Good News from the Town Council?

Latest puff piece from the CCA

By Will Collette

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) e-bleat for October 21^st was pretty interesting. In this one e-mail, the CCA touts its control of the Charlestown Town Council, lauds Council member Lisa DiBello and pretty much brags how its story dominates Charlestown coverage in the Westerly Sun.

Of course, all these things are true – the CCA does control the Council because they have DiBello’s vote in their pocket on most issues that matter, even though the CCA is the sworn enemy of DiBello’s only public ally, former Council member Jim Mageau.

And it is true that, for a while now, since the Sun changed the assignment for which reporter covers Charlestown, the Sun’s coverage of Charlestown has been very one-sided. Opinions other than those of the CCA Planning Commission and Town Council majority are relegated to dueling letters to the editor.

But is all of this good news, as the CCA says? Well, I’m sure it’s no surprise to any Progressive Charlestown reader that I don’t think so.

The Oct. 21 CCA e-bleat brags about several of their Council people’s achievements. These include:

Deputy Dan Slattery

Deputy Dan Slattery’s achievement in increasing the low-income elderly tax credit from $1000 to $1500. This is, of course, a very good thing for those very few senior citizens in town who qualify.

The income eligibility standards are so low, that it poses a serious barrier to many older Charlestown residents who need the help. I wrote about this in detail some months ago. But $500 is better than nothing. At least, until Charlestown comes up with some real tax relief.

Council President Tom Gentz’s ominous – and secret – initiative to undermine the state’s affordable housing law. As we reported earlier, Gentz read a prepared statement at the last Council meeting that came as a complete surprise to most other Council members (except Slattery).

Tom Gentz

He gave a halting and awkward reading of the CCA’s manifesto against affordable housing. Then he announced his plan for an “evolutionary adjustment” to the law – essentially throwing it out and re-writing it to exempt rural communities.

Gentz was totally out of his element and could not do anything other than cut off Affordable Housing Commission chair Evelyn Smith when she tried to correct his many misstatements.

Gentz intends to write a new resolution for the CCA majority on the Council to pass without involving the Affordable Housing Commission (so as not to get confused by the facts) until the resolution has been written. Then, for what it's worth, they can comment.

Lisa DiBello’s Hometown Hero Award idea. This is a nice idea – that Charlestown should single out for praise persons or organizations that serve the community above and beyond the call of duty. Nothing wrong with the idea at all. But if you follow the doings of the Council, this plan was typical DiBello – she announced it with some fanfare to get some sorely needed good publicity but really had no plan to work out any details or do any actual work on it.

Lisa DiBello

DiBello’s role in town politics remains pretty inscrutable. She is both “serving” and planning to sue the town. As Progressive Charlestown readers know, a lot has come out about DiBello’s dealings in town.

She is closely aligned with Jim Mageau, always refrains from voting against any of Mageau’s interests, yet provides the CCA with the controlling vote. It’s interesting that the CCA would publicly stand with her as she looks less and less like the sympathetic candidate she was during the election campaign and more like a person who needs some attention from law enforcement.

And the CCA applauds its phony residential wind energy ordinance that comes up for a public hearing – and likely 3-2 approval vote – on November 14. As I’ve shown in a line-by-line analysis of the ordinance, the CCA has succeeded in crafting an ordinance that is nearly impossible to obey. The CCA e-bleat says they will have their analysis of the ordinance in an upcoming e-mail. You can’t imagine how much I’m looking forward to that.

The CCA e-bleat ends with a link to an article in Indian Country Today about efforts in Congress to repeal the “Carcieri Fix” that effectively blocks the Narragansett Indian tribe from using its lands the way they wish. Opponents of the Supreme Court decision say the Supreme Court unfairly stripped many Indian tribes around the US of their tribal sovereignty. 

Injun Joe Larisa

The CCA and many other white residents of Charlestown believe that tribal sovereignty automatically means a Narragansett Indian casino in Charlestown. However, they did not direct Charlestown’s special counsel for Indian Affairs Injun Joe Larisa to assist the tribe in its efforts to buy the Twin River slot parlor, which would have put an end to Charlestown’s anti-casino anxieties. Instead, Larisa was one of the leading voices opposing the tribe’s effort to buy Twin River.  

Except for Ruth Platner, the CCA also opposed the town entering into serious negotiations with Larry LeBlanc to buy LeBlanc’s 81 acres overlooking US Route 1. While most town residents know of LeBlanc’s wind farm proposal, LeBlanc has also hinted at selling the land to the tribe, giving them the critical mass of land needed to make a casino viable. Ruth and I agreed on this one point (and only this one point), that it was worth paying a premium price to acquire this land, if for no other reason than to end the town’s casino anxiety.