation to help collect the 10,000 signatures required to get on the ballot. New Hampshire only requires a $50 ballot fee to get on the ballot.
At the same time, the campaign built a massive grassroots effort across the Commonwealth powered by volunteers, activists, local Republican committees, parents, working-class voters, and first-time supporters who believed in Anne’s message.
That grassroots effort was real.
Despite the chaos surrounding the outside signature operation, the campaign and its volunteers successfully collected more than 7,500 legitimate signatures from grassroots activists across Massachusetts. Volunteers drove across the state, stood outside grocery stores, attended local events, knocked doors, called friends, and spent countless hours helping Anne Brensley qualify for the ballot.
The campaign is deeply proud of those grassroots supporters and believes their work is what truly carried the movement forward.
For Anne Brensley, this experience reinforced something she says she learned during the convention fight last month: the real political divide in both parties is no longer Republican versus Democrat. It is grassroots versus establishment.
Joe Bronske, a well-known Republican party insider, who owns the company Ancestor’s Trail, served on the Board of Registrars for Weymouth and was the Chair of the Weymouth Republican Town Committee, approached the campaign in early March with a proposal to collect all of our signatures. His pitch stated:
For your campaign’s 10,000-signature requirement, I can:
- Map and target registered voters to ensure every collected signature is eligible and verifiable
- Recruit, train, and coordinate circulators across required districts
- Verify signatures against official voter registration databases
- Conduct internal audits to identify duplicates, errors, or incomplete entries before filing
- Coordinate filing with local election officials and the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
- Prepare documentation and records to defend against potential challenges by focusing only on certified voters and using a rigorous accuracy-first process, the campaign maximizes valid signatures while avoiding wasted effort or risk of disqualification.
Anne’s campaign declined the offer of collecting all the required signatures, as we wanted the majority of our signatures to be from activists and grassroots, but eventually contracted with him to collect 6,500 signatures at a rate of $5 a signature.
Joe provided the campaign daily updates on signature counts, and where his team was collecting them. Weymouth was the largest focus. Other major towns included Braintree, Quincy, Easton, Hanover, and Rockland.
Joe was highly recommended to collect our signatures. He is very well-known in the Massachusetts Republican Party and has been involved in politics and campaigns for over a decade.
The following is an email from Joe Bronske:
Anne and Jason,
We are officially at 6,203 signatures for Anne Brensley! I project. We’re probably going to be turning in in a grand total of 7,000 raw signatures.
I also received a deposit for $5,000.00 yesterday bringing the total to $15,000.00 received by the campaign so far.
We are outstanding $15,000.00 as of today. With 7,000 signatures, you are looking at approximately
$35,000 in a grand total.
I hope you’re all keeping the momentum going as I am on my end. And we are looking forward to putting you on the ballot!”
The town of Braintree, for example, touted as one of the largest areas of Joe’s signature gathering operation, had only 10 signatures turned in. What initially seemed like possible incompetence increasingly appeared intentional.
The campaign concludes it has been systematically misled while continuing to make payments based on false reporting. Instead of a legitimate statewide signature operation, the campaign fears it has been the victim of an unprecedented fraud scheme involving forged nomination papers and fabricated progress reports.
Anne Brensley’s campaign is not alone.
Attorney General candidate Michael Walsh and Lieutenant Governor candidate Anne Manning-Martin also reportedly worked with Bronske and face difficult ballot access issues.
The campaign believes Massachusetts ballot access laws place enormous pressure on grassroots campaigns to rely on expensive professional signature operations that fund political insiders with no real licensing or oversight.
Anne Brensley is petitioning the Massachusetts Secretary of State to grant all affected campaigns an additional two weeks to collect signatures to ensure all three get on the ballot. The campaign argues this situation is extraordinary, unprecedented, and unlike anything previously seen in modern Massachusetts politics.
