Lt. Gov. accused of violating campaign finance laws

BOSTON (WHDH) -- Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray is accused of violating campaign finance laws.

The state agency that oversees campaign finance has determined that Murray and his political committee violated state law by accepting campaign contributions that were illegally raised by former Chelsea Housing Authority director Michael McLaughlin.

Michael Sullivan, the director of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, sent the findings in a Sept. 19, 2012, letter to Attorney General Martha Coakley.

In the letter, Sullivan said there was evidence McLaughlin violated laws prohibiting political fundraising by public employees, and that in receiving the money, Murray and his committee also violated the law.

On Thursday, Gov. Patrick said he is standing by the Lt. Gov. Murray and is confident he did nothing wrong.

“They are investigating the charges of McLaughlin raising money inappropriately and that is exactly what they should be doing and I trust this lieutenant governor and his account of what happened and didn’t happen and I’m going to let the jobs of the attorney general and other investigators get done,” said Gov. Deval Patrick.

A campaign spokesman for Murray said the lieutenant governor asked for the probe and is fully cooperating.

A spokesman for Coakley said the issues in the letter are under investigation.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors charged McLaughlin with falsely reporting his salary to the government.

Last week Murray announced that he wouldn’t run for governor in 2014 because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“My decision to run- not to run for governor was based on family commitments with the Democratic caucuses coming up in February, the various St. Patrick’s Day events in March. As it relates to Mr. McLaughlin, clearly he was somebody who was misleading a whole bunch of organizations and people, myself included, and he’s going to be held accountable for that.

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