Fourteen Rhode Island municipalities are planning to sue the state over laws designed to make it easier to build housing

Charlestown is NOT suing, at least for now

Steve Ahlquist

Charlestown Town Council gave its OK to converting
this derelict motel on Route 1 into affordable housing.
The ONLY dissenting vote was Charlestown Citizens Alliance
(CCA) rep Bonnita Van Slyke

Over the last three years or so, under the leadership of former Speaker of the House K. Joseph Shekarchi, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed legislation designed to make it easier for developers to build housing. 

Given the massive shortage of available housing, rapidly escalating rents that harm low- and middle-income families, and a more than 400% increase in homelessness across the state, these measures, though not sufficient, are a necessary stab at mitigating Rhode Island’s housing apocalypse.

The legislation, among other things, reformed the comprehensive permitting process to better enable affordable housing development and streamlined zoning and land-use regulations. These aren’t exactly the sexiest bills; we’re talking about things like density bonuses for building near transit, adding homes in commercial lots, or infilling non-conforming lots (think weird-shaped lots that require some creative designs).

The goal of these reforms is to reduce costs and accelerate the construction of new homes. Given that Rhode Island has long been last in the nation for building homes (on a per capita basis, not because of our size), and it is estimated that the state needs to build between 15,000 and 24,000 new units to get the situation under control, it is right to ask if the state is doing enough. That said, permitting for new housing is trending up, as shown in the 2025 Integrated Housing Report from the Rhode Island Executive Office of Housing, but at our current rate of development, we are over a decade from seeing the housing market stabilize.

As Rhode Island families suffer, you’d think that local municipalities would be all in on these reforms, but of course, that’s not the case. Instead, around 14 municipalities, including Portsmouth, Tiverton, Hopkinton, Burrillville, Bristol, Smithfield, West Greenwich, East Greenwich, Lincoln, Middletown, Charlestown, and Westerly, have signed onto a Joint Municipal Statement¹ opposing the state’s efforts. The statement appears to be the brainchild of Larry Fitzmorris, President of the conservative Portsmouth Concerned Citizens, and Mark Brady, former Narragansett Planning Board Chair.

EDITOR'S NOTE: When I saw that Steve listed Charlestown among the towns planning to sue, I asked Charlestown Council President if this was true. It's not. This is what Deb said:

"My concern is the one size fits all approach to solve the housing problem.  Charlestown relies on private wells and septic systems which makes our situation different from those cities and town with public water and sewer.  Charlestown did not vote to join the lawsuit at this time. Based on the information presented at the May Town Council meeting,  it does not seem as though this lawsuit has a likely chance of success.  The Town Council will revisit the matter once new information is available."

- Will Collette

WTF is Van Slyke talking about?

CCA Town Council mouthpiece warns spending emergency money on an emergency will decrease the amount in Charlestown’s emergency fund

By Will Collette

Joined at the hip

After years of trying to make sense out of the nonsensical, maybe I should quit trying. After all, no amount of fact-checking and debunking seems to stop the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA’s) only Town Council member, Bonnita Van Slyke from making foolish remarks.

Her latest nonsense is a critique of Charlestown’s proposed budget, due for a vote on June 1 to take effect July 1. In it, she argues that the town should defer major spending to repair significant winter storm damage to Town Hall until the Town’s 5-year capital improvement plan is adopted.

She criticized an April 27 decision by the Town Council majority to transfer $650,000 from the town’s bloated emergency fund (a.k.a. Unassigned Fund Balance) to deal with short-term costs exceeding the town’s Capital Maintenance account.

To understand why this gives Van Slyke agita, remember that the CCA holds as a sacred principle that we must accumulate a very large, unassigned fund balance – their goal seems to set a target of 100% of town operating costs– to deal with unforeseen emergencies.

Apparently, the extensive, costly damage done to Town Hall by our recent brutal winter doesn’t qualify as “unforeseen” and thus does not warrant drawing down emergency funds. As Van Slyke puts it:

The Town Council cannot draw down Unassigned Fund Balance year after year to lower/maintain a relatively low tax rate without jeopardizing services and /or without, eventually, services being reduced or the tax rate increased substantially. [Emphasis is Van Slyke’s]

During the Charlestown Citizens Alliance decade of control of the Town Council and Planning Commission, the unassigned fund balance was often used to fund over-priced land acquisitions by the CCA’s de facto leader, Charlestown Planning Commissar Ruth Platner. 

They would pay cash so they could argue that paying way over assessed value for Ruthie's deals was somehow offset by not paying interest on voter-approved $2 million Open Space bond. Also, Platner could keep buying land using the excuse that there was still leftover open space bond money even though that was a fiction.

The open space bond fund is still a sore subject for Platner and the CCA, especially after Town Council President Deb Carney moved to correct the misuse of funds. Carney’s motion directed that just over one million dollars be transferred from the open space account back to the unassigned fund balance.

That’s the amount the CCA lifted from the unassigned fund balance to fund Ruth’s shady land deals instead of using the bond fund the way voters intended. But OMG, you would think that someone pissed on Platner’s petunias! Oh the horror!

Other than that, Van Slyke’s and presumably her master’s voice Ruth Platner, haven’t got much to say about the substance of the budget. Expenses are increasing modestly, requiring 2.5% more tax revenue. Despite that, the Budget Commission projects that our tax rate will actually DROP from the current $5.93 to an estimated $5.07.

