Scott Brown Campaign Pays Operatives With History Of Bareknuckle Politics

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is paying tens of thousands of dollars to campaign consultants and fundraisers with histories of playing hardball, a review of the senator's federal election filing reveals.

Brown is gearing up for a 2012 Senate contest against former consumer financial watchdog Elizabeth Warren, who has quickly equaled the incumbent in polling and surpassed him in fundraising power. Last quarter he raised just under $1.5 million, compared with more than $3 million by Warren, who began her campaign partway through the filing period. Brown still has a large edge in cash on hand, with $10.5 million in the bank.

But the Warren surge may explain why Brown is spending money on consultants who practice a bareknuckle brand of politics.

The biggest payout involved more than $46,000 to the robocall firm FLS Connect. That company was linked to a smear campaign on behalf of George W. Bush against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2000. It was also tied to calls on behalf of McCain connecting Barack Obama to terrorists in 2008.

The firm is listed as a fundraising consultant.

Brown's election filing also shows that he's been generous to a pair of consultants linked to cheap shots in the current campaign, even though Brown has said he will not accept such tactics. His campaign has paid more than $35,000 to Eric Fehrnstrom and his firm Shawmut Group, and another $12,000 to Willington Media, the firm of consultant Rob Willington.

It was Willington who registered the domain name CrazyKhazei.com, presumably to mock potential Brown Democratic challenger Alan Khazei. He has also set up the domain name Queen Elizabeth Warren.

Fehrnstrom was recently revealed as the person behind a CrazyKhazei Twitter account that pretended to come from the social entrepreneur and mocked his manliness compared to that of Brown.

When Fehrnstrom was identified, Brown declared on Aug. 26 that he did not approve and "made clear to everyone on or associated with my team that this type of thing is not to happen again."

Fehrnstrom's Shawmut Group had received two payments of $10,000 each for work in July and August. Six days after the revelation of Fehrnstrom's tweets, the firm received a $15,000 payment, marking an apparent $5,000 raise.

Brown spokesman Colin Reed did not immediately answer a request for comment.

Comments

[luminafitness]

02:54 AM on 10/27/2011

I hope he does do this. It will be a gift to the Warren campaign because this kind of thing doesn't fly well in MA. He's too stupid to know that.

He's an intellectual lightweight and people here are sick of it. We smile every time he makes his small-minded gaffes because it shines a spotlight on how poorly suited he is for the peoples seat that he's occupying.

[sapperdom]

04:43 PM on 10/25/2011

Poor Scott Brown--the pretty boy knows he has not chance against Warren, a defender of the middle class. He's hoping to dirty up the campaign... It's over Scott--you're 15 mins are DONE.

[rebootpolitics]

03:19 PM on 10/20/2011

With Warren making a powerful, common sense argument about how Wall Street brought down our economy and how we ought to do something to protect consumers and create jobs, expect Brown to get more desperate and sleazy as time goes on.

[smo1111]

04:16 PM on 10/19/2011

Another republican sees the handwriting on the wall...............one and done.

[Eagleman]

04:14 PM on 10/19/2011

You need hardball people when you are up against union thugs

I see this a self defense move

[Jesster]

04:25 PM on 10/19/2011

What a joke!

[PhilBoston]

05:15 PM on 10/19/2011

You must have watched On the Waterfront one too many times.

The thugs are those neocon creeps that got us in Iraq and killed thousands for no reason, other than their thuggish view of America's role in the world.

Them's your thugs.

Plus, how can effete liberals ever be thuggish when compared to the bare knucled know-nothing swagger of draft dodgers like Cheney, Bush and Cain.

[NYC619]

03:57 PM on 10/19/2011

If the "consultants" are telling Sir Cosmo to be a misogynist then its past their time to go...then again he isn't exactly Prince Charming all by himself either.

[cakk]

03:49 PM on 10/19/2011

Hopefully they both will learn from the fiasco two weeks ago and just talk to voters about issues. I hope it doesn't get ugly. Should be a very good race. Last poll I saw Brown had a 5 point lead. Lots can still happen in both party primaries.

[proudtohaveserved]

03:37 PM on 10/19/2011

HEY scott you just voted against adding 22,000 jobs to ,MA. how are you going to explain that to the voters. i think you are done, buddy, finito,caput, you just made e. warren senator of MA, dumb, man, dumb move

[cakk]

03:52 PM on 10/19/2011

Actually, he wants the job bill passed in pieces and he has explained this to his constituents.

