Thinking ahead to next year’s town budget

A friendly suggestion

By Will Collette

I think it’s long overdue that Charlestown paid tribute to all that Jim Mageau has done for this town by creating a special line item in the town budget, just for him.

After all, no one person in the history of Charlestown has filed so many lawsuits against the town, so many administrative complaints, so many demands for information, inserted so much pointless material into the record and tied up so much town staff time than James M. Mageau.

And all while paying not one single nickel in town taxes. No property tax. And through his veteran’s tax credit, not one nickel in car tax in the past ten years.

One of Jim Mageau's favorite lines is "according to the public record...." Well, this is what the public record looks like for Jim Mageau's contribution to Charlestown taxes since 1999.

Take, for example, Mageau’s latest campaign to smear Economic Improvement Commission chair Frank Glista, Town Administrator William DiLibero and Parks & Recreation director Jay Primiano for an alleged criminal conspiracy to raise money for the benefit of Ninigret Park. This product of Mageau’s fevered imagination was dignified with Page 1 coverage in the Westerly Sun on Thanksgiving Day. (Which makes me a lot less thankful for my subscription to the Sun).

Mageau says he plans to file a complaint with the Attorney General and with some other appropriate agencies. And on and on he spins, flailing out at his enemies.

I love it when Mageau stands before the Town Council or writes one of his screeds to the Westerly Sun and complains about corruption here, malfeasance there and how incompetence, malice or downright villainy by various town figures will end up causing the town tons of money.

That usually means that Mageau is getting cranked up to file some new frivolous litigation or some ridiculous baseless complaint that will indeed end up costing town taxpayers money, but only because that apparently is how Mr. Mageau gets his kicks.

Our Town Treasurer and the town budget committee put a lot of work into a meticulous detailing of town financing and are always looking ahead to project the town’s needs.

Yet why is it that having a special budget code and a specifically named “James Mageau” line item has not yet made it into the formal budget?

Can't we reasonably predict that on average in any given year, there will be at least three Mageau eruptions? 

Extrapolating Mageau's vote count from the last
three elections, it looks like he will probably
get less than zero if he runs in 2012.

Now, the word on the street is that Mageau plans to make yet another run at a comeback with the voters – perhaps thinking his endless crusading against evil-doers, real and imagined, will propel him back into power on the Town Council.

I think it’s time that Charlestown tallied the cost of Jim Mageau. How much have all his lawsuits against the town cost the taxpayers in legal fees? Since nearly all of Mageau’s lawsuits have been losers, at least the town wasn’t stuck with the costs of an adverse judgment.

Currently, there's Mageau v. Charlestown, which is his demand that the town pay him for the cost of his legal defense against criminal assault charges. His original demand was $20,000. Mageau claims that assaulting Cliff Vanover after a Town Council meeting was part of his official duties - even though Mageau signed a waiver of claims against the town when he settled the charges with the state.

How much have Mageau’s frequent – and usually frivolous – administrative complaints cost the town? Even though nearly all of Mageau’s charges and complaints have failed, the town has still had to have the Town Solicitor answer them.

In legal matters, time is money. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

As for what Mageau contributes to the town, let’s run the tally:

• Taxes: 0. The tax payment database for Charlestown shows no payments by Mageau for as long as the database covers (1999). He doesn't own a house so his veterans' tax credit is applied to his car
• Recovered funds: 0. Did any of his lawsuits or complaints of fraud or corruption ever lead to the town recouping any money? Nope.
• Cost savings from operations: 0. Did any of his complaints or lawsuits lead to any improvements in government operations. Can’t think of any

And let’s not forget to include wear and tear on people’s nerves. Mageau gave us two years of chaos and turmoil when he was on the Town Council (I can’t say he actually “served” on the Council) from November 2006 to November 2008.

Indirectly, Mageau is responsible for some of this past year's Town Council gridlock. After John Craig resigned from the Town Council in disgust during the Mageau years, that left Mageau as Council President with Bruce Picard as his wing-man versus Harriet Allen and Kate Waterman. When he and Bruce Picard controlled the Council, they often waited for times when either Kate Waterman or Harriet Allen were absent and passed Council resolutions on 2-1 votes. 

That led to a CCA-driven Charter revision that requires all Council votes to have at least three votes to pass. This has caused the Council to be unable to vote on the request from defendants in Councilor Lisa DiBello's legal action against the town for indemnification and private counsel. DiBello recuses herself because it's her legal action. Marge Frank and Gregg Avedisian can't vote because they are two of the officials who face DiBello's charges. Tom Gentz and Deputy Dan Slattery could vote "yes" but the vote wouldn't count because, "nder the Mageau Rule," it takes three votes to pass any Council action.

Deputy Dan Slattery lost his chance for another big crusade - his desired military action against the Chariho School system on a 2-1-2 vote. Gentz voted yes with Slattery. Avedisian, who argued vehemently against attacking Chariho, voted NO. And Lisa DiBello (for whatever reason) and Marge Frank abstained. Curses! Deputy Dan didn't get his posse, hoist on his own