Van Slyke asks the obvious question: how can expenses go up and the tax rate go down? For once, she actually gives the accurate answer: the tax base, i.e. property values, went way up.

There was a time when all the CCA cared about was the tax rate. They took credit for Charlestown’s comparatively low rate even though actual taxes people paid during their reign constantly increased. 

Now that the Town Council is controlled by Charlestown Residents United (CRU) and tax rates have dropped dramatically, the CCA no longer cares about tax rates.

It’s an election year and you can be sure the CCA will make another run at regaining control of the Town Council. But they haven’t got much to go on when it comes to local issues.

Their main theme so far this year seems to be “local control over zoning,” a flawed local campaign issue for two reasons. First, it’s a dispute between Ruth Platner and the state legislature. Second, there’s no one arguing AGAINST local control in zoning although the subject is not as black and white as Platner and Van Slyke would have you believe.

We still have a while to see whether voters care as much about zoning as Platner hopes they will.

Charlestown Citizens Alliance has another phony issue

Platner has a million dollar grievance…it’s about her million dollar grift

By Will Collette

After a period of quiet, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) de facto leader Ruth Platner has gotten around to complaining about a November vote by the Town Council to issue a $1.05 million bond drawn from the voter-approved 2015 $2 million open space bond fund.

Platner has been kvetching about this matter for the past few months indicating that only she has the right to make any decisions about this bond funding.

That bond referendum was approved by the narrowest of margins - 11 votes. Rather than use the bond authority for the purpose voters intended, Planning Commissar Platner went on a buying spree, spending more than a million dollars in CASH from the town's General Fund to shop for land usually at inflated prices and often as a favor to a CCA client.

Around 60% of Charlestown is already protected

Platner’s actions were contrary to what the bond referendum actually said. However, that didn’t matter since the CCA-controlled Town Council gave Platner anything she wanted from the town's deliberately bloated surplus, essentially Platner's slush fund.

In 2022, CCA financial mismanagement – which included Ruth’s slush fund and shady land deals – led voters to strip the CCA of Town Council control. No more blank checks. Voters completed the CCA’s ouster in 2024.

The winners of the 2022 and 2024 elections, Charlestown Residents United (CRU), worked diligently to repair the financial damage caused by 10 years of CCA reign. According to data from the RI Auditor General, they succeeded.

However, there was a remaining piece of unresolved business - the over a million in cash taken from the town’s General Fund for land deals, instead of using the bond as intended by Charlestown voters in 2015.

Town Council President Deb Carney (CRU) sought to redress these improper purchases by pushing for the town to issue a million-dollar bond from the 2015 open space bond authorization to pay back the town’s General Fund. Her resolution passed by a 3-1 vote.

Platner (left) giving former Town Council President
Tom Gentz his instructions. Photo by Will Collette

Contrary to the foggy claims made by Platner (and dissenting Council member Stephen Stokes), this is NOT new spending. It balances the books and corrects the CCA’s mistake, putting the money back where it belongs.

Platner says – with no evidence - the CRU majority has some nefarious scheme in mind for the $1.05 million.

This latest CCA-concocted phony issue is entirely of Ruth Platner’s creation. She was the one who decided after the 2015 bond passed not to use it and instead draw cash for her land grabs. 

Her motive? Clearly, she wants to keep that $2 million bond authority untouched as a future source of cash for her shady land deals.

Each time between 2015 and 2022 that Platner came up with a new land deal, she proclaimed voters had given her a mandate (by 11 votes) to buy land regardless of need or, most tellingly, the price. Leaving the bond authority untouched permitted Platner to use it as her excuse for more land deals, provided of course that the CCA held a Town Council majority.

Just about everyone in Charlestown loves open space. I know I do. That's why Charlestown has so much of it - about 60% of all land in town. See the town map, above.

But few, other than the CCA, want to continue to add more land blindly and stupidly. Opponents of Platner's open space Über Alles approach want future town land deals to be strategic and priced right.

Platner pines for the days when the CCA controlled the Council because that meant that SHE controlled the Council. In this year’s election, she hopes to get that control back.

She just managed to get her stooge, Bonnita Van Slyke, back onto the Council by getting 39% of the vote in Charlestown’s December 2 Special Election.

Consider this the opening salvo for the 2026 Charlestown municipal election. As they have during their history in Charlestown, expect the CCA to fire off more lies and concoct more fake issues to retake power. Let’s not let them get away with it.

Van Slyke wins 3-way Town Council special election with less than 40% of the vote

Three-way races are always hard to call

By Will Collette

Unfortunately, the CCA's candidate, Bonnita B. Van Slyke, gets another chance to see how badly she can screw up again after pulling a win out of a tight race.

She beat second-place finisher and political newcomer, Democrat Jill Fonnemann, by only 42 votes. Jill was my choice and I hope she will try again next year after this strong showing in her first election campaign.

I had expected this election to draw fewer than 1000 voters, but to my surprise that 1,459 Charlestown residents turned out. Still, that's far fewer than the number who typically vote in general elections.

More than 60% of them cast their votes against the CCA so Van Slyke returns with no mandate. 