[Yg Bluig]

05:01 PM on 10/19/2011

Yup, that's what he said all right.
And what rationale did he give a year ago June when he voted against extending unemployment for people who had been unable to find work for so long they maxed out their unemployment benefits?
I have some friends who were in that boat (still are) and still remember how Brown threw them overboard.

[luminafitness]

03:46 AM on 10/27/2011

Yeah, well, we're not stupid enough to believe that excuse. He voted against it to vote with his party thugs and he's done it before. That won't work here. He can try to say whatever he wants, and hire whatever thugs he wants to say it, but we know better.

He's too stupid to know he should have put his state first. That was his only chance. Had he done that, he might have had at least a fighting chance.

He doesn't. He's done.

[Badfinger1]

03:22 PM on 10/19/2011

...Scott Brown is a blip on the voting record of Massachusetts...
Had Martha Coakley bothered to actually campaign with some zeal,we wouldn't even remember his name.Period. Martha simply miscalculated the sheer stupidity of a too large minority here....
Scott will be hiring a moving truck come the election. He actually could have been a decent Senator as a moderate republican in a different political climate, but the teapartys' threats of "Primarying" him made him lean ever more to the right....
We can look forward to our new Senator, Elizabeth Warren and sleep well knowing that she remains untouched by the filth in Washington politics, people WITH character never do get that kind of dirty....

[john456]

03:45 PM on 10/19/2011

On the brightside of Scott brown's election, you'll now have the opportunity of sending an independent, intelligent voice to the Senate

[Jesster]

04:29 PM on 10/19/2011

Good point, Warren will be worth the wait.

[wvmarv]

04:20 PM on 10/19/2011

"Elizabeth Warren for President in 2016"

[Eagleman]

10:14 AM on 10/21/2011

Why not Elizabeth Warren/Barney Frank in 2016

It will be a match made in heaven

[Free2BeMe]

03:22 PM on 10/19/2011

Smear campaigns and dirty politics are the only things republicans have. They can't run on their records. They can't run on their intelligence. They can't run on any plans they have to make their communities, states, or nation better. So they hire companies who make a living by flinging mud.

[Lawyer822]

03:18 PM on 10/19/2011

Maybe he'll have to buy another truck to show how he's like regular people.

[proudtohaveserved]

03:39 PM on 10/19/2011

LAWYER i am regular people and never posed naked to get thru college and graduated with a 3.7 gpa.

[walkthewalk]

03:18 PM on 10/19/2011

This is a guy who has always done what he knew he had to do to succeed when his intelligence and experience weren't going to be enough. He posed nude to make money, and now he spends huge sums of money to hire campaign hit-men to assasinate Elizabeth Warren's character. Ms. Warren has earned everything she's achieved by working hard. She's no "Queen Elizabeth." Her roots are in Oklahoma, and she makes no bones about it, so calling her an "elitist" is more than a stretch.

The gap between who Elizabeth Warren is, and who Brown's bareknuckle hires will try to portray her at, is so wide that Scott Brown can drive his old truck through it.

[Pat Padrnos]

03:24 PM on 10/19/2011

Unfortunately, I think your last sentence says it all. If anyone can deal with this kind of nonsense, she can. I wish her well. She is a great lady.

[proudtohaveserved]

03:41 PM on 10/19/2011

PAT and she will win. scotty just voted against adding (i think) 22,000 jobs to MA.he is gone

[ConservativeChampion]

03:15 PM on 10/19/2011

It will be interesting.

I hope Brown's operative go after Warren with the intent to send her back to Harvard and end her political career.

Instead, she will be sent back to mal educate the young people.

[proudtohaveserved]

03:43 PM on 10/19/2011

CON shouldn't you be watching rush or glenn. ? or writing comments on the wall street journal?

[baldguy]

03:53 PM on 10/19/2011

Learn some basic grammar, please. I have trouble lowering my IQ to be able to understand your rambling crap.

[Yg Bluig]

03:14 PM on 10/19/2011

Oh please, Sen. Brown. Please have your robocall people call my house. I so long to hang up on you.
The only way it could be better if its Sen. McCain, D-Mentia, on the other end.

[Ellamenta]

03:00 PM on 10/19/2011

Looks like Scott is turning a nice toasty Brown.