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.

Likelihood of settlement in DiBello case increases

Council schedules second closed-door meeting on DiBello case at town lawyer’s office in Warwick

By Will Collette

The Charlestown Town Council has posted notice of yet another closed-door, executive session meeting. This one will take place in Warwick, at the office of Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero. The only item on the agenda is discussion of Councilor Lisa DiBello’s lawsuit against the Town of Charlestown. This will be the second closed door meeting on the DiBello case this week.

Charlestown Town Council holds meeting in Warwick on Thursday

It will also be the first time I can remember a Charlestown Town Council meeting being held outside of Charlestown. Under the state’s Open Meetings Act, members of the public are entitled to attend – in this case, you can drive up to Warwick – although you are not entitled to witness the executive session. Presumably, Ruggiero’s office will make some provision for spectators who want to see what goes on before and after the Council enters its executive session.

I could find no provision in Charlestown’s Home Rule Charter that actually requires Charlestown governmental meetings to be held in Charlestown. Maybe this is a trial balloon – after the election, if the CCA Party retains power, they might decide to hold meetings in western Connecticut or Florida to make it easier for their campaign financial backers to attend.

But I digress. Two closed door meetings in the same week with the second one in the town lawyer’s office tells me that something big is up. Probably a settlement. As I have often noted, cases like this almost never go to trial; they are almost always settled, and often when the municipality’s insurance carrier[1] insists on it.

The best way to understand the issues is to start by reading the allegations Councilor DiBello filed against the Town and nearly a dozen past and present town officials. You can read her allegations in their entirety and in her own words (well, as interpreted by her lawyer) by clicking here.

UPDATED: How much is LarryLand worth?

What will it cost the taxpayers to end a decade of high anxiety?

By Will Collette

How much is it worth?

No matter the outcome of the Zoning Board of Review hearings on Larry LeBlanc’s proposed Whalerock industrial wind project, Charlestown’s on-going nightmare will continue. 

It will continue until either Larry LeBlanc builds something on his 81 acres overlooking Route One that will give him and his partners a profit or somebody pays him the price he needs to walk away.

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.

Time for Answers from Councilor DiBello, Part 5

Does Councilor Lisa DiBello plan to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with the CCA, Charlestown?

By Will Collette

Word around town is that Councilor Lisa DiBello, fresh off of her appearance on “Let’s Make A Deal” (click here to watch) where she won three TV sets worth $4998, wants to make a deal with the Charlestown Citizens Alliance to cash out her $1.5 million in legal claims against Charlestown (perhaps in a lame-duck session in early November after the election) in return for her support of the CCA’s slate in the November 6 Election.

The recent settlement in a precursor case (more on that below) lends credence to the rumors that Lisa is about to get what’s behind Curtain #3.

Tom Gentz in Wonderland, Part 2

Did Gentz do ANY due diligence at all on the Y-Gate deal?

By Will Collette

In Part One of this two-part analysis of an extraordinary letter to the Westerly Sun penned by Charlestown Town Council Boss Tom Gentz, I showed you how Gentz’s view of what happened during Charlestown’s Y-Gate Scandal had almost no basis in fact.

In his Sun letter, Gentz claimed there was no deception, no false representations, no withheld information, no secret meetings and no backroom deals. In Gentz’s fantasy, there were only diligent and selfless volunteers trying to do a nice thing for the town by lining up a deal for Charlestown taxpayers to pay $475,000 for limited rights to walk around in a rural junkyard.

The records show that Gentz is either deluded or deceptive. You be the judge, today and on November 6, since Gentz seems determined to run for re-election as the champion of Y-Gate.

In this installment, we’ll look at Gentz’s basic failure to exercise the kind of prudent judgment and minimum standard of care we have the right to expect from a person in his position.

Did Gentz fail to notice the many signs that Y-Gate was a rotten deal? Did he even read any of the documents placed before him? Did he ask the right questions? Did he simply do what Planning Commissar Ruth Platner told him to do? Did he even write the Westerly Sun letter, or did Ruth write it for him? Or was Gentz part of the Y-Gate scam from the beginning?

New revelations cast more doubt on the Y-Gate deal

Grand Theft Y-Gate

By Will Collette

It is a terrible thing to watch two revered and trusted institutions – the Westerly YMCA and the Charlestown Land Trust – debase themselves by attempting to perpetrate a fraud on Charlestown taxpayers.

For months, Progressive Charlestown has covered the attempt by the Y and the Land Trust to bilk taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a worthless conservation easement on that rural junkyard, the Y’s abandoned campground on Watchaug Pond. Click here for all the coverage.

We provided you with every document as it emerged and concluded that Y-Gate was a terrible deal for taxpayers. It turns out that we did not have all the facts. Indeed, more information came out at Monday’s Town Council meeting that shows that the Y-Gate scam is even worse than we have been reporting.

The only good news is that it now seems likely that Charlestown taxpayers will get the chance to vote to end this scandal, one way or the other.

Town admits the Charter Revision Advisory Committee violated the Open Meetings Act

But claims the violation was “unintentional”

By Will Collette

For the second time this week, Charlestown town government had an “oops” event over its compliance with the state Open Meetings Act.

The first time was Thursday. That’s when the judge in Donoghue v. Charlestown ruled that the Town Council did indeed violate the Open Meetings Act when they failed to properly inform the public that they intended to vote on February 13 to pay to the Charlestown Land Trust in the Y-Gate Scandal.

The second time was Friday when Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero admitted the Charter Revision Advisory Committee (CRAC) violated the law by failing to file the meeting minutes of its final and decisive meeting on April 30.

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.

Lisa DiBello and wiretaps

“I’ll be watching you” and listening, too

By Will Collette

If Council member Lisa DiBello’s lawsuit against Charlestown and nine present and past town officials ever gets underway – i.e., the ethical gridlock gets unlocked – the Rules of Civil Procedure lay out a process and sequence of events for the case.

Very likely, DiBello’s lawyer, Robert Savage, and the town’s lawyer, whether it’s Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero or someone brought in specifically for this purpose, will file motions with the judge at first opportunity.

Homestead Tax Credit KILLED by Town Council majority

If you ever had any doubts about who runs Charlestown, this should settle them

By Will Collette

An overwhelming turn-out of Charlestown's elite as well as an influx of non-resident property owners was more than enough political cover for the Town Council majority of Tom Gentz, Deputy Dan Slattery and Lisa DiBello to kill the proposal for a $1000 Homestead Tax Credit to Charlestown homeowners who make this town their home.

By the end of the onslaught of poor, rich people, it seemed like the only thing missing was a proposal for the town to run a Telethon to help millionaire homeowners make the payments on their primary home, summer home, and all the other essentials of their lifestyles.

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.

"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.

Lisa DiBello: Time to Go?

Time to choose:

Serve the town or Sue the town....

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.