Republican Laura Rom ran a distant third with less than a quarter of the vote. That's pretty much in line with the way elections in 2025 have turned out for Republicans nationwide.

This is the homestretch to Charlestown’s December 2 Town Council special election

On Tuesday, please support Democrat Jill Fonneman for Charlestown Town Council

By Will Collette

Well, another day and another huge postcard from former Council member and Charlestown Citizens Alliance spokes-troll Bonnita Van Slyke. Maybe before Election Day on Tuesday, she’ll send us a real poster-sized card featuring her and her dog Sam.

I know that Sam is a very good boy. I also know Bonnie was crap as a former town council member. She bailed from the Council in 2022 just before the CCA got ousted by Charlestown voters for messing up the town’s money but now she wants back onto the Council.

Bonnie was a central figure in creating and then covering up the CCA’s “$3 million oopsie,” padded surplus fund accounts and shady land deals by her boss, CCA founder and de facto leader Ruth Platner.

Charlestown’s money problems during the decade of CCA rule, which included Van Slyke’s entire term on the Town Council, were documented by 2022 reports by the Rhode Island Auditor General and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. These reports were never acknowledged by the CCA. Click HERE and HERE for more details.

I have been calling for Van Slyke to own up to her mistakes and then apologize. Instead, she produces these expensive postcards filled with platitudes and vague promises about environmental issues where there is no fundamental difference between her and her opponents.

Vote for Jill Fonnemann (D). She also has a dog
plus far better ideas than her competitors 

I don’t expect her to dump ashes on her head and prostrate herself in front of Town Hall. But I do expect her to stop telling fairy tales about the way the CCA mismanaged Charlestown’s tax dollars and then tried to cover it up.

My choice for Council is Democrat Jill Fonneman who has been forthright about taking on Charlestown’s issues and pledges to work hard for fair taxation and trying to revitalize our blighted small business landscape. I blame the CCA’s business-hostile approach for our Boulevard of Broken Dreams (thank you, Green Day), better known as Route One where there are more shuttered businesses than growing concerns.

Boarded up derelict businesses are not compatible with Route One’s status as a Scenic Highway. Jill wants to see Charlestown make a concerted effort to turn this around.

Jill brings youth and solid business experience in boosting the Rathskeller’s success as well as fund-raising events to boost local charities and to assist the workers after the devastating fire at the Matunuck Oyster Bar. See video below.

Van Slyke brings nothing to the table but her awful past performance on the Council where she was the puppet of Charlestown Planning Commissar Ruth Platner. Van Slyke simply recites the tired old Platner-tudes about open space Über alles. If you think about it, a vote for Van Slyke is really a vote for her master Ruth Platner.

There’s no point in talking about mail-in or early voting since Monday and Tuesday are the last days to cast ballots. Now is the time to make your decision about whether you want to move forward with Jill Fonneman or take a big step backwards with Van Slyke.

Voting on December 2 (Tuesday) will take place ONLY at Town Hall from 7 AM to 8 PM.

Van Slyke’s “commitment” to apple pie and motherhood is not enough to make up for fiscal mismanagement.

Van Slyke must answer for CCA’s glaring financial blunders that she helped to create

By Will Collette

Loving animals and nature is not this election's key issue,
but money management is

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) retread candidate Bonnita B. Van Slyke in the December 2 town council special election just issued a piece in the CCA blog that reprises her promises to support a broad array of environmental issues, the same ones she covered at length in her big, fancy mailer.

Her two opponents, Democrat Jill Fonnemann and Republican Laura Rom, also believe in protecting our environment – clean water, healthy ponds and streams, dark skies, and all our critters and birds. Jill is especially strong on animal protection. The candidates differ on how to achieve our goals, but don’t differ on the goals themselves.

So let’s stipulate that all the candidates love our town and its beautiful environs. And dogs.

The real difference between Van Slyke and her rivals comes into sharp relief when you look at her record on how to manage the taxpayers’ money. Van Slyke makes two “promises” that are belied by her actions and omissions.

Van Slyke pledges “to provide open, honest, responsible leadership” and commits to “manage our town’s administration and budgets effectively” which she failed to do during her previous time on the Town Council.

Bonnie B. left the Town Council in 2022 at the height of Charlestown’s worst financial scandal in a generation, a crisis where she was one of the key architects and led the cover-up and misinformation campaign.

And in her own writings for this special election, she still is.

In 2022, Charlestown learned that under the total control of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, Charlestown had not only achieved the dubious distinction of having the highest administrative costs in the state but that this CCA-controlled administration had “lost” (they say “misallocated”) $3 million for two years. The “$3 million oopsie.”

Van Slyke was the CCA’s principal spokesperson leading the cover-up and disinformation campaign to deny there was a problem and, failing that, blame someone else while refusing reasonable requests for an outside, impartial review.

Van Slyke pushed – and still pushes – pumping up the town’s surplus (“Unassigned fund balance”) beyond any reasonable need. The $3 million oopsie grew out of the accumulated pockets of cash the CCA had squirreled away in the town budget often used to finance Planning Commissar Ruth Platner’s shady land deals.

Van Slyke praised and defended ex-Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz even though he failed at his #1 job which was to take care of the money. Instead, he presided over ending legal public access to records about the town’s finances and shady land deals and allowed the $3 million to get lost. Then Stanky and ex-Budget Commission Chair Dick Sartor did their own self-audit and of course found themselves blameless.

