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Court Documents: Somerset Board of Selectman Candidate Holly McNamara has defaulted on $16,000 credit card debt

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Holly McNamara

Candidate for Somerset Board of Selectman Holly McNamara is facing financial difficulties after she defaulted on two different creditors since the start of the year, with judgments totaling over $16,000.

Court documents obtained from Fall River District Court show McNamara, who announced her candidacy for Selectman earlier this month, failed to appear for two scheduled court hearings, one on January 26th, 2024, with American Express and one on February 20th, 2024, with Discover Bank. McNamara’s failure to appear resulted in judgment for both creditors by default. Fall River Reporter was at Fall River District Court and can confirm McNamara was not present for either hearing.

The American Express judgment totals $6,096.33 (which includes $150.00 in filing fees). The Discover Bank judgment totals $10,941.89 (which includes filing fees of $195.00).

McNamara seemed to defend her recent financial troubles on a Facebook posting, although she did not directly acknowledge the two recent court hearings that she did not attend.

Despite apparent financial issues, McNamara has been an employee of the Commonwealth for just over a year, working for the Department of Transportation. The salary for her civil engineer position is just over $120,000 per year according to the statewide payroll website.

Holly McNamara
MassDOT Facebook page
Source: Massachusetts Statewide Payroll website

McNamara was first elected to the Board of Selectman in 2016 and ran unopposed for a second term in 2019. Two days after Allen Smith was elected to the board in 2021, McNamara resigned from the board, a year before her term ended. The move resulted in the town holding a special election to fill the vacant seat, costing taxpayers almost $7,000.

Somerset Town Election
Email from Somerset Town Clerk Dolores Bence detailing the cost associated with the special election after McNamara resigned in 2021

That same year, McNamara sold her home at 78 Harrington Lane in Somerset for $611,000 after purchasing the home in 2015 for $440,000. According to paperwork filed when McNamara pulled papers to run for selectman this year, she now resides in an apartment in town.

McNamara was able to sell her home for a profit in 2021

McNamara is challenging incumbent Allen Smith for the three-year term on the Somerset Board of Selectman. Smith challenged previous Board of Selectman member David Berube for the open seat left by Steve Moniz who did not seek re-election in 2021. Smith won that race with a resounding 69% of the vote. Smith and McNamara submitted the required signatures to be on the ballot and will face off at the April 8th election.

Primary correspondent for the Greater Fall River area, Jess focuses on human interest stories and investigations into political corruption. She is a former fill-in host and digital contributor at The Howie Carr Show, former host of The Jessica Machado Show and SouthCoast Tonight on WBSM in New Bedford, former blogger at The Herald News and a former fill-in host at WSAR in Fall River.

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3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Capias

    March 4, 2024 at 6:49 pm

    There are a couple local talk show hosts who have not shown up for payment review hearings with regard to credit card debt.

    When will those stories be reported?

  2. Good work!

    March 5, 2024 at 1:00 pm

    This is outstanding journalism. Wish the MSM would do the same. I appreciate this reporter because it is extremely factual and now I can decide for myself. Bravo!

  3. B Jankowski

    April 30, 2024 at 12:19 pm

    I confused about 69% of the votes being called “Resounding”. Would you be ecstatic to receive a resounding 69% of you paycheck? LESS than 2/3 of anything is nothing more than squeaking by. Such political nonsense makes MANY MORE people in town realize how much we need to get out and vote next time.

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