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.

The other odd thing is that nine prominent town Republicans filed their papers with the Board of Elections last summer (just like their counterparts in the Democratic committee) to comprise the 2013-2014 Charlestown Republican Town Committee, making them the duly authorized committee. 

They included Charlie Beck, Roe Labossiere, Gregg Avedisian, Forrester Safford, Candi Dunn, et al. But not Tina Jackson. As I read the state's election law (RIGL Title 17), she can't be named to fill a "vacancy" - if there is one - until the town committee actually organizes itself....with the members who filed their papers and were endorsed to serve in the new term. 

So the Republican Town Committee has a set of members but someone not in that group announces forming a new Republican Town Committee? Is Tina Jackson pulling a coup?

There must be a back story here – I’m not privy to the internal workings of the town GOP – that we’ll hopefully tease out as to how Tina Jackson all of a sudden seems to be in charge.

Coastal Pond Management Commission meets Monday night.

They will review the proposed aquaculture project for two sites on Quonochontaug Pond and give their recommendation to the Town Council which already decided on January 14 to oppose the portion of the project that would go in the western end of the Pond, in Westerly by the way. This follows the “new normal” practice of our CCA-led Town Council to make decisions and then ask for an opinion from the relevant Commission. Or is that "irrelevant" Commission?

At the Citizens Forum last Monday, CCA Treasurer Leo Mainelli asked the Council to oppose the part of the project that would go on the eastern end, which just happens to be in view of Leo’s house. The CCA Councilors seemed ready to grant Leo’s request. 

Volunteers on CRAC.

There are lots of vacancies on town commissions and committees. They get announced at every regular Town Council meeting. In the 2011-2012 Council session, the one that seemed the most problematic – and where CCA camp followers created the most mischief – was the Charter Revision Advisory Committee or CRAC. 

This committee is appointed every two years to review the Home Rule Charter, looking for things to change, whether needed or not, by ballot measure during the general election. 

The last CRAC was completely dominated by the NIMBY opponents to the unpopular Whalerock industrial wind farm. Several of the dominant members used the CRAC to try to do some payback on their enemies (e.g. by imposing term limits on the Zoning Board but no other town commission – an idea that thankfully died).

I don’t know if the Chambers and Areglados want to take another whack at seeing how much they can screw up the Charter, but it would be nice if some grown-ups would come forward and volunteer to go on CRAC. And by the way, the CRAC is not required to recommend changes to the Charter if they don’t think they’re needed.

Injun Joe Larisa – what do we get for our money?

CCA's beloved Injun Joe Larisa

Charlestown has a lawyer on permanent retainer who has no other purpose than to fight the Narragansett Indian Tribe. Newcomers to town may find that hard to believe, but it’s true. 

Charlestown has paid “Injun Joe” Larisa of East Providence a boatload of money - $300,000 since 2007 – just to fight the tribe and to be on call, if the town needs him to quell an Indian uprising.

Narragansett leaders have labelled Larisa as an "Indian hater" and accused him of racism. Click here, here and here.

Last summer, I went through a battle with the town to get access to Larisa’s billings to the town. At first, I received a file of many pages, but very few words, since virtually every detail was blacked out (Click here - it’s like reading a CIA file).

After some hassle, the town finally coughed up an uncensored version (click here). 

Most recently, I asked the town to provide me with copies of any memos or reports Larisa wrote for the town on what is really the only pending tribal issue, and that is the fate of federal legislation to undo the “Carcieri v. Salazar” Supreme Court decision that screwed the Narragansetts and over 500 other tribes across the country. Surely, for the money we pay Larisa, he must have done some reports on this subject of vital importance to the CCA, if not the whole town.

But nope. According to Town Clerk Amy Rose Weinreich, “I was unable to locate any related document on file with the Town of Charlestown.” As the custodian of town records and the person responsible for handling requests under the Access to Public Records Act, Amy is saying that Larisa did not prepare anything for the town on the “Carcieri Fix.” 

Begging the question, what does Larisa do for his monthly retainer of $2,050?

St. Andrews Lutheran working for Charlestown

The church seems to be increasing its already considerable impact on Charlestown with some commendable, high-profile good works. Congratulations to them for a successful first Family Supper Table at the Charlestown Community Center. They also announced another intriguing project that will be coming to Charlestown this summer. 

Called the Ocean State Work Camp, St. Andrews plans to bring around 350 adult and teen volunteers to town for a week. They’ll be put to work doing home repairs, weatherization and accessibility retrofits for the elderly, disabled and low-income residents. I love the idea, though I’m not so crazy about the title (work camp?). If you need St. Andrews’ help or want to volunteer to do the helping, call St. Andrews at (401) 601-6474.

Chariho Shovel Brigade at it again this year

Maybe we’ll need them some more this year. I think it’s more likely than last year. Once again, the students at Chariho have organized the Chariho Shovel Brigade, a community service project to help the elderly and handicapped by shoveling them out after snow storms. The kids have been working pretty hard this year. Connect with them through their Facebook page (click here).

Free At Last, Free At Last!

Then...

This last item is not a Charlestown story, but I did give some attention to the wild adventures of former State Representative and Republican Minority Leader Bob Watson for his 2011 arrests in Connecticut and South Kingstown for DUI and marijuana possession. His urine also tested positive for cocaine. 

Just about every media outlet in New England followed his story, mainly because he was a right-wing windbag who tried to lie his way out of trouble.

...Now (East Greenwich Patch)

Well, his legal troubles are over after prosecutors in Connecticut dropped the charges, citing Watson’s stint in rehab and efforts to clean up his act. Watson did not run for re-election last November.

Last year, Watson was a blow-hard hypocrite. Now, by all accounts, he’s just a regular guy trying to find his way back by working the twelve steps. I wish him well and hope to never hear his name in politics again.