So. Kingstown MAGA Republican fined $4,700 for campaign finance violations

Lacey McGreevey, recent top vote-getter in vote for delegates to the GOP convention, broke the law

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

That's McGreevy cuddling with the Mango Mussolini. McGreevy is using GoFundMe to raise money to go to the Republican National Convention where she is to be a Trump delegate. Why can't the Donald pay? 

A former South Kingstown School Committee candidate must pay a $4,700 penalty to the state elections board after failing to submit any of the required financial reports during and after her 2022 campaign, a Rhode Island Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

The May 17 order by Associate Justice Christopher Smith comes after two years of unanswered mail notices, voicemails and even a subpoena attempting to contact Lacey McGreevy over her missing campaign finance reports, according to court documents submitted by the Rhode Island Board of Elections. 

McGreevy on Monday afternoon said she was unaware of the campaign finance violations or the court complaint, and never received notifications of either.

“I did not raise anything. I did not spend anything. I never opened a campaign account because I knew I wasn’t going to,” she said of her 2022 run for office. “I didn’t know anything about this.” 

EDITOR'S NOTE: The "ignorance of the law" non-excuse did not work, especially since this is not Lacey's first rodeo. As noted below, she ran for office in 2014 and filed the required reports. Further, the state makes a provision for candidates who don't plan to raise or spend small sums to file a one-time form CF-5 for an exemption from reporting requirements. - Will Collette   

State rules require candidates who raise or spend any money to report their activities to the state elections board.

McGreevy, a Wakefield resident, ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for the South Kingstown School Committee in 2022. She failed to file any of the half-dozen finance reports due during the campaign, along with a year-end report, despite repeated reminders sent by certified mail, according to the state elections board. 

After a year of unanswered reminders, the board in July 2023 subpoenaed McGreevy, ordering her to submit the missing documents. The court order was met with silence from McGreevy.

By August 2023, McGreevy racked up more than $2,000 in fines for missing campaign finance statements; the penalties continued to accrue at $10 for each additional day the paperwork was not turned in. 

In October 2023, the elections board voted to refer the matter to Providence County Superior Court. McGreevy, who represented herself in the complaint, failed to plead or otherwise make a defense, according to the May 17 judgment by Smith. McGreevy has 90 days to pay the $4,700 fine and submit all missing financial reports.

McGreevy is one of 19 Republican delegates who will represent Rhode Island at the Republican National Convention this summer. She was the top vote-getter in the state’s 2nd Congressional District based on final results of the April 2 presidential preference primary, and ran as a delegate pledged to former president Donald Trump. 

McGreevy also ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2014, but filed all of the requisite reports during that campaign, according to the Board of Elections document. 

The Board of Elections declined to comment on the court order on Monday.

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