Yes, Michael, there is a Republican Party

Declarations filed for continued Charlestown Republican Town Committee

Plus, the CCA announces its slate

By Will Collette

On that other blog, Mike Chambers wonders if there is a Charlestown Republican Town Committee (CRTC). In his own peculiar fashion, he ruminates over where the Republicans might be.

As usual, he doesn’t do his homework very well, since the CRTC has been around for a long time. He just didn’t know where to look for their names.

So, to help straighten him out, here’s the list of Charlestown Republicans who have just declared their membership in the Charlestown Republican Town Committee, and have been endorsed to serve in the new term that begins on January 1:

GREGORY J AVEDISIAN	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
CHARLES W BECK	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
BETTY JANE COMBS	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
CHARLENE Q DUNN	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
CAROL ANN KING	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
ROE E LABOSSIERE	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
WILLIAM F MEYER	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
FORRESTER C SAFFORD	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide
GRETCHEN A TINGLEY	Republican Town Committee	Republican	City/Town Wide

Town Republicans aren’t running a slate, although Councilor Gregg Avedisian is running for re-election as an Independent. There are a few other registered Republicans scattered among the roster of declared candidates, but none running under the official GOP banner.

Mike Chambers also seems to think that if you are a member of a party committee in a town, you get your ticket punched to attend the national party convention.

Wrong again, Mike. To get to the Convention, you have to run for election as a delegate for a specific candidate in the special Presidential Preference Primary, which was just held.

Neither the Democratic nor the Republican Town Committees ran any candidates to serve as National Convention delegates. 

Party labels matter a whole lot less at the town level than they do at the national level. For example, in Charlestown, it's the Democrats who have pushed for tax cuts, less intrusive regulation and support for small business.

Charlestown has a multi-party system – we have active Democratic and Republican Town Committees. There is a dormant Moderate Party Town Committee and about half a dozen registered Moderates, including the CCA’s own Town Council member Deputy Dan Slattery.

There’s a party of sorts centered around Jim Mageau. They have a presence on the ballot this year as they usually do.

And then there’s Charlestown’s own secret government, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance. The CCA is a registered Political Action Committee and have just made their announcement, via e-bleat, that identifies who among the 12 Town Council candidates and 10 Planning Commission candidates are endorsed by them.

I’m sure the CCA held an open and transparent process that provided its “members” the opportunity to democratically select who their endorsed candidates will be. Those eerie noises you could hear for miles around the derelict YMCA camp were coming from the CCA’s biennial convention to select their candidates.

The CCA has endorsed the two 2010 CCA-endorsed Town Council members – Deputy Dan and Council Boss Tom Gentz –for re-election. George Tremblay, who was CCA-endorsed for Planning Commission is also running for Town Council on the CCA ticket.

Ron Areglado is also running for Town Council as a CCA-endorsed candidate. He has been a registered Democrat, but over the past year, has been closely aligned with the CCA. He recently listed his occupation as President of the Center of Moral and Ethical Leadership. Maybe Mike Chambers can apply his research prowess to tell us what that Center is.

Councilor Lisa DiBello, who has been closely allied with the CCA Councilors, is also running for re-election. But was not endorsed by the CCA. Maybe she will run as a Mageau candidate, a “Because I Care” candidate, the “I want my $1.5 million” candidate or the “I hate Progressive Charlestown” candidate.

In the race for the Planning Commission, which is non-partisan by town rule, the only CCA incumbents running for re-election are Commissar Ruth Platner and Gordon Foer.

The CCA has also endorsed Connie Baker for Planning Commission. Baker has been disappointed with the Affordable Housing Commission where she is currently a member because it lacks the power to block things as effectively as Planning, so the attempt to get elected to Planning is a natural step.

Rounding out the CCA slate are Peter Herstein and Rev. Jan Knost.

With just over 120 days until the November 6 election, there will be lots of time to look at the candidates – who they are, what they stand for – and the important issues that face Charlestown voters.

There will be plenty of disagreements over issues and policies, which is not only natural, but also part of what makes the political process work.

I would hope that over these four months, we can at least see some common agreement on basic facts. You’ll be hearing this a lot over the next four months – each person is entitled to his or her own opinions, but not to his or her own facts.