David Bartley in 2020. (via YouTube/Holyoke Media still)

The Massachusetts Ethics Commission served former Holyoke City Councilor David Bartley with an order to show cause, leveling no fewer than five charges against him for violating state ethics laws. Four of the alleged violations stem from his legal practice. Bartley had represented clients with business involving the city of Holyoke, which breached his duty of loyalty to the municipality he served.

Bartley lost his bid for reelection as the councilor for Ward 3 last year. However, the allegations stem from events that occurred from 2023 to 2025. Bartley first joined the Council in 2012 and evolved into a foe to the mayors with whom he served alongside. However, he also drew attention for huffy, even intemperate behavior. That became a factor in his electoral defeat and may offer context to his current dilemma.

When reached, Bartley declined to comment.

The Commission publicly unveiled the show cause order today in a press release. The Commission’s enforcement staff, which signed the order, will present the case to the full Commission. The date of that hearing is to be determined.

The charging documents show that the Ethics Commission launched a preliminary inquiry last March.  On July 31, 2025, the Commission found there was reasonable cause to initiate proceedings against Bartley. Normally, between such a vote and Commission staff filing a show cause order, the subject of an inquiry and the Commission can try to reach a resolution via a public disposition agreement. Clearly that did not happen here.

If the Commission imposes a maximum penalty and endangers Bartley’s law license, the episode would constitute an impressive fall for a city pol from a local political family. His late father was a former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and President of Holyoke Community College.

Before Anne Thalheimer defeated Bartley, he had beaten back multiple challenges from her. Last year, Mayor Joshua Garcia and his allies began a campaign to defeat opponents of municipal reforms. They paid for ads showing Bartley at a public meeting telling a fellow councilor to “Go Jump in a Fucking Lake.” He lost.

The Republican had previously reported that correspondence it obtained via public records requests indicates that Garcia filed the ethics complaints against Bartley.

Bartley faces at least five allegations of violations of state ethics law. The first allegation against Bartley arises from a failure to undertake mandatory ethics law training until 2025.

The other four arise from representing a party with city business and rest on two different elements of ethics law. In one, municipal employees are forbidden from receiving compensation from somebody—other than their municipal employer—in relation to a matter in which the city or town has a direct interest. The other bars municipal employees from acting as an agent or attorney to prosecute a claim against their municipal employer or on a matter in which the municipal employer has a direct interest.

For the purposes of this area of state ethics law, a city councilor, like Bartley is simply a municipal employee.

Holyoke City Councilors are just like any ol’ municipal employee in this type of case. (still via Holyoke Media/The Reminder)

The specific facts of this attorney and representation work Bartley did are obscured with pseudonyms in the filing. However, they do appear to concern four different situations related to four different properties. It is unclear if any or all owners/clients are the same person or entity.

In 2023, the show cause order claims, Bartley represented the heirs of a property during proceedings the city had initiated to enforce the state sanitary code. Bartley did not appear in court for the owner, but he did communicate with city attorneys about resolution. He received $700 for his services. This is the only apparent charged based on receiving compensation.

In late 2023 or early 2024, the city referred a state sanitary code violation on another property to the state attorney general’s office. The AG’s office issued a demand letter for the matter, to which Bartley responded.

The third gets a bit complicated. The city had sold property with a reverter clause that would let the city retake the parcel if the new owner did not develop it within five years. In other words, the city retained an interest in the property via the reverter. Shortly before the deadline, the owner hired Bartley as counsel to sell the property. Bartley told the prospective buyer’s counsel to share the purchase and sale agreement with the city Law Department. He also advised the counsel on how to get a letter requesting a waiver in front of the Council.

The final matter concerned Bartley’s representing the heirs of another property. As part of this work, he corresponded with city employees, including a city attorney.

Bartley’s charges are not the first Lower Valley ethical matter to capture the region’s attention this year. Since February 2, Springfield City Council President Tracye Whitfield has faced a firestorm for alleged ethical violations arising from city actions pertaining to property she co-owns through an LLC.

At first blush, some of the accusations look similar, but that would not be quite correct. There are some claims that Whitfield advocated on behalf of her LLC. Yet, most of the evidence thus far suggests her largest failures related to disclosure and possibly timely recusal.

Here, Bartley appears to be advocating for somebody else—probably for pay—in apparent breach of his duty of loyalty to Holyoke. It becomes a matter well beyond the appearance of a conflict. The allegations, if true, are an actual conflict of loyalties.

The Commission has 90 days to schedule a public hearing on the matter. It can impose fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Given such a delay, Bartley could easily face mid five-figure fines. His troubles may not stop there, though. Given the nexus of Bartley’s violation relative to his legal practice, it seems plausible the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers will review the matter, too.