The party notified Mr. Ruseau of his obligation to make an offset payment of $4,002.04 in total to three specified Medford charities (Friends of the Medford Public Library, The Medford Public Library Foundation, and the Arts Collaborative Medford). However, on August 17th Mr. Ruseau announced he would break the People’s Primary Pledge he took in May and would refuse to make an offset contribution to charity, allowing him to accept the full benefit of the independent expenditure. Mr. Ruseau’s decision opens the door to unlimited non-transparent funding to enter the 34th Middlesex district house race.
Because a People’s Pledge agreement requires unanimous participation from candidates to be operative, the People’s Pledge is no longer in effect for this race, and Will Mbah and Chris Oates are no longer bound by their pledge.
We are disappointed the People’s Pledge has been broken in the 34th Middlesex District, particularly because of how effective it has been in each of the three state representative elections this year. Unlike the Senate race, where no pledge was in effect, our House races in the 26th and 27th districts have been unusually and remarkably free of anonymous and unlimited spending by super pacs allowing Somerville voters to make their choices free of undue influence.
