Emails raise questions about Cahill's campaign

BOSTON (WBZ) -- Some potentially damaging emails are raising questions about Tim Cahill's campaign for governor. They appear to show advisers plotting to use a lottery ad paid for by taxpayers to help their candidate. The e-mails only came out because of a lawsuit filed by Cahill himself.

Tim Cahill filed suit against members of his campaign who quit, including his former campaign manager.

Cahill says the ads for the lottery that have recently been running are not because he's running for governor.

At a governor's forum Wednesday Cahill was asked point blank about the ads.

"Would you pledge to release any and all emails regarding whether your campaign colluded over the coordination of that very flattering lottery advertisement?" Cahill was asked.

"If there were any we would release them, but there aren't any and that very flattering advertisement has been running for the last four or five years," Cahill responded.

But some of his former staffers make it sound otherwise.

Cahill filed a lawsuit after several of his staff members, including his campaign manager, left his campaign.

Now those staff members are under oath and telling the court what they know.

Former campaign manager Adam Meldrum said, "I was also aware of coordination between campaign staff and treasurer Cahill regarding the production of TV ads which may benefit the campaign through the office of the state lottery."

And there was a text message exchanged between Dane Strother, a Cahill advisor, and the former campaign manager, in which Dane writes, "Need to know the pollsters name and how much money the lottery has to spend. Cahill thinks most of the two million is there."

Cahill released a statement Wednesday night saying the emails disclosed by his former aides "show nothing more than chatter between campaign consultants."

If Cahill's former campaign manager saw state workers using state resources and working on state time to help with Cahill's campaign that's against the law.

The GOP is now asking the state attorney general to investigate.