Van Slyke consistently obstructed every effort by then minority Council member Deb Carney to bring in an outside forensic auditor to find out what really happened and to fix it.

And did I mention that according to the RI Public Expenditure Council, Charlestown’s administrative costs peaked as the worst in the state per capita during the final year of CCA's reign? We're right there at the very bottom of the chart. Here's what RIPEC found (and note that the CCA NEVER even acknowledged this data, never mind acted on it):

Voters threw out the CCA in 2022, electing four of five Charlestown Residents United (CRU) candidates, leaving the CCA with only Susan Cooper to wave their flag. Cooper dropped out in 2024 and voters replaced her with another CRU candidate, giving CRU a 5-0 supermajority.

Stonewall Stanky, Charlestown's cover-up king

After the 2022 election, one of the first orders of business was what to do with erstwhile Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz, executor of the CCA’s clamp down on public records and failed money manager. Right up until Stanky’s exit, Van Slyke praised his feckless performance as masterful and condemned the CRU for driving out this superhero.

The facts showed that Stanky’s only talent was his loyalty to the CCA, but even that turned out to be phony. It turns out Stanky had already lined up a new job in Berkley, MA even before the 2022 election which the CCA was expected to win.

While clueless Van Slyke and the CCA were campaigning to save his job in 2023, Stanky was already out the door and was simply trying to get the biggest severance package he could. Incidentally, Stanky only lasted six weeks at the Berkley job before moving on to mess up Pawtucket’s finances.

Then in 2025, Van Slyke and the CCA repeated the process when the CRU decided not to confirm CCA-aligned Budget Commission chair Dick Sartor – a central figure in the CCA fiscal meltdown – to another term on the Commission. Sartor failed at his job to provide oversight over Charlestown’s finances and teamed with Stankiewicz to run the cover-up of the $3 million oopsie.

The CRU wanted him out but naturally, Van Slyke wanted him retained. Ever the champion of incompetence.

Since the CCA was booted out of office, the CRU-led Town Council has done a great job of cleaning up the mess the CCA left. And to see exactly what the CRU did, see what the state's chief auditor found. 

According to the Rhode Island Auditor General, in their first year in office, the CRU-led Council improved Charlestown’s financial management in the following ways:

Raised more revenue. 

Under the CCA, revenue was $28 million. Under the CRU, this increased to $30 million.

Lowered expenses. 

RIPEC flagged Charlestown’s highest in the state expenses which were $31.2 million, more than the revenue collected. Under the CRU, expenses dropped to $29.8 million.

Increased the town’s savings. 

This is the unassigned fund balance (UFB) that the CCA criticized the CRU for failing to increase. In fact, according to the Auditor General, the CRU raised the UFB by 17% from the CCA’s $5.3 million to $6.2 million.

Improved pension funding. 

Funding to cover future pension costs rose from the CCA’s $8.3 million level to $8.8 million under the CRU.

Reduced Charlestown’s debt by a LOT. 

Under the CCA, Charlestown’s debt was $7.9 million. Under the CRU, debt dropped to $6 million, almost 25% less.

Erased the deficit the CCA left behind. 

According to the Auditor General, the CCA left behind a DEFICIT of $3,266,029. The CRU erased that deficit and ended FY23 with a SURPLUS of $157,666.

This table on page 16 of the Auditor General’s report gives the detail:

Not once has the CCA acknowledged these hard facts, sticking instead to Bonnita Van Slyke's false narrative that the CCA was infallible. Oh, she also loves her dog.

Election started today (November 12)

Early, in-person voting has started at Town Hall. If you plan to vote by mail, ask our Town Clerk Amy Weinreich for a mail ballot application. If you've already applied, your ballot should be on the way.

Generally, special elections like this draw almost exclusively from those who pay attention to politics. Turn out is usually very low, maybe a thousand if we're lucky. A three-way race like this is especially hard to predict. 

The CCA will spend from its huge treasury built on non-resident cash to send you fancy mailers telling you Charlestown needs to go back to the good old days when they ran things. The financial facts shown above tell a very different story. 

Democrat Jill Fonnemann is pledged to support the CRU’s sound financial management for a better, more prosperous Charlestown. Let's move FORWARD, not backwards. 

With only days before Charlestown’s December 2 Town Council special election, CCA candidate dodges the real questions

CCA tries to deny and deflect its fiscal failings

By Will Collette

For continued good government in Charlestown,
elect endorsed Democrat Jill Fonnemann for Town Council 

Call it click-baiting if you will, but there’s a remarkable similarity between the way the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) treats Charlestown’s financial meltdown that led to their 2022 and 2024 election defeats and the way Donald Trump is dealing with his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

I have been urging the CCA to come clean on how they managed to lose $3 million dollars used to fund CCA leader Ruth Platner’s shady land deals and then ran a cover-up campaign to hide what they did.

After two straight election drubbings, you’d think someone in the CCA might have figured out that rather than deny, distract and deflect, maybe the CCA should admit and apologize.

A key figure in those scandals is one of the December 2 candidates, Bonnita B. Van Slyke. Van Slyke was on the Charlestown Town Council throughout the 2022 scandal but bailed out before the 2022 election rather than be on the CCA ticket rejected by Charlestown voters.

