Boston GP IndyCar trail filled with talking points, meetings

Mayor Martin J. Walsh

A complex trail of emails illuminates the behind-the-scenes workings of the administration of Mayor Martin J. Walsh, right, regarding the planning of the now-canceled Grand Prix of Boston IndyCar race that had been planned for Labor Day weekend writes Joe Battenfeld of the Boston Herald.

An indicted City Hall aide prepared "talking points" for Mayor Martin J. Walsh for a meeting with IndyCar executives that lauded local promoters for hiring two key Walsh campaign aides and promised to "expeditiously" secure city permits and licenses.

An email from city tourism czar Kenneth Brissette to Walsh’s assistant, obtained by the Herald, listed key points the mayor should mention at a December 2014 meeting with IndyCar’s CEO, Mark Miles, in Walsh’s office.

The meeting was critical in convincing Miles the city was committed to supporting the doomed race, which was ultimately canceled in April. Walsh was away at a 2024 Olympics meeting but participated in the meeting by phone.

"The team assembled in Boston is top notch and consists of 2 people that were instrumental in my campaign last year," Brissette recommended that Walsh say. "They know the city processes and politics better than anyone else you could have hired."

The two campaign aides aren’t named but one Walsh campaign adviser, Chris Keohan, had been hired by the local promoters, Grand Prix of Boston, and was present at the meeting.

Brissette also recommended Walsh tell Miles, "We will work with the team to get the licenses and permits done expeditiously. We know that things need to keep moving in order for the race to be viable to investors and sponsors."

A Walsh spokeswoman told the Herald that the mayor "did not use talking points" in his phone call to Miles.

Brissette was indicted last month on extortion charges for allegedly withholding permits for a Boston music festival until promoters hired union stage hands.

The proposed IndyCar race ended disastrously in April when Grand Prix CEO John Casey abruptly canceled the event and blamed the Walsh administration for being too difficult.

Miles last week filed a lawsuit against the Grand Prix of Boston and Casey is now facing demands for refunds from angry ticket buyers and sponsors that could total in the millions.

But the tone was far different in 2014 and 2015, when emails show the Walsh administration, led by Brissette, enthusiastically backed the Grand Prix and worked to convince IndyCar honchos the city could host the high-speed race scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

The emails also show the scope of the vast, time-consuming effort by city and state government to negotiate an agreement with local promoters.

Dozens of different government agency officials were included on many emails and Gov. Charlie Baker personally presided over at least two meetings on the IndyCar race, according to the emails.

Walsh faced heavy criticism for his close ties to the failed IndyCar race.

Besides Keohan, several other Walsh campaign aides and allies also worked for Grand Prix of Boston, including his former press secretary, Kate Norton, who left City Hall in January 2015 — a few weeks after Brissette wrote the talking points memo for the Miles meeting — to partner with Keohan in a new firm, CK Strategies.

Norton says she was not involved in meetings with IndyCar promoters while she was at City Hall and only answered a press inquiry about the race in 2014.

In an August 2014 email from another top Walsh aide, Tim Sullivan, he wrote that Norton was "in conversations" about the race and that her "feedback is valuable" but further emails don’t say whether she played any role. Joe Battenfeld/Boston Herald