By Matt Stout
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Former State Treasure Tim Cahill said he’s receiving support “everywhere I go” following a brief hearing in Suffolk Superior Court this morning on public corruption charges, as his new lawyer contended Cahill only followed the playbook long used by Bay State pols.
“You would have to assume every sitting politician, every sitting political figure in this state and every other state and the federal system has probably violated this law multiple, multiple times,” lawyer Jeffrey Denner said. “So either it’s not a crime or it’s a crime people haven’t realized is a crime at this point. Either way we think it’s a very unfair situation.”
Appearing with his new legal team, Cahill told reporters he’s “holding up fine, thank you” as his case moves toward a Sept. trial date. Cahill is charged with using $1.5 million in Lottery ads to boost his struggling campaign for governor in 2010.
“That’s the support I’m getting everywhere I go,” Cahill said after shaking hands with multiple people before entering the courtroom today. “It helps you get through situations like this.”
During his 2010 run for governor, Cahill’s campaign team reshaped a TV spot intended for the Lottery, pushing to spin the agency as scandal-free, Attorney General Martha Coakley contends. The script change and the ad’s timing — during the home stretch of Cahill’s failed bid for the Corner Office — “all pointed to a concerted and fraudulent effort by Cahill to portray the decision as being for the benefit of the Lottery when in fact it was intended to benefit his personal and political interests,” Coakley states in court papers.
Cahill’s legal team has said he, the Lottery and its ad agency all collaborated when they approved the pricey ad campaign, and that he was following “guidance” from an Office of Campaign and Political Finance bulletin.
Yesterday, a clerk magistrate set a May 31 date for another hearing after prosecutors said they needed more time to gather evidence before sending it to defense attorneys.
Denner and Brad Bailey, who replaced attorney E. Peter Parker as Cahill’s attorneys, said following the hearing that they also needed more time to sort through the discovery sent down by the attorney general’s office.
Bailey said Cahill’s legal team plans to file motions in the case, including what he called a “constitutional challenge” of the charges. He did not elaborate.
“We’re on target, we’re on track. And I’ve got full trust in these two gentlemen and their team to make the case there was no crime,” Cahill said of his two lawyers.
Scott Campbell, Cahill’s former campaign manager and Alfred Grazioso, former Lottery chief of staff, have also plead not guilty to allegations leveled against them by Coakley.