Boston rep sanctioned for spending campaign dollars on personal uses

                

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Boston rep sanctioned for spending campaign dollars on personal uses   January 7, 2026 By Chris Lisinski

The state's campaign finance laws are notoriously generous when it comes to the kinds of things politicians can spend money on from their campaign accounts. They can use donations to their campaign on anything that furthers their political interests, a mile-wide definition that has seen state regulators give the green light to expenditures on everything from pricey steak dinners with colleagues to suites at the Beanpot college hockey tournament.

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Despite rules that stretch allowable spending to include sometimes eyebrow-raising uses, Beacon Hill officials still seem to regularly manage to find themselves dinged by regulators for stepping beyond those limits.

The latest pol in the unwanted spotlight: state Rep. Chynah Tyler of Boston. Uber Eats, audiobooks, and thousands of dollars in unexplained spending have landed the Roxbury pol in hot water with state political finance regulators.

The Office of Campaign and Political Finance alleged that Tyler misused money from her campaign account for personal expenses in violation of state law, plus ran afoul of other reporting deadlines and record-keeping requirements.

Under the terms of an agreement made public Tuesday, Tyler will pay a $6,000 civil forfeiture to the state and to submit to greater campaign-finance scrutiny by OCPF for the next six months.

Regulators said Tyler made more than $800 in personal expenses “in error” from her campaign account between April 1 and October 20, which she repaid after OCPF inquired.

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More Context Cape lawmaker repeatedly lied to state regulators investigating his 2022 campaign (April 2024)  As sentencing approaches, 2 sides of Nangle emerge (September 2021)

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What We're Reading WU INAUGURATION: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu hauled in more than $1.1 million in donations toward events around her second inauguration, much of it from real estate developers, employers, and lobbyists who often have business before the city. (WBUR)  SHELLFISH: State maritime officials deemed Winthrop, Hingham, and Hull safe for shellfishing one century after a large-scale ban was imposed, citing improvements to Boston Outer harbor’s water quality. (GBH News)  BALLOT QUESTIONS: The record dozen ballot questions that could appear before voters in November might require an additional $5 million in state funding for elections administration, according to Secretary of State William Galvin. (State House News Service – paywall)   ADDED FROM WBUR TODAY:  We’re gonna need a bigger ballot: There could be a record number of questions on the November ballot, after Secretary of State Bill Galvin certified 11 questions. That's in addition to the gun control law referendum set to go before voters this year. And as WBUR’s Chris Van Buskirk reports, if all of them advance, it could be tough to fit them on the ballot. State officials must print a summary of each question (and in multiple languages) and that takes up a lot of space. Galvin is asking the Healey administration for an extra $5 million to deal with the logistics. “It's very likely there's going to be multiple cards,” Galvin said. “It's going to be difficult for the voter, but it's also going to be challenging for the logistics of the ballot boxes and things like that.” Typically, Massachusetts voters only have to decide two to four questions. But states like California, which see dozens of citizen petitions, send out voter guides that can be hundreds of pages long. The Legislature now has the ballot questions in hand, and has until May to act on them. Curious what some of the questions might be? Here's a preview. EVERETT: On his final day in office, outgoing Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria reached a deal with the operator of Encore Boston Harbor that opens the door for two hotels and a new commuter rail stop near the casino. (The Boston Globe – paywall)  SOLAR: A developer purchased a public golf course in Bellingham and Franklin for nearly $25 million with plans to replace it with a 30-megawatt solar energy array. (Boston Business Journal – paywall)

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