Field is set for Charlestown Municipal elections

All but two declared candidates qualified

By Will Collette

Three endorsed Democrats for the Charlestown Town Council:
Incumbent Town Council President Deb Carney,
Cynthia Drummond and Jill Fonnemann

4 PM Thursday was the deadline for the Charlestown Board of Canvassers to certify the signatures on declared candidates’ nomination papers. Each candidate needed to produce at least 50 signatures of registered Charlestown voters to make the cut.

Most candidates were certified shortly after the July 10 closing date for filing those signed forms, but there were a few nail-biters whose list counts were not posted until the last minute. 

One was the de facto leader of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), Ruth Platner, who is running for re-election to the Charlestown Planning Commission. Her disciple Frances Topping’s signature count also was posted at the last minute. In the end, both were credited with 108 certified signatures.

Apparently the CCA has given up on retaking control
of the Town Council by only running these two:
Bonnita B. Van Slyke and Sasha Puchalski

CCA newcomer Sasha Puchalski, running as one of only two CCA candidates for Town Council, also was certified late with 107 certified signatures.

As the late Rev. Jesse Jackson used to say, “Keep Hope Alive!” a sentiment I felt as I checked the Secretary of State’s candidate database once or twice a day. What a joy it would have been to see Ruth Platner fail to qualify for the ballot due to some paperwork SNAFU.

But in the end, the only two candidates failing to qualify are two guys who declared their wish to represent Charlestown on the Chariho School Committee. Declared Republican James Sullivan and Independent James McCabe failed to be credited with any certified signatures and are out of the running.

I was surprised to see McCabe with no signatures. He and I both appeared before the July 8 special hearing of the Charlestown Board of Canvassers asking the Board to allow us to correct errors we made when we filed our candidate declaration papers.

As I reported earlier, I had checked the wrong box on my form. I intended to file to continue serving on the Democratic House District 36 Committee, but checked the box that, for a few days, made me an accidental September 9 Primary opponent to our terrific state Rep. Tina Spears. The Board allowed me to correct my filing.

McCabe had filed his declaration at Town Hall on the deadline day. However, he filed after the 4 PM deadline thinking he was OK since he got there before Town Hall closed at 4:30. The Board sympathized with this obvious mistake and granted his request. However, they noted legal precedents where candidates in contested elections who failed to file on time were taken off the ballot.

McCabe apparently took that warning to heart and did not turn in any certified signatures.

So now the field is set for Charlestown’s local municipal races on the ballot for the November 3 General Election:

Town Council: Five seats at stake

Endorsed Democrats: Deb Carney, Cynthia Drummond and Jill Fonnemann.

Endorsed Republicans: Craig Marr, Steve Stokes and Matt Westover.

CCA Endorsed: Sasha Puchalski and Bonnita B. Van Slyke.

NOTE: Deb Carney, Craig Marr and Steve Stokes are incumbents seeking re-election. For the first time I can remember, the CCA failed to field a full slate of 5 Council candidates so they have apparently padded their list by endorsing Democrat Cynthia Drummond and “conditionally” endorsed Steve Stokes, even though neither sought their blessing.

Planning Commission: Four seats at stake

CCA candidates: Ruth Platner, Frances Topping, Coleen Yaroshenko and Gordon Willcox

Opposition candidates: Katherine Gingras, Cheryl Lill and Laura Rom

NOTES: Three incumbents of the seven total Planning Commission members are not up for re-election in this cycle. One is a Platner acolyte CCA person and two are opposed to Platner. For years, Ruth Platner has run the Commission with an iron fist, stifling all residential construction to advance her anti-family agenda. Platner needs to have three of the four people on the CCA slate to win to continue to chair the Planning Commission.

Chariho School Committee: three seats at stake

Democrats: Holly Eaves, Craig Louzon and Linda Lyall

Republican Kim Coulter

Independent Nicholas Testa

The CCA fielded no candidates of their own, their Chariho leader Donna Chambers having died earlier this year. Instead, the CCA endorsed the three Democrats.

Town Moderator: 1 seat

This is an honorific post. Under Charlestown’s Home Rule Charter, the moderator’s only job is to preside over the annual fiscal town meeting on the town budget.

The CCA’s David Wilkinson will compete with Republican Tony Jones for this all-important position.