noun
1. a factual statement that Jim Mageau doesn't like.
2. a reasonable opinion that Jim Mageau doesn't agree with.
3. a statement that disagrees with anything Jim Mageau has said.
4. any statement made by someone Jim Mageau identifies as an enemy.
Memorizing this definition is good preparation before reading Mr. Mageau's latest bluster in the Westerly Sun.
His letter appeared in the Thursday newspaper and the Sun, fully knowing its entertainment value, does not make it available free to read on the website. So I can't give you the entire letter here but it's packed with topics and accusations and reads a bit like a word salad.
Mr. Mageau has a fondness for saying something and then later using that statement as a proof of fact. He does not disappoint in his letter when he refers to a speech he gave to the Town Council in 2005.
... my entire investigative report. It is included in the May 9, 2005 Town Council meeting minutes under “Persons Wishing to Be Heard.” The exhibits referenced in the report include Exhibit E (page 5), which is a reference to the false financial balance sheet, a hard copy of which is on file at the town clerk’s office.
When he approached your Progressive Charlestown editors with some of those points nearly a month ago I thought it could be an interesting story if researched properly. When I asked about the documents he said he had to prove his case he first said that I could only look at them and could not have a copy. Then he decided to refuse to cooperate with a review of both sides of the story and said he would take his case to the newspapers.
That refusal to cooperate with an investigation was enough evidence for me and I dropped the topic. I also wondered why he decided now was the time to revive a set of 6 year old claims. He doesn't have any new information. He must have some motive but it's still not clear to me. Unless he just sees this as a way to get his name in front of people in preparation for the 2012 election. If so, you would think there would be more positive ways to do it.
Then Mr. Mageau (again) brings up the fact that your Progressive Charlestown authors are members of the Democratic Town Committee. From his words you would believe that Committee members are not permitted to have any independent thoughts and everything they say and write is a statement of the Committee. If that is true, no one has told me! He also "reveals" that I an the secretary of the Committee as if that is a very important position and makes a difference. I see it more as punishment - losing a round of musical chairs for which I now must write up the minutes of each meeting. Certainly it didn't give me any extra votes or anything within the Committee.
Finally Mageau's letter goes on to claim repeatedly that Progressive Charlestown is an "attack blog" that engages in "misrepresentations," "hateful slander and lies." I guess this proves that bullies believe that everyone thinks and acts like them. Certainly we write a lot of opinion articles about issues in our town. We realize that opinions have contrary ones and we enjoy thoughtful debate. When it comes to reporting about people, as in the ongoing series about beach concessions, Lisa DiBello, and A Ray of Hope, we take extra care to only report things we can verify. The refusal of any cooperation in learning more about A Ray of Hope, even in violation of IRS rules, has raised our suspicions and we have made those suspicions clear as opinions.
It is typical of Mageau's style that he refers to our "lies" multiple times without giving specific examples or evidence to the contrary. His style would be like me accusing him of "stealing money in his prior business dealings" (to simply invent some words) without being specific about what I'm talking about. We do not do that at Progressive Charlestown and if something slips by our editing we want to be called out on the specific words. We would be eager to correct any factual errors in our reporting, and we have in the past.
On a closing note, being a website geek I always look for an increase in our readership or any difference in how people locate our website after one of Mageau's letters appears in the Sun. I thought we would certainly find people coming to Progressive Charlestown after searching for words like "Charlestown attack blog", "Will Collette" or "Tom Ferrio". Alas, no. Our readership continues to grow by leaps and bounds generally but I've noticed nothing special after one of those letters in the Sun.
author: Tom Ferrio, not writing in my role as CDTC Secretary (which is always the case unless I say otherwise which I don't think I have, yet)