Massachusetts Mainstream Political Media Donations Skewed Blue At The State Level This Year, But Not All Were

By Tom Joyce | December 10, 2022, 8:42 EST

Was there an influx of right-wing donations at the state level for mainstream media journalists in the 2022 election cycle?

No, of course not. 

As NewBostonPost has covered over the past few years, mainstream media journalists in Massachusetts make political donations; their donations tend to skew toward liberal politicians.

This trend held up federally in the 2022 election cycle, but how about at the state level?

Yes, but unlike other times NewBostonPost has conducted these kinds of investigations, it found that not every donation went to Democrats — even if conservative Republicans got none.

It turns out, not every member of the Bay State’s mainstream media only backs Democrats. Bryan Lambert, a Boston 25 reporter, donated $500 to Republican state representative Shawn Dooley of Norfolk in his failed state Senate bid this year, according to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance. 

Lambert contributed $500 to the Dooley campaign:  $250 on September 22, 2022, and $250 on October 20, 2022.

The socially liberal Dooley supports legal abortion, gender identity as a protected class, and making illegal immigrants eligible for driver’s licenses (which he calls a driver privilege card), as NewBostonPost has reported. 

Dooley ran against incumbent state Senator Becca Rausch (D-Needham) in the Norfolk, Worcester & Middlesex District and lost 54.8 percent to 45.1 percent.

Lambert and a spokesman for Boston 25 could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday this week. 

Meanwhile, WHDH (Channel 7) video editor Ed Felker went for a Democrat with his donation; Felker gave $50 to state representative Andres Vargas (D-Haverhill), according to the OCPF.

Vargas won re-election unopposed in 2022, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office.

Felker and a spokesman for WHDH could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. 

In the print industry, The Republican (a daily newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts known as MassLive online) has a pair of liberal donors.

High school sports reporter Gage Nutter backed state Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Jamaica Plain) in her failed gubernatorial bid; he donated $20 to her campaign on May 9, 2022, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Chang-Diaz unofficially dropped out of the governor’s race in June 2022. However, she kept her name on the ballot against Democratic attorney general Maura Healey and resoundingly lost the primary 85 percent to 14 percent.

Christine White, a freelance reporter for The Republican, backed state Senactor Eric Lesser (D-Longmeadow) in his failed bid for lieutenant governor. She made four donations to him totaling $30:  $10 on May 2, 2022; $10 on July 25, 2022; $5 on August 8, 2022; and $5 on August 22, 2022, according to Office of Campaign and Political Finance records. 

White and a spokesman for The Republican could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.

Nutter told NewBostonPost in an email message:  “I am declining to comment. Thanks.”

Lesser finished second out of three candidates in the 2022 Democratic lieutenant governor primary in Massachusetts; he got 32.7 percent of the vote, while Salem mayor Kim Driscoll won the race with 46.6 percent support, and state representative Tami Gouveia (20.6 percent) came in third.

Another Democratic candidate also drew a donation from at least one member of local media. State Senator Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen), who won the state auditor race in November, received a campaign donation from Post-Gazette editor Richard Settipane. The Post-Gazette is a weekly newspaper that serves the North End and other surrounding Italian-American communities, according to its web site.

Settipane contributed $200 to DiZoglio’s successful auditor campaign on September 30, 2022, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

DiZoglio easily won the auditor’s race over Anthony Amore, a Republican who lives in Swampscott, 55 percent to 38 percent. 

Settipane and a spokesman for the Post-Gazette could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.

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