She tried a comeback in 2024 but ran in last place, 10^th out of ten, as the CCA tried to make that election about dark skies (seriously, the darkness of the sky was their big issue) rather than address the financial mess they caused. The CCA lost the last of their Council seats in that election.

And now, here comes Van Slyke again.

In this special election, Van Slyke and the CCA again want to focus voter attention on “issues” where there is no disagreement among the three candidates – how much we all love Charlestown and its beauty, and clean water, green forests, dark sky, and golden beaches. And critters ranging from wildlife to dogs. She wants to talk about “over-development in sensitive areas” but without talking about how the CCA allowed shoreline property owners to do anything they wanted.

Why does Van Slyke want to raise these issues? Because she and the CCA want to distract voters away from other important issues the CCA doesn’t want to talk about. These include:

·    Who can voters trust to properly manage their money?

·    Who will do the better job of keeping administrative costs and taxes down while providing effective government services?

·    Who will run an honest and open government, free of shady deals, secrecy and attempts to cover up mistakes?

·    Why pile up money in surpluses by over-taxing residents?

·    Who will do better at ensuring fair taxation?

Voters sent the CCA a message in 2022 and 2024: if you screw up the money, you can’t run the town. 

Obviously, they didn’t get the message by running Van Slyke, a key player in their financial SNAFU, as their candidate in this special election.

The heart of the CCA’s money management deficiencies is its obsessive effort to turn Charlestown into an exclusive retirement enclave for the independently wealthy while driving out families, mostly those living north of Route One, while erecting barriers to any new families moving in.

All the gray-marked areas in the center of the map are
Narragansett tribal land - i.e. open space

According to data from the town’s Comprehensive Plan, belatedly submitted by CCA and Charlestown Planning Commissar Ruth Platner, around 60% of Charlestown is tax-exempt or tax-favored open space. See map 👉. But that’s not enough for Platner, Van Slyke and the CCA. 

Through a series of shady land deals, Charlestown expanded the amount of town-owned open space often by buying property at much higher than its assessed value. CLICK HERE for a prime example.

They usually paid cash despite a voter-approved referendum that called for the town to use low-interest municipal bonds. Paying cash meant the cost of major capital expenditures were dumped on taxpayers that year instead of being amortized over time.

Several of their land deals were blocked by public pressure after we dug up public records exposing the details. Click on the links to see what we exposed in two of those deals: the SPA-Gate scandal HERE and the Saw Mill Pond scam HERE.

Under the CCA, this was the typical response
you got after paying for a public record

After these records wrecked the sweetheart deal behind SPA-Gate, the CCA made their lapdog Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz clamp down on public information. Requests under the state’s open records law were routinely delayed. Records requested were subjected to careful legal and staff review to make sure that everything that could be withheld was indeed withheld. The town charged the maximum amount it could.

The result was that records about land deals were then offered with cost estimates of several hundred dollars payable in advance. If you paid the money, all you eventually got were pages almost totally blacked out. See sample 👈to the left.

I believe these secrecy practices not only contradicted the CCA's claims about "open and transparent government," but also contributed significantly to Charlestown's out of control administrative costs (see table below).

Van Slyke herself was behind the most outrageous abuse of the open government norms when she introduced a resolution to buy a land parcel but insisted that the name of the seller, the location of the property and the price for the purchase were withheld from the public!

The CCA Town Council majority approved the deal to proceed.

We later discovered the land in question was the Saw Mill Pond property that was already classified as open space and taxed accordingly by the town. The proposed purchase price was never actually disclosed but based on the paperwork, it had to be at least $800,000. The assessed value was only $312,800.

Van Slyke and her CCA Council colleague Susan Cooper voted yes to proceed with the deal. However, they were thwarted by no votes from late CRU council member Grace Klinger and Council President Deb Carney plus the recusal ofCCA council member Cody Clarkin on ethical grounds.

If Van Slyke really wants to talk about land use, these concrete cases of waste, fraud and abuse need to be part of that conversation.

While debates over land use raged, the town’s administrative functions were undergoing some serious dry rot. Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz geared Town Hall to serve the CCA’s political agenda. Under Stanky and CCA leadership, Charlestown racked up the worst administrative costs in the state. That’s according to the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. Check out Charlestown at the very bottom of this 👇table. More details HERE.

Aided by former Budget Commission chair Dick Sartor, Charlestown accumulated a massive surplus far in excess of what was needed. Here’s what the Rhode Island Auditor General wrote in his report on Charlestown about that surplus during the CCA’s final years, saying "unrestricted fund balances significantly exceeded the GFOA reserve recommendation (17% of fund expenditures/other financing uses)."

The CCA's policy resembled putting taxpayer money under the mattress.

Apparently, that excess surplus was moved around from pocket to pocket without proper management. In early 2022, the town’s auditor reported that $3 million had apparently been misplaced for an almost two-year period. This came to be known as the “$3 Million Oopsie.”

Van Slyke was the public voice of the CCA in trying to deny, diminish, deflect then ultimately attack critics of the “Oopsie.” Behind the scenes, Stanky and Budget chair Sartor worked hard to come up with any answer that didn’t involve blame falling on them or the CCA.

Van Slyke’s only glancing mention of this whole mess has in her most recent mailer where she continues to plug an unnecessarily high surplus fund to deal with “hurricanes and other crises.”

