Mageau’s Universal Legal Remedy

What is “Mageau v. Anderson” really all about?

By Will Collette

Former Charlestown Town Council President Jim Mageau is famous for filing administrative complaints and lawsuits against the town of Charlestown that he claims to love so dearly. Not enough to pay taxes to – he hasn’t paid a nickel in over ten years – but enough to take it to the legal woodshed on a regular basis, all on the taxpayers' tab.

Mageau would have us believe – because he truly seems to believe it himself – that every one of his past complaints and lawsuits carries with it the force of law. He throws the names of the cases around like talismans, as his magic charm to stop whatever evil-doing he sees around him. His current favorite citation is “Mageau v. Anderson.”

Lately, Mageau has been citing Mageau v. Anderson in his jihad against his enemy Frank Glista, chair of the town’s Economic Improvement Commission. In the interest of full disclosure, Frank is also a friend and a fellow member of the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee.

Mageau citing Mageau v. Anderson
at September Town Council meeting

But in this context, Frank is Mageau’s implacable enemy. And Mageau is convinced he has enough to once and for all take Frank down. He sprung on Frank at the September Town Council meeting, saying that he had evidence of criminal conduct – that a shadowy conspiracy group, Friends of Ninigret Park, had hatched a scheme with a high-ranking underworld figure in Town Hall (let’s call him “Billy DL”) to rob unsuspecting festival visitors last summer.

This Friends of Ninigret Park, an obvious front for the criminal Frank Glista, and their crony, Billy DL, put out a collection can at the Rhythm and Roots Festival and collected $23 for the benefit of the Park.

Under “Mageau v. Anderson,” Glista, Billy DL and their unnamed accomplices should be sent to prison. Also, again under “Mageau v. Anderson,” Mageau cannot stopped from disrupting  Town Council meetings to denounce these corrupt and evil practices.

See it all for yourselves on Clerkbase for the September 12 meeting. The fireworks start almost right away, with Mageau and his colleague Joe Dolock double-teaming the Town Council in their attack on Glista and Billy DL.

But what is this magical “Mageau v. Anderson” all about? Well, it was hard to get the details because the judge in the case did not write an opinion. It took a while to get the records for this case from the state court archive.

Mageau filed “Mageau v. Anderson” against the Town Council on December 3, 1987. The case involves actions by the Town Council to hire outside legal counsel to oppose the Narragansett Indian tribe’s initial efforts to place tribal lands under federal trust after the US government officially recognized the Tribe. Recognition took place in 1983. The state legislation to transfer the tribe’s current lands took place in 1985 whereupon the tribe moved to place the lands in federal trust.

Fearing that this was the first move toward an Indian gaming establishment, the Town Council, in executive session, decided to hire the Providence law firm Edwards & Angell to stop the tribe.

Mageau filed his suit charging the Council could not vote to hire outside lawyers in executive session, arguing that the action had to be done in public, with public input and with funds authorized properly under the Town Charter.

The judge granted a temporary restraining order the following day, and that was the end of this case. The judge never wrote an opinion. Indeed, the judge never even held a hearing to determine whether the TRO should become a permanent injunction as is usually the process in such cases. So this "case" which took less than 48 hours and generated nothing but five pages of paper has no precedent value at all. 

Of course, later the town followed the procedures required under the Charter and to this day, we have our Special Counsel for Indian Affairs, Injun Joe Larisa, who fights every move the tribe makes, whether or not it has the potential to harm the rest of the people of Charlestown.

In 1987, Mageau was right – the Council should not have acted in secret to fight the Tribe with money the town voters had not authorized. The judge granted the injunction one day later and that was that.

But “Mageau v. Anderson” was not the sweeping all-purpose legal precedent Jim Mageau would have everyone believe.It came and went in less than 48 hours and produced no published decision. As such it is not a precedent for anything.  It has nothing to do with Friends of Ninigret Park, Frank Glista, Billie DL or whether or not Mageau can be ejected from Council meetings for acting up.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the entire five pages of court records yourself: