Kay Granger’s opponent Lisa Welch has another battle: Lawsuit from her campaign manager
This story has been updated to correct the date of the General Election.
A campaign manager for Lisa Welch contends the Democrat running unseat Rep. Kay Granger owes him $500,000.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Tarrant County District Court, Thomas Torlincasi argues Welch piled on extra work beyond their original agreement and failed to pay him for his services as campaign manager. The lawsuit also names the Texas Democratic Party.
Welch, a college professor from Decatur, is running against Granger, a former Fort Worth mayor, for the 12th Congressional District in Nov. 3 election. Welch is relatively new to politics while Granger, a Republican, has held the seat since 1997.
A call and email to her campaign were not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.
After this story was posted Angie Solomon, Welch’s current campaign manager, said Welch had not been served with the lawsuit and the campaign would not comment. Solomon said in the email the allegations described in this story were false.
The breach of contract lawsuit contends Welch and Torlincasi signed an employment contract in March. Welch paid $4,000 for campaign work, but then upped his duties without his agreement, the lawsuit says.
“Welch quickly added additional duties to Mr. Torlincasi’s daily schedule and forced Mr. Torlincasi to continue fundraising during the COVID-19 pandemic, risking exposure,” the lawsuit said.
Torlincasi sent Welch invoices for his work, but was not paid in April, May or June, according to the lawsuit. Campaign finance reports the campaign paid Torlincasi $8,500 through May.
The lawsuit requests $500,000 in back pay and damages, though it spells out three smaller debts: $58 for April, $450 for May 2020 and $2,400 for June. Torlincasi argues he will be owed an additional results-based bonus after the November election.
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 3:55 PM.
