By Deb Carney
[Editor's note: when Progressive Charlestown refused to publish a slanderous essay submitted by Jim Mageau unless he produced proof to back up his attacks, Mageau took his accusations to the Westerly Sun. The Sun printed them. Among the people he attacked was Deb Carney. She already responded once. Mageau came back with more false statements. Here, Deb gives Mageau her final answer].
Oh Mr. Mageau, there you go again. I’ll waste ten more minutes of my life responding to you on this subject and then I refuse to waste one minute more.
Clearly this is a case where your mind is made up and you don’t wish to be confused with the facts, even if they are documented in minutes approved by the Town Council.
First, the headline, “Carney’s attacks distract from issue of CDTC’s connection to blog.” To be clear, Mageau had many accusations in his letter. I was not “attacking”; I was defending against his numerous error filled attacks with the facts. The blog issue was only one of many false accusations and/ or statements he made.
He mentions, “In my anger”. Let me be clear to Mr. Mageau, I was not angry. I was somewhat amused by his attempt to rewrite history. In my letter I stated the facts as documented in the minutes. No lies, no manipulations, just the facts. Mr. Mageau chooses to speculate as to others people’s thoughts, feelings, and motives. I’ll stick to the documented facts.
With regards to his investigative report regarding the Chamber of Commerce, the Council did want to review the report. That’s in the minutes, there’s no mystery and there are no lies. No one ever tried to control what Mageau was going to say as he alleges, nor was he denied the right to speak. And while Mr. Mageau’s report did include various exhibits, it also failed to include other documents that disproved his allegations.
Here’s a quick tidbit regarding denying people the right to speak. The Town Council minutes of July 21, 2008 reflect the unilateral action of Acting Council President Mageau to deny the Ad Hoc Withdrawal Update Committee the right to present its report. He unilaterally decided the report would not be discussed.
That is disrespect for the First Amendment and trying to control what people say. He stated the committee was doing work they were not asked to do according to the charge. He seemed unaware that he had made a motion on February 11, 2008 to amend the charge and the committee was in fact doing as it was charged.
Ironically, those same July 21, 2008 Town Council minutes show that Acting Council President Mageau did not allow me to speak. It took a motion by Councilor Harriet Allen, seconded by Councilor Kate Waterman for Mageau to recognize my right to speak.
Also, I’m sure many people recall the meeting where immediately following the meeting; Mr. Mageau called a very nice lady a, “God D*** Carpetbagger” (edited for foul language) and then went on to yell at people that they weren’t going to be allowed to speak at meetings anymore. More disrespect for the First Amendment.
I did chuckle over Mageau’s line about “hateful slander and lies”. That’s priceless coming from Mr. Mageau.
With regards to his allegations about the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee and the Progressive Charlestown Blog, I think Will Collette summed it up best. He stated, “Tom Ferrio and I created Progressive Charlestown mainly because we wanted a forum to speak our minds. That’s not to say we couldn’t speak our minds within the town committee. It’s just that the Committee’s group process is a group process and we wanted a way to speak in public as progressive individuals without having the committee be responsible for our individual opinions. We do not consult with or seek the permission of the CDTC before we publish.”
Now I have no doubt that Mr. Mageau will respond with more mistruths and history rewrites all the while accusing me of being untruthful. I say this; if anyone is really interested, review the minutes on Clerkbase. I am done wasting my time responding to Mr. Mageau’s misrepresentations of the facts and the truth on these issues.