From Van Slyke election mailer, received November 22.

The state Auditor General has already criticized the inappropriately high fund balance salted away by the CCA when it ran the town. (See above). Remember: it’s your tax dollars being put away in Bonnita’s mayonnaise jar.

I could go on but suffice to say that since the Town Council control shifted from the CCA to Charlestown Residents United (CRU), things have gotten a lot better. Don’t take my word for it, look at what the RI Auditor General reported:

Note that the final column on the right is the first year (2023) that Charlestown began to be managed by the Charlestown Residents United Council majority. The previous four years were under the CCA's control

Cathy and I have already voted by mail for endorsed Democrat Jill Fonnemann who is also supported by the Charlestown Residents United. She manages a large chunk of the Rathskeller’s business which makes her far more qualified than Van Slyke to be diligent about protecting the taxpayers. 

You can meet Jill and see for yourself why she is the best choice for Town Council at the General Stanton Inn Tuesday night.

Let’s turn out for Jill and make her Charlestown’s next Town Council member.

Charlestown Town Council Candidate Jill Fonnemann tells Patch what she stands for

Along with commitment to the environment, Fonnemann wants to focus on small business, fair taxes, affordable housing and the economy

By Will Collette

Endorsed Democrat Jill Fonnemann gave an extensive interview to Joseph Hosey, local Patch Staff. Without the CCA’s non-resident cash reserve to pay for glossy mailers, this was a welcome opportunity for Jill to tell us more about why she is the best candidate running in Charlestown’s December 2 special election to fill the Town Council seat vacated by the untimely death of CRU’s Rippy Serra.

Here are some key excerpts from Jill’s interview, edited for clarity.

Age: 42

Party affiliation: Democrat

Family: Mother-Christine Fonnemann, Father- Francis Fonnemann III, Brothers-Mark Fonnemann, Brian Fonnemann. I live with my beloved animals being my dog Zsa Zsa, Vega my cat, my bearded dragon Javier and my elderly adopted corn snake Raphaello who had a rough start in life.

Education: 2001 Westerly High School Graduate-Senior, Superlative-Class Individualist

Occupation: Beverage director at the Charlestown Rathskeller Tavern

Previous or Current Elected Office: Charlestown Parks and Recreation Commission, January 2023-Present, as well as The Parks and Recreation Office Subcommittee

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform. The most time sensitive issue facing our ward is the repair of the western wall of our breachway. This will avoid future damage to our aquatic life, estuaries, oyster farms and ecosystem.

The reconstruction of the breachway is imperative to the people of Charlestown and to the economic health of our town. We rely on summer vacationers to visit while supporting local restaurants, shops, beaches and all of our other adjacent businesses. This directly hits home given my work in the restaurant industry.

The other issues that also define my campaign platform are:

• Work to maintain Charlestown's low tax rate through fiscally responsible policies
• Support affordable housing initiatives that will allow Charlestown’s seniors and children to afford housing in our town
• Make our children a priority by supporting our schools, quality education, sports programs, and extracurricular activities.
• Continue to support our local businesses
• Work to protect our environment, open spaces and restoration of the Charlestown Breachway.
• I am a big supporter of our environment and dark skies. I am an avid hiker, camper and lover of the outdoors. I feel like I can actually breathe and be at complete peace when I am surrounded by nature.
• I will also promote rehabbing run down, vacant, eyesores of buildings in town.
• Preserve the historic aspect that the town encompasses. I live in one of the 10 oldest houses in town built in 1732

What are the critical differences between you and other candidates seeking this post? 

One example that sets me apart from the other candidates is that I am the only candidate that is known for organizing/executing large scale, well attended events that directly give back to our residents, more often than not, single handedly.

I realize that I don't have as much experience as the other two candidates possess, as they have been involved in commissions/councils and organizations much longer than I have. But I should say that one of the two candidates is 37 years older and the other 28 years older than I. I truly hope my past precedes me at my 42 years of age. I am a quick study and will delve into research to be well informed. I am not afraid of a challenge either.

I have a large presence in our community and am known for being kind and staying true to my word. I am a natural mediator/peacemaker, I will always fight for what I think is right

I refuse to join in on any nonsense that may rear its head in the next month. I am not intimidated and will refrain from fueling any upcoming negative tactics that may rear their ugly head in the next month. But I do know that if you give into being scared and freezing, you will never know how to learn and grow.

I feel like I have the ability to see different sides of a story by actually listening to people. These days everyone is shouting so loudly at each other, instead of hearing what people actually have to say. It costs nothing to be respectful of the fact that we are all different and people feel differently about things.

People know that they can continue to rely on me to lend a helping hand/shoulder to cry on/offer advice to anyone in need.

Nothing in life has ever been handed to me and I know what it is like to struggle. Everything I have achieved, I have earned myself through self teachings. I have to say that the person I have grown to be makes me proud. I strive to be the best version of myself that I can be, which of course is a lifelong practice.

I have the drive, motivation, creativity and unstoppable energy to put 100% into this endeavor. I am not afraid of a challenge, no matter how big or small and refused to be classified as a quitter. I am a quick study and will delve into researching a topic and educating myself. Working in the restaurant industry for over 28 years will teach you how to deal with every kind of person of all walks of life and grow the thickest skin.

