Treasurer Goldberg ordered deletion of series of texts, ex-Mass. Lottery official says

Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg had a “pattern and practice” of asking a former Lottery official and confidant to delete his text exchanges with the treasurer, the former official said in sworn testimony related to the firing of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission chair.

In the legal filing, Edward Farley — once the treasurer’s campaign manager and a Massachusetts Lottery marketing chief — details conversations, phone calls and texts with Goldberg in what he describes as a close political relationship dating back to 2005.

Specialists in Massachusetts public records say the allegation that Goldberg ordered a state employee to delete public records — and potentially destroyed her own — raises a red flag. “It concerns me,” said Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition. “Bottom line, text messages are subject to the public records law, and there are certain retention policies that govern when they can and cannot be deleted.”

In a public records request, WBUR sought copies of texts between Goldberg and Farley from July 2022 to September 2023. The records access officer for the Treasurer’s Office responded that there are no messages between Goldberg and Farley.

In his sworn testimony and in a statement responding to WBUR questions, Farley describes frequent communication with the treasurer. He recounts an August 2022 dinner at The Chart Room in Cataumet, where Goldberg “confided in me that she was planning on publicly announcing she was going to appoint Shannon O’Brien” that September to the top job at the marijuana industry regulator.

Nearly a year later, in July 2023, Farley said Goldberg called to say she’d learned of an investigation into O’Brien’s conduct at the commission and that O’Brien would be “humiliated” if the information became public. O’Brien was accused of using racially insensitive language and bullying the outgoing executive director.

Goldberg and Farley texted about O’Brien’s performance as head of the agency, Farley said in his written statement. He said Goldberg texted him the link to a recording of a particularly contentious cannabis commission meeting, and asked his opinion of O’Brien’s demeanor. (She sent it to other public figures too, he said she told him.) Farley said he replied, “I’ve seen her do better.”

After that, according to Farley’s statement, “Goldberg ordered me to delete all of the text messages regarding O’Brien.”

Silverman, of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said any correspondence with Farley about appointing or removing the head of a state regulatory agency should have been preserved.

“These are not the types of text messages that you fire off quickly, saying you'll be in the office in five minutes, or ‘I'm running a little late today,’” he said. “These are conversations happening over text that are of substance and can give the public a lot of insight into how the commission's working, and should be retained appropriately.”

A spokesperson for Goldberg said the treasurer did not delete messages with Farley, and did not have a practice of asking others to delete their correspondence with her.

Farley’s affidavit is part of a trove of legal filings in Goldberg’s months-long process to oust O’Brien, her hand-picked choice to clean up the chaos at the marijuana agency, but who lasted only a year as chair before she was suspended and later dismissed.

“These proceedings, which involved a personnel matter, were not public, and we therefore will not be providing any comment,” deputy communications director Mikaela Cole said. “We are disappointed that Shannon O’Brien and her team continue to share confidential information publicly.”

Goldberg fired O’Brien last month for “gross misconduct,” after a series of closed-door hearings. O’Brien denies the charges and objected to the secret nature of the disciplinary process; her representatives have released legal records from the matter to reporters at multiple news outlets. Goldberg’s office has declined to publicly release the hearing records.

While state law would have required the treasurer to keep meaningful text exchanges as a regular practice, in September 2023 officials received a specific directive: a “legal hold,” disclosed in Farley’s testimony, instructing him, Goldberg and nine other people to preserve all documents and records related to the O’Brien legal proceeding.

"Throughout this period, we would text about this investigation and she insisted that I delete all texts."

Edward Farley

That legal hold, from Treasury Deputy General Counsel Sandra DeSantis Lynch, said the recipients “must retain and preserve all records, including documents, which may be relevant to personnel matters and potential legal proceedings regarding Shannon O’Brien, Chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, and the Office of the Massachusetts Treasurer and Receiver General.”

Goldberg declined to answer whether she had adhered to that directive.

Farley’s testimony and his statement to WBUR offer a window into Goldberg’s behind-the-scenes political maneuvering at the agencies she oversees. In addition to communicating with Farley about the controversy surrounding O’Brien, the treasurer also directed Farley to take actions contrary to his boss’s wishes at the Lottery, Farley alleged. She then stayed in “frequent communication” with Farley when he was investigated for insubordination after a complaint filed by Lottery chief Michael Sweeney.

“Throughout this period, we would text about this investigation and she insisted that I delete all texts,” Farley said in his statement to WBUR.

Sweeney declined to comment on the allegation that Goldberg ordered Farley to undermine him, and on why Farley was fired. Sweeney left the Lottery in 2022 for the private sector.

By Farley’s telling, he and Goldberg had a close alliance for many years. He ran Goldberg’s failed 2006 campaign for lieutenant governor, and said he later suggested she run for state treasurer.

After she won in 2014, Farley would go on to serve on Goldberg’s transition team, he said. Later, he said he would decline her offer to serve as her chief of staff, opting instead to return to the Lottery.

“Goldberg and I texted back and forth for several years,” Farley said in the statement. “At first the texts were personal asking about family, mutual friends etc. and of course politics and how Goldberg could maintain her political presence between elections.”

A spokesperson for Goldberg said the treasurer does not conduct official business over text.

Farley left the Lottery last year after he was reportedly suspended. In his statement to WBUR he said, “I believe the reason that I was fired was because I refused to do Goldberg’s dirty work by not intervening to get O’Brien to resign.”

Goldberg declined to comment, through her spokesperson, citing “confidential personnel matters.”

Farley also worked at the state Lottery under O’Brien in the late '90s to early 2000s, when she was treasurer. Goldberg did not comment on Farley’s firing from the Lottery.

“The whole point of the public records law was to shine light. And text messages, private text messages, are something that's still in the shadows.”

Attorney Edward Naughton

Massachusetts’ public records law requires state officials to maintain any correspondence, including text messages and emails, related to public business. “General administrative correspondence” must be retained for at least three years, while communication related to “policy development” must be kept for five years.

There’s a history of Massachusetts public officials skirting the public records law when it comes to text messages. Former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh admitted he deleted messages from his work phone after first claiming they didn’t exist.

Penalties for violating the public records law include fines or up to a year in prison. But lawyers say the Attorney General’s office rarely enforces the law.

“The whole point of the public records law was to shine light,” said Edward Naughton, a partner with Brown Rudnick who practices media law. “And text messages, private text messages, are something that's still in the shadows.”

Farley said he stands ready to prove substantive texts existed between him and Goldberg, despite the treasurer’s denial.

“I will allow my phone to undergo a digital forensic review to retrieve the deleted texts,” Farley wrote in his statement. “I would challenge that Goldberg does the same.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately described Farley's role on Goldberg's 2014 transition team. He was part of it, but did not lead it. The post has been updated. We regret the error.