Incoming Metropolis Councilor Enrique Pepén admits to violating marketing campaign finance regulation

Enrique Pepén, who was elected to the Boston Metropolis Council earlier this month, was discovered to have violated marketing campaign finance regulation by selling a “kickoff” fundraising occasion whereas nonetheless working as a public worker. 

Pepén, who was endorsed by Mayor Michelle Wu, labored as government director of Boston’s Neighborhood Providers division earlier than resigning in July to run for Metropolis Council. He’ll signify District 5, changing Ricardo Arroyo. 

In late June, the Committee to Elect Enrique Pepén hosted a fundraising occasion with instructed contributions starting from $50 to $1,000 per particular person. Within the two weeks main as much as that occasion, Pepén posted a minimum of six instances to non-public social media accounts with a view to promote the occasion and to solicit donations, in keeping with the state Workplace of Marketing campaign and Political Finance. 

Regulators dominated that this violated marketing campaign finance regulation, which prohibits public workers from “instantly or not directly soliciting or receiving” contributions for a candidate for public workplace. Pepén agreed to pay a $5,400 penalty as a part of a decision with OCPF. 

Questions have been first raised concerning the scenario in July, when The Boston Globe reported that Pepén had promoted the occasion. 

“I sincerely apologize for the lapse in judgment,” he stated in a press release to the Globe on the time. 

Issues have been additionally raised about Pepén conducting a political interview from Metropolis Corridor. State regulation bans using public sources, together with paid worker time and work-issued units, for a political objective. The interview was carried out after enterprise hours and the town’s Wi-Fi community was not used, Pepén’s marketing campaign instructed the Globe on the time. 

The interview was additionally talked about by OCPF in a letter to Pepén final week. Pepén instructed regulators that the interview was carried out utilizing a private cellular phone from his private workplace in Metropolis Corridor earlier than his resignation turned efficient. An OCPF overview discovered that employees time or publicly-paid units weren’t utilized in help of Pepén’s candidacy. 

“Public workers ought to chorus, nevertheless, from utilizing their workplaces for marketing campaign exercise, even when the exercise takes place after working hours,” OCPF Director William Campbell wrote. 

Pepén instructed the Globe this week that the scenario was a part of “studying from being a first-time candidate.”

After Arroyo misplaced within the preliminary election, Pepén ran a decent race towards Jose Ruiz. Pepén gained nearly 53% of the vote, in keeping with the town’s unofficial election outcomes. 

Pepén is a Roslindale resident who campaigned on a platform of accelerating reasonably priced housing and bettering public security by supporting diversionary packages and teams that have interaction with at-risk populations. He was one among 4 contemporary faces elected to Metropolis Council, alongside Henry Santana, Benjamin Weber, and John FitzGerald.