Former Matos campaign consultant faces criminal charges for alleged signature fraud

Holly McClaren is shown in a campaign video for Gov. Dan McKee in 2022. (Screenshot from campaign video by Friends of Dan McKee)

A consultant hired by Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos during her 2023 congressional campaign faces criminal charges alleging she knowingly falsified signatures on Matos’ nomination papers and submitted them to election authorities, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and Rhode Island State Police Colonel Darnell S. Weaver announced Friday.

The news comes two days after a sealed grand jury indictment charging Holly McClaren with two felony counts of violating nomination papers and two misdemeanor counts of giving false documents to an agent, employee or public official.

McClaren, whose company was hired by Matos’ campaign during her 2023 primary run for the 1st Congressional District seat, pleaded not guilty to all charges at an arraignment Friday morning n Providence County Superior Court, John Grasso, McClaren’s attorney confirmed in an interview Friday.

Grasso declined to offer further comment, explaining that he is still waiting to see the documents outlining the state’s case against his client.

“This was a secret indictment,” he said. “We just found out the charges in court this morning.”

Ten months earlier, the state launched a criminal investigation into alleged fraud on Matos campaign signatures. Local election administrators in three separate municipalities had flagged papers submitted by her campaign amid suspicions of forged voter signatures, including some residents who were no longer alive.

Matos, who finished fourth in the 11-way, September 2023 Democratic primary, has insisted she was unaware of the forgeries committed by vendors hired by her campaign, and pledged full cooperation with the criminal investigation.

“I am glad to learn that the investigation is progressing, and that those involved are being held accountable,” Matos said in a statement on Friday. “This is a serious crime that was perpetrated against our state’s free and fair elections, and I look forward to this case being settled and resolved. I will continue to support our justice system in any way I can to ensure the truth comes to light, as well as supporting reforms to the reporting structure to protect our democratic process.”

Matos breaks silence on signature scandal, pledges to remain in the race

McClaren, 52, is the second person to face charges related to the signature scandal. In April, the attorney general’s office charged another campaign worker, Christopher Cotham , with the same four criminal charges as McClaren. Cotham, who was paid through McClaren’s consulting firm, Harmony Solutions, to collect signatures on Matos’ behalf, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in April. A pre-trial conference in his case is scheduled for June 11, according to online court records.

The Matos campaign initially paid $15,000 to Harmony Solutions for three months of work, including signature gathering, during the 2023 campaign. But the contractor was fired after signatures on Matos’ campaign papers were flagged in July.

McClaren remained elusive after news broke last summer, unreachable by numerous media outlets including Rhode Island Current despite multiple phone calls and visits to her Providence home.

No record of Harmony Solutions, or any other business owned by McClaren, exists in the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s business database.

McClaren is scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial conference on Aug. 8.

The scandal set off a chain reaction of reforms around the state’s requirements for signature gathering and submission by election candidates, as well as how local boards of canvassers report suspicious papers to the state elections panel.

Among the changes: companion bills approved in the House and Senate earlier this week and backed by the Rhode Island Board of Elections that seek to streamline the investigation process, requiring local election administrators to notify state officials in writing about suspected forgery on nomination papers. The legislation also clarifies the process for how the state election panel considers challenges to candidates’ nomination papers based on alleged fraud. If signed into law, the changes take effect Jan. 1.

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