A report commissioned by City Councilor Kendra Lara that shows she wasn’t speeding at the time of her late June car crash was paid for, in part, by two members of a progressive steering committee that voted to endorse her last week.
Word began to leak soon after Lara and her attorney held a press conference Thursday evening to discuss the new findings that members of the Jamaica Plain Progressives Steering Committee contributed financially to the report, raising questions about whether it violated campaign finance or ethics laws.
“My attorney was the one that wrote the check and I am going to pay for it, and how that is paid for, how I’m paying my private legal fees is not the business of the Boston Herald,” Lara told the Herald Friday.
When pressed about whether this meant information provided to the Herald was inaccurate, and that the JP Progressives had nothing to do with the payment, Lara did not directly answer the question.
“What I am saying is that my lawyer wrote a check to The Crash Lab to commission the report as part of my legal defense,” Lara said.
Two JPP Steering Committee members, Krista Magnuson and Ziba Cranmer, confirmed, however, that they contributed to the study conducted by The Crash Lab, a New-Hampshire-based accident reconstruction group hired by Lara.
Both said they did so in an individual capacity and not on behalf of JPP.
Anne Rousseau, co-chair of the JPP steering committee, said there will be an “internal discussion” about the contributions, but declined further comment.
The contributions came to light days after the JPP steering committee voted to recommend that Lara receive the group’s endorsement in the District 6 race — despite its “concerns” with the charges leveled against her in connection with a June 30 car crash. Results of a full membership vote will be announced on Sunday.
“In an individual capacity, yes, I contributed a small amount,” Magnuson said. “I did contribute to her in a non-campaign situation.”
Magnuson declined to share the amount.
“Some people were asked if they as individuals might like to help her with this effort, and some of us said yes,” Magnuson said. “And by some of us, I mean the greater JP community, not JPP.”
Cranmer told the Herald in a Friday email that while the crash data was paid for by Lara’s attorney, “I am helping raise funds to defray the cost of this expense.”
State campaign finance laws cap individuals from contributing no more than $1,000 per year to a candidate or candidate’s committee. State ethics laws prohibit public employees from accepting gifts worth $50 or more.
While Cranmer and Magnuson may not see their move to help fund the study as a campaign contribution, state law may disagree, in defining a contribution as one made “for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of said individual or candidate.”
The press conference was held days before the Sept. 12 preliminary, which will determine which two candidates, Lara, William King or Benjamin Weber, appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.
According to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Magnuson donated $75 to Lara’s campaign on Aug. 15, and Cranmer donated $100 apiece on May 25, July 3 and July 25.
Lara, her attorney, Carlton Williams, and The Crash Lab all declined to say how much the black box study cost.
A source familiar with such studies, said, however, that one performed by an independent company could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $20,000, depending on the severity of the crash and the amount of data that needs to be read from a black box.
A simple matter, such as this one, would likely cost $2,500 to $5,000, the source said.
The study used data from a black box attached to the car Lara was driving that day, to conclude that she was traveling at 27 mph in a 25 mph zone, when she struck a Jamaica Plain home, according to Lara and Williams.
This disputes the speed clocked by the Boston Police Department in its report for the June 30 crash. The officer who wrote the report said Lara had been traveling at least 53.41 mph, and as fast as 59.29 mph, at the point of impact.
Lara is facing multiple charges in the crash, and “wept” when the crash analysis study conducted Thursday afternoon showed she was traveling at a lower rate of speed than reported, Williams told the Herald Friday.
The results were a relief, Lara said, adding that they will be used as part of her legal defense. She faces multiple charges, including speeding, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving an uninsured vehicle, and driving with a revoked license.
The way in which the report was funded “is ethically questionable at the very least,” said King, one of Lara’s opponents in the District 6 race. Weber said that as long as individual contributions didn’t exceed $1,000, there would not be an issue of whether they were illegal.
Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, was more critical in his assessment.
“I see it as a desperate move by a desperate politician eager to get re-elected,” Calderone said. “In calling into question the integrity of the officer, five weeks after praising the officer for their professionalism and their courtesy and discretion on the scene, that’s a bunch of crap.”