I can talk to, relate, listen and create an instant rapport with most people. I am constantly putting out small fires through rational thinking, strategy, empathy and grace. I work well in high stress/hectic situations and thrive in that environment. I am a natural leader, my own person and dance, (not walk,) to the beat of my own drum. I have never been one to fold or conform to what social society teaches us to be if I don't agree with it. My high school superlative was class individualist and I haven't lost any momentum since.

Long story short, I truly hope to add to the existing positive momentum that we have seen with the Town Council for the past two years. I aim and very much look forward to working for the people in our town and working cooperatively with the Charlestown Town Council and the State of Rhode Island. If given the chance to be elected, I vow that I will ensure that all of this happens.

The Election has already begun

Early voting, in person at Town Hall, began on November 12. Mail ballots will soon be arriving for those who requested them. Mine arrived on Saturday, meaning Cathy and I will proudly vote for Jill.

Special elections like this rarely draw many voters – I’d be surprised if more than 1000 ballots get cast. Those of you who pay attention to town politics, such as most Progressive Charlestown readers, will make the difference.

While the Charlestown Residents United (CRU) will continue to hold at least four of the five Town Council seats, adding Jill will give Charlestown an excellent shot of new blood. As I’ve made plain HERE and HERE and HERE, returning CCA spokesperson Bonnita Van Slyke to the Council would be a terrible mistake.

While I am 76 and not dead yet, I often do feel my age and recognize that though Charlestown has a rapidly aging population, we need younger leaders. Jill has that youthful enthusiasm and drive to serve that are, for me at least, a distant memory.

I’m glad Jill brought up the issue of age. Typically, no one ever does in Charlestown elections given that, with some exceptions, most candidates are Boomers like me. Age cost Joe Biden the 2024 election and age is currently causing mayhem and chaos in our nation. It’s an issue that can’t be ignored.

I’m voting for Jill and for Charlestown’s future. Hope you will, too.

Let’s get the facts straight on who messed with $1 million from Charlestown’s open space bond fund

CCA continues to push phony issue

By Will Collette

Council President Carney (center)

In 2015 by an 11-vote margin, Charlestown voters authorized issuing $2 million in bonds to buy open space. In the following years, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance-controlled Town Council approved a series of land purchases proposed by Planning Commissar (and CCA de facto leader) Ruth Platner.

They took $1 million out of the General Fund to buy several properties, usually at prices much higher than their assessed value and often at the behest of CCA allies.

The CCA-led Council did NOT use bonds, preferring to use cash and not coincidentally keeping the $2 million bond fund intact, presumably to allow Ruth Platner a blank check to continue her land buying spree.

Voters did not give Platner carte blanche in 2015 – they issued approval for low-interest municipal bonds. Using bonds to fund long-term capital investments is prudent normal practice, just as it is when your own family takes out a mortgage, car loan or student loan.

Taking $1 million out of the General Fund, as the CCA did, had an immediate effect on your taxes compared to amortizing the cost over years, as voters in 2015 approved. Taxes consistently rose during the CCA’s 10 years of control over town government.

This year, Town Council President Deb Carney has proposed to redress the CCA’s disregard of voters’ expressed decision by issuing one million in bonds to cover the money the CCA inappropriately used to make land purchases and put that money back in the General Fund where it belongs.

And of course, the CCA screams its outrage, claiming that Carney is betraying the 2015 voters and somehow paying twice for the same property.

Bonnita B. Van Slyke is the CCA’s nominee in the December 2 Town Council Special Election. She voiced the CCA’s new party line and added that “Certainly, the Town Council should not float a bond without taxpayers being able to vote on whether they approve of $1 million to $2 million in new spending in a general election.”

I already responded to this by noting that voters already approved the bonds in 2015. Issuing a bond to replenish the General Fund simply redresses the CCA’s past financial mismanagement; it's NOT about new spending.

Failed 2024 CCA Council hopeful Sarah Fletcher raises the same issues almost verbatim in the CCA blog. No matter how many CCA stalwarts repeat it, the facts don’t change. Voters approved long-term bonds for open space, but the CCA paid cash. By taking cash out of the General Fund, they bumped up taxes each time. 

Carney wants to put that money back in the General Fund which will give taxpayers a break on next year’s tax bill, and not raise the tax rate by 3 cents as both Fletcher and Van Slyke claim - without evidence.

Charlestown voters should note that the CCA’s misappropriation of open space money spawned not just a series of shady land deals, but also a whole string of CCA financial gaffs, including the “$3 million dollar oopsie” and subsequent cover-up.

In a nutshell, the CCA had so many special accounts and cash stashes, including a bloated “Unassigned Fund Balance,” that they lost (or “misallocated” as they prefer to call it) $3 million dollars for 2 years. Click on the links for more detail.

It took a while for Charlestown voters to finally absorb the ways the CCA betrayed taxpayers’ trust by screwing up the money finally voting down all but one CCA candidate in 2022 (the year the $3 million oopsie went public) and then taking the last CCA seat in 2024

The CCA hopes to claw back a Town Council seat and re-install their most inept member in the December 2 Special Election. I warned you when the special election was announced to expect a torrent of phony attacks and misinformation in expensive mailers from the CCA or “Friends of Bonnie Van Slyke.” By the way, that “Friends” group is a CCA proxy that helps the CCA to get around state expenditure caps on spending by political action committees.

But you do have other choices and, for me, the best one is Democrat Jill Fonnemann.

The Charlestown Town Council December 2 Special Election

Who is best for Charlestown?

By Will Collette

Now that the Blue Tide has swept over Nov. 4’s off-year elections, it’s time for Charlestown to focus on its December 2 special election to pick a successor to Rippy Serra whose unexpected death created a vacancy.Rippy served as Council vice-president, was a stalwart in the Charlestown Republican Town Committee (CRTC) and a leader in the non-partisan Charlestown Residents United (CRU) that ended the long rule of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance with landslide wins in the 2022 and 2024 elections. The December 2 election features three women who will appear in the following order on the ballot. 

At the top of the ballot is Democrat Jill Fonnemann well known to patrons of the Rathskeller where she works as beverage director and has organized numerous community fund-raisers. She is endorsed by the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee (CDTC) and the CRU. Spoiler alert: Jill is also my personal choice. Second on the ballot is Laura Rom, chair of the CRTC, who wants to keep Rippy’s seat Republican. She currently serves on the town Planning Commission and chairs the Charter Revision Commission. She is endorsed by the CRTC and shares a joint endorsement from the CRU with Jill Fonnemann. In a statement, the CRU explained why it issued this unusual joint endorsement:

A Message from Charlestown Residents United (CRU)

As many in the Charlestown community know, Council Member, Rippy Serra passed away this past August.  His dedication, integrity, and commitment to serving all residents left a lasting impact, and his loss is still felt by many in our town.

As we look ahead to the upcoming election to fill this important Council seat, Charlestown Residents United (CRU) recognizes the contributions that both candidates - Laura Rom (R) and Jill Fonnemann (D) - could bring to the Council.  We believe each candidate offers valuable experience and a strong commitment to serving our community.

Consistent with our mission as a nonpartisan, community-focused organization, CRU supports both candidates equally and remains committed to a respectful, informed and inclusive process.

We hope every resident will take the time to learn about each candidate’s vision, values and priorities and vote in a way that best reflects their hopes for Charlestown.

Together, we can continue fostering respect, transparency and collaboration in our community.

Charlestown has the distinction of being governed effectively and without drama – despite the partisan rancor roiling the country – by the CRU’s bi-partisan coalition. Together, they ended the financial mismanagement, shady land deals, secrecy and cover-up that marked the 10-year reign of the CCA. Thus the dual endorsement.

The third name on the ballot is a familiar one to any resident who follows local politics, Bonnita B. Van Slyke who is endorsed by the CCA.

Van Slyke on the right. Her puppet master
Ruth Platner to the left

Van Slyke has become the CCA’s main spokesperson, delivering the script prepared for her by the CCA’s de facto leader Planning Commissar Ruth Platner.

I’ve devoted a lot of time to debunking the endless stream of false statements that came from the Platner-Van Slyke duo over the past 10 years. There are a total of 62 articles so far featuring Van Slyke. You can read them all by CLICKING HERE.

The CCA is already cranking up its propaganda machine. As usual, they seem compelled to lie, even when it is so easy to disprove them. Here’s a “whopper” (one of Van Slyke’s favorite words) in their latest piece about the CCA and Van Slyke’s greatest claim to fame:

“Reduced the tax rate to one of the lowest in Rhode Island and adopted a policy to reserve sufficient savings to protect taxpayers in the event of emergencies.

This is a two-part false claim. First, the CCA did NOT reduce the tax rate and certainly not during Van Slyke’s tenure from 2014 to 2022. Simply look at the tax rate table from Town Tax Assessor Ken Swain that shows the tax rate steadily increased when the CCA took power in 2008 and dropped dramatically when the CRU kicked them out in 2022.

The CCA took power in 2008 and
were kicked out by the CRU in the
2022 election.

While Charlestown’s tax rate is very low compared to other municipalities, property values driven by non-resident purchases, not anything the CCA did or didn’t do, that determined your property tax bottom line.

Second, the CCA policy of raising the actual taxes you pay to pad the town’s surplus fund account spawned such scandals as the $3 million that went missing (“misallocated” was the term the CCA used).

It drove a series of shady land deals where Van Slyke acted as Platner’s puppet plus a systematic cover-up campaign by CCA tool, former Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz.

Van Slyke's other recent campaign pieces are also packed with easily disproved and discredited claims as we'll be showing you over the coming weeks.

Over the month of November leading up to the December 2 special election, we’ll be covering these issues and more. 

We’ll look at why Charlestown needs Jill Fonnemann, a young, fresh new face, on the Council. 

We’ll also examine Van Slyke’s past record and current claims to see what Charlestown will get if she is returned to the Council.

Here are the ways you can vote:

You can also get an application for a mail ballot by e-mailing Town Clerk Amy Weinreich at arweinreich@charlestownri.gov. Amy turned my own request around very quickly.

Last Tuesday, November 4, record numbers of Americans turned out for off-year elections. “No Kings” translated into a Blue Wave that swept from Virginia to California sending a clear message that Americans do not want a corrupt, inept and repressive government.

We had that in Charlestown for 10 years under CCA rule. Your vote for Democrat Jill Fonnemann keeps Charlestown on a forward track for the benefit of all Charlestown’s people.