The sleaze of the Britt trial

The Jeff Britt criminal money laundering trial focusing on a mailer from the 2016 Speaker Nick Mattiello campaign has been a non-stop sleaze show of underbelly campaign tactics and illegal behavior. In the center ring of sleaze is the defendant Jeff Britt who fancied himself a slick-talking political operative but comes off as a low-rent wannabee who gets naive individuals jammed up in his half-baked plans. People being followed, sign-in sheets at rival fundraisers photographed, payments of cash, and meetings with sketchy mail-ballot figures. Both Vic Pichette and Shawna Lawton were quick to toss Britt under the bus as soon as any form of pressure was applied. Prosecutors seem to have a firm handle on how Britt’s failed plans feel apart like cheap cardboard as soon as a Projo reporter began placing simple phone calls to parties involved. The defense has turned into a former U.S. Attorney trying to trip up a retired marketing consultant who was trying to land a fifty thousand dollar state job over whether he said “cash or check” to the grand jury. Things might even get sleazier once the rest of team Mattiello rolls into courtroom 4E at the Kent county courthouse to deny knowledge of the events of October 2016. If you toss a football in the parking lot at  Patriot Place it does not make you a New England Patriot much like manipulating mail-ballots and violating campaign laws does not make you a political operative. While the Plunder Dome trial of Buddy Cianci was entertaining, the Jeff Britt trial is just pure sleaze.