The CCA: Political party … or cult?

Part 2 of “CCA rhetoric versus reality”

By Neniu Sciu
Click here for Part 1

I have a confession to make.

I’ve been calling the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) a political party, but I’ve since seen the error of my ways. I’d say I’ve seen the light, but we have a dark-sky ordinance.

I was wrong, and the CCA is right. The CCA is not a political party.

They’re a cult.

Charlestown Briefs

Peeps®, job openings, money, flu, nuclear shut-downs, meteors, moving out, politics and more
By Will Collette

Time once again for Peeps®

Ash Wednesday was February 13 so we’re trucking on toward Easter which is, as all Progressive Charlestown readers know, famous for its Peeps® diorama contests. Yes, Peeps®, one of the four major food groups become the main media for some lovely works of art.

Creative folks all across the country are challenged to come up with their own little tableaus using Peeps® to win contests by newspapers and organizations all over – including Progressive Charlestown. While we did not get as many amazing entries as the Washington Post did – their annual Peeps® contest is the granddaddy of them all – but we were pleased. So, Peeps®, get cracking and come up with your own creations. Send us a digital photo and we’ll run the best of them in Progressive Charlestown.

Temporary Jobs.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Coup attempt on GOP Town Committee

Plus, Tina Jackson cited for multiple campaign finance violations

Jackson violated campaign finance law

By Will Collette

NOTE: this article originally ran on Saturday, pre-scheduled before the lights went out. Since most Charlestown readers probably missed it on Saturday, here it is again.

Tina Jackson, who has been pushed by state GOP chair Mark Zaccaria to take over Charlestown's Republican Town Committee has some more messy fallout to explain from her failed attempt to unseat state Representative Donna Walsh.

We've just learned that Jackson has a long string of campaign finance violations and the fines for those violations are increasing daily. This is hardly a great shock, given Jackson's long criminal rap sheet and wide-ranging legal problems, all of which came out during her campaign.

Inexplicably in view of this public record, out-going GOP Chair Mark Zaccaria picked Jackson to spearhead a "reorganization" of the Town Committee which was to begin at a February 4 meeting at the Breachway Grill.

But there was minor hitch - the GOP Committee members had already reorganized the town committee for the new term at a meeting on January 30. Five of the nine members who had filed their paperwork last summer and were duly certified to service called the meeting where Gregg Avedisian was elected as the new GOP town chair.

Charlestown news briefs

Town Dems and GOP re-organize….Coastal Ponds Commission meets Monday….Try CRAC – you’ll like it….Larisa’s workload….St. Andrews serves….Chariho kids shovel….Free at last, free at last
By Will Collette

Charlestown Democrats announce committee officers and roster for the 2013-14 term.

The new town Democratic team for the 2013-2014 term was announced by the CDTC. The CDTC has a full roster of 15 members. Cathy Collette and Tim Quillen remain Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. Tom Ferrio moves to Treasurer and Suzanne Ferrio takes Tom’s former post as Secretary. Details here.

Tina Jackson takes over?

Charlestown Republicans hope to re-organize.

Failed candidate for state Representative Tina Jackson has apparently taken charge of re-organizing the moribund Charlestown Republican Town Committee. She has called a meeting for that purpose for Monday night, 7 PM at the Breachway Grill. Details here. 

There’s an interesting problem with this: under state law, all municipal party committees are required to reorganize every two years in January after each general election. Next Monday is February. But, hey, this
isn’t the first time that Tina Jackson has violated the law - or the most serious.

Developments in DiBello v. Charlestown

Town Council member’s lawsuit against the Town takes some new turns

By Will Collette

In the past couple of weeks, there has been some movement on the conspiracy lawsuit filed by Council member Lisa DiBello against the town of Charlestown and the “Charlestown Ten” - present and former town officials.

The lawsuit stems from the unanimous Town Council vote on May 10, 2010 to fire DiBello as Parks and Recreation Director on the recommendation of recently resigned Town Administrator William DiLibero.

DiBello then ran for and won a seat on the Town Council on the motto “Because She Cares.” She promised  she did not intend to seek revenge for her firing. But only weeks after her election, DiBello filed an administrative complaint against the town and the individual officials. She alleges they engaged in a five-year conspiracy against her that culminated in her wrongful discharge.

Surprise shake-up at Town Hall

Council majority resigns; 2010 top vote-getters sworn in as replacements

By Will Collette

In an emotional scene, Council President Tom Gentz and Council Vice-President Dan Slattery announced they were resigning from the Charlestown Town Council, effective immediately.

In an unrelated event, Councilor Lisa DiBello has left Charlestown, moving her household to California. DiBello left a goodbye note containing her resignation from the Council in the Tax Collector’s mailbox outside Town Hall.

Addendum: Charlestown Pols score four spots on Elections delinquency list

Board of Elections publishes new list of overdue fines on campaign violations

By Will Collette

Addendum: Charlestown's special counsel for Indian Affairs, "Injun Joe" Larisa, was listed by GoLocalProv as "the biggest offender in 2011" of the RI Ethics Law. This was for Larisa's second major ethics violation since 2007. Larisa, the former Mayor of East Providence, represents the town in fighting whatever it is the Narragansett Tribe wants to do. According to Town Hall records, the town has paid Larisa $169,259 since July 2009.

Here we are in the 2012 Campaign season and some local politicians still haven't cleaned up after the 2010 campaign.

The Rhode Island Board of Elections released its new list of overdue campaign fines. These overdue payments total almost $1.2 million and are spread among over 200 individual candidates and PACs. Typically, the fines are for failure to file required campaign finance disclosure forms, with added interest and penalties for non-payment.

Just in: AG decision on complaint against Town Councilors

Also if you can't

By Will Collette

On March 1, several of the leaders of the local group fighting the Whalerock wind farm proposal filed an Open Meetings Act complaint against former Council members Forrester Safford and Candi Dunn and present Council member Gregg Avedisian. The complaint alleged that these Council members held a secret meeting with Whalerock developer Larry LeBlanc at a wind energy conference at URI. There, according to the complaint, the Council members offered to help LeBlanc get his project approved, provided that he came forward with the proposal.

Thus, according to the complaint, called “Areglado v. Charlestown Town Council,” the Whalerock project came to be born. It caused a civil war-like rift within the CCA and has roiled the town ever since. Its effects are still felt in the on-going turmoil over wind energy. The complaint made the serious charge that an unlawful conspiracy was the beginning of it all, it looked like the complainants presented a pretty strong case.

Now we have the decision.

Exclusive: Mageau plans to field full slate in 2012 and WIN!

"Storm on the Sea of Galilee" by Rembrandt

Batten down the hatches, Charlestown, here comes Jim Mageau again!

Reliable sources report that Jim Mageau has declared he will field a full five-person slate of candidates for Town Council in 2012 and that he will win.

Mageau did not identify who those five candidates will be.

"It's a question of credibility"

"The Conspirators" by William Stang

The town has filed a response to the Open Meetings complaint filed by residents opposed to Larry LeBlanc’s proposed Whalerock wind farm on Route One.

This complaint charged that three Council members from the previous Council held an illegal meeting with LeBlanc at a 2009 URI conference where they suggested he develop the wind farm project with the town as his partner.

So LeBlanc developed Whalerock and the Council enacted an ordinance to assist him. Then all hell broke loose, splitting the town and throwing the Charlestown Citizens Alliance into a civil war. Wind power’s future in Charlestown became collateral damage.

What really happened at that URI conference is the nub of the issue. Recent records obtained by Progressive Charlestown under the state open records law show what facts are undisputed and what claims are in sharp dispute.

Town officials’ lawyer fees back on the agenda

Will the deadlock on whether the town will pay for private lawyers to defend town officials from Council member Lisa DiBello's charges be broken?

We'll see what happens at the Town Council meeting Monday night, July 11.

How much will legal troubles cost taxpayers?

One of the touchiest topics on the Town Council agenda for Wednesday, June 15, is how much taxpayers will be liable to pay for past, present and future legal troubles. There are not one but two high-profile controversies coming before the Council on Wednesday.

One item centers on former Council President Jim Mageau and the other on present Council member Lisa DiBello. These items are related because both deal with the town’s obligation to indemnify town officials.

Under long-standing common law, we “indemnify” public officials, promising to stand by them when they get into legal trouble while performing their duties. It would be difficult to get anyone to serve in public office otherwise, since lawsuits are part of the everyday landscape of government.

But a public official's right to indemnification is clouded when the conduct in question isn’t clearly part of that official’s formal duties.

DiBello threatens court action against the town



Town Council member Lisa DiBello



Today’s Westerly Sun carried a page one scoop by Chris Keegan with major developments in Council member Lisa DiBello’s case against Charlestown and numerous past and present town officials. 

DiBello’s attorney Robert Savage told Keegan he plans to ask the RI Human Rights Commission to allow DiBello to skip the administrative complaint process and take her case directly to RI Superior Court. Savage says he will ask for a jury trial if permission is granted. He also told Keegan he chose this approach to speed up the process. Plus, the state courts are more favorable to plaintiffs than the federal system. DiBello also filed a complaint with the federal EEOC and could have sought to move the case to federal District Court.

NOTE: there’s a big difference between DiBello’s lawyer telling a Sun reporter he “plans” to ask permission to take the case to state court and actually filing the suit in state court. In cases like this, each side jockeys for leverage to improve its bargaining position for a settlement.

Note also that filing a charge is not the same as proving a charge, contrary to a flurry of anonymous comments posted on the Providence Craigslist in March and April.

OMG! Check out this OMA complaint

"The Secret Meeting" by Ilya Repin (1883)

Continuing our coverage of the hot issues from last Monday’s Town Council meeting, one of the least discussed and potentially most explosive issues was an Open Meetings Act (OMA) complaint (“Areglado v. Charlestown Town Council”) filed by neighbors opposed to Larry LeBlanc’s Whalerock wind turbine proposal against the Republican majority in the 2008-2010 Council.

The issues are a bit complicated and the plot twists can be challenging, so please be patient.

Former Council members Candi Dunn and Forrester Safford (both defeated for re-election) and present Council member Gregg Avedisian are charged with violating the law when they met with developer Larry LeBlanc at a 2009 URI conference on wind energy. The complaint alleges these three council members urged LeBlanc to develop what came to be known as the Whalerock project and assured him of their support.