Woman Tied to Matos’ Signatures Investigation Works for Controversial Political Operative
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Holly McClaren, the paid staffer on Lt. Governor Sabina Matos’ congressional campaign at the center of the signature controversy, also works for Luis Estrada — the Democratic political operative who worked for Governor Dan McKee’s campaign and has been tied to a number of other political campaigns.
McClaren, on her social media account, lists Estrada Bookkeeping and Political Consulting as one of her employers.
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McClaren Linked to Hundreds of Matos' Signatures
Rival Democratic candidate for Congress Don Carlson’s campaign reviewed all of the petition forms submitted on behalf of the Matos campaign. During this process, it was discovered that McClaren had signed nearly half of all Matos’ submitted nomination papers district-wide. McClaren is the same petition-gatherer known to have submitted fraudulent signatures on behalf of the Matos campaign to the Boards of Canvassers in both Newport and Jamestown.
As GoLocal reported, ballots in both of the towns have been referred to the police for criminal investigation.
The Carlson campaign claims, "To date, at least three types of fraud have been documented: Names and signatures of voters who have died; names and signatures of people who have moved away; and names and signatures of people who deny ever signing nomination papers for Sabina Matos. Evan England, a Matos campaign staffer, attested all of these nomination papers in his capacity as a notary public."
The Matos campaign has repeatedly refused to answer specific questions. They provided one statement on Tuesday night and have not responded to repeated follow-up questions.
"Under these extraordinary circumstances, the Carlson campaign believes that protecting the integrity of the state’s elections process requires each local Board of Canvassers in the First Congressional District to complete a thorough review and verification of signatures collected by McClaren and submitted by the Matos campaign. Given the nature of the fraud discovered to date (i.e., citizens denying that they signed the papers) this process may require each local canvassing clerk to contact individual voters to determine whether they in fact signed Matos’ nomination papers," said the Carlson campaign.
Through a formal challenge submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office on Wednesday, the Carlson campaign is requesting reviews in the following localities: Barrington, Bristol, Central Falls, Cumberland, East Providence, Jamestown, Lincoln, Newport, North Providence, Pawtucket, Portsmouth, Providence, Warren, and Woonsocket.
Estrada's Background
In 2017, GoLocal unveiled the links between Estrada and then-State Senate candidate John Florez, who had paid more than $4,200 in consulting fees to Luis Estadra for campaign work in his effort to replace Teresa Paiva Weed in Senate District 13.
Estrada also worked with State House insider Matt Jerzyk on the 2010 campaign for Angel Taveras for Mayor Providence as well as the effort to expand gaming at Newport Grand in 2014. Jerzyk ran that failed campaign for developer and former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino.
Paolino owned the Newport Grand facility at the time — and the proposal failed.
Estrada was convicted more than three decades ago of numerous felonies and spent 22 years in jail. He was sentenced to seventy years - sixty to serve for the crimes.
In 2017, Florez issued a statement to GoLocal defending the hiring of Estrada.
“I am proud to have Luis Estrada as my campaign manager and I stand by him 100%. Luis made a mistake more than 30 years ago when he was in his early 20s and he paid the price for that mistake. As a liberal Democrat, I believe in second chances and rehabilitation. Luis is a great redemption story and he has not only been a model citizen, but he has worked tirelessly to prevent young, at-risk youth from making the same mistakes that he did,” said Florez.
Florez lost in the primary to now Senator Dawn Euer.
“In my life, I have been blessed by people like John, Taveras, Richard K. Corley (Warwick City Councilman) and even my current employer Sullivan Whitehead & DeLuca. All believe in second chances. If I worked in the back kitchen of a restaurant people would not pay attention to me today and those like me would be kept a dark secret as I was reminded today: If you don't want your name out there, then get out of politics. I will not get out as long as I can prove that many of us can make a difference,” said Estrada in 2017.
Estrada worked as a consultant for Lt. Governor Dan McKee in his re-election bid in the Democratic primary against Aaron Regunberg. McKee narrowly defeated Regunberg.
And in 2022, Estrada was again a consultant for McKee.
Estrada told some of his story to The Rooms Project.
"The final trial, the fifth trial, was the most devastating outcome, which was actually the jury found me guilty and I was sentenced to seventy years. At the time of my conviction, I had just turned twenty-three that year, had already battled the system since I was twenty-two. I’d finally lost and the judge sentenced me the following year, I believe when he sentenced me to seventy years, sixty to serve. I still have pending cases. I feel for some people that experienced almost every aspect of the cruel system because I’ve been charged with things I have done, I’ve been charged with things I haven’t done, and I’ve gotten away with things that I have done.”
“He currently serves on the boards of RICAREs, Open Door, and the Probation and Parole FACTS program. The leaking of this information to the press is just another example of the dirty politics that this state needs to get past," said Florez. "I look forward to continuing my positive campaign – focusing on the issues important to Newport and Jamestown residents.”
Estrada has also worked on the campaign for Mayor James Diossa in Central Falls and was a paid consultant. Jerzyk, at the time, served as Solicitor for the City of Central Falls.
EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version listed Newport and Jamestown as part of Aquidneck Island. Jamestown is not.
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