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Do you really wonder why Massachusetts voters....
Charles and Gloria Clough own this waterfront home in Mashpee overlooking Popponesset Bay. The home, assessed at $2.2 million, has a view of the waters where shellfisherman Richard Cook has received permission to farm oysters.Cape Cod Times/Steve Heaslip
MASHPEE — One of the homeowners locked in a legal battle against a proposed oyster farm in Popponesset Bay was behind a Boston lobbying firm tucking an amendment into the state budget that would block the project.
Charles Clough, head of Clough Capital Partners, a $3 billion investment firm, asked ML Strategies to push for the amendment, a spokeswoman from the lobbying firm told the Daily News of Newburyport on Wednesday.
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Clough and his wife, Gloria, have a home in Concord and a 4,121-square-foot house on Daniels Island Road in Mashpee, according to Mashpee assessor records. It overlooks Popponesset Bay and the site of the oyster farm proposed by Mashpee shellfisherman Richard Cook.
ML Strategies approached state Rep. Michael Costello, a six-term Newburyport Democrat who is not seeking re-election, to file the amendment to the House of Representatives budget that would create a "special coastal resource sanctuary" in the area. The amendment would still have to pass in the Senate and be signed by the governor to become law.
Cook has fought a three-year battle over the oyster farm, winning approval repeatedly at both the local and state levels. But homeowners, including Clough, have fought him at every turn. The Cloughs are two of 23 parties in a pair of current court cases pending in the Massachusetts Appeals Court stemming from lawsuits filed in Barnstable County.
The Boston law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, of which ML Strategies is a part, issued a statement Thursday that said:
"Mintz Levin represents a group of Cape residents in litigation and administrative hearings relating to the proposed oyster farm. Incidental to that representation was the filing of the budget amendment.
The Firm will continue to use all of its resources, including those of ML Strategies, to best represent these clients."
The sanctuary designation would stop not only Cook's oyster farm but any other projects, including routine dredging, in the area, which is west of the Popponesset Spit and in view of homes on both Popponesset and Daniels islands.
Cook said Thursday he has believed all along that the amendment was the work of one of the opposing homeowners on Daniels and Popponesset islands. But he was surprised to hear it was Clough, whose property overlooks a shellfish grant surrounding Gooseberry Island run by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. That grant was recently renewed without any opposition from nearby homeowners.
"I think that it was a group decision," Cook said. "He was not acting alone, that's what I think."
Clough, who did not return multiple messages seeking comment Thursday, has owned the Daniels Island property since 1993, when he and his wife bought it for $665,000, according to town records.
The two-story home, now assessed at $$2.2 million, was built in 1995 and expanded in 2008. It has a boat dock, five bathrooms and four bedrooms and is tucked on a cul-de-sac at the northern tip of Daniels Island, with panoramic views from the house of the entire bay.
The home sits down a gentle grade a short distance from the road and is quiet, but not isolated from its neighbors. No one answered the door at the residence Thursday, but the home showed signs of being recently landscaped. Signs warned intruders of video surveillance.
Clough founded Clough Capital Partners in 2000 after working as a chief investment strategist for 13 years at Merrill Lynch.
He and his wife have given a total of $6,600 to various political candidates, mostly Republicans, since 2007. But he also has donated to several charitable causes, including establishing the Clough Colloquium at his alma mater, Boston College.
According to the colloquium website, Clough's vision was to introduce members of the college community "to persons of high ethical standards who had become leaders in their respective fields."
At its most recent event, held Wednesday, speakers included Gov. Deval Patrick, former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and former Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis.
Cook, who works full-time as an electrician, said Thursday he's looking forward to the day when he can make oyster farming his primary source of income. He has worked another shellfish grant in Mashpee's Ockway Bay since 1983. When the Popponesset Bay farm becomes a reality, his twin sons, now freshmen at Virginia Tech, will work with him to help pay for their schooling, he said.
"I couldn't have made it this far without them, and especially my wife, Diane," he said.
His wife works part-time at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. "She's helped me file every piece of paper I've needed to and helped me keep on top of this."
Costello didn't consult with any members of the Cape Cod delegation about the amendment, which was part of a consolidated block of amendments considered and passed toward the end of the budget process. The amendment references only the longitude and latitude of the area and doesn't mention Mashpee, Popponesset Bay or the oyster project.
Rep. David Vieira, R-Falmouth, said he didn't recognize Clough's name or know him personally. He's also never worked one-on-one with Costello and has not spoken to him since the amendment's true purpose became clear.
"I wish him a happy retirement," Vieira said Thursday. "I'm glad he's retiring."
Costello is traveling outside the state and was not available for comment Thursday.
Staff writer C. Ryan Barber contributed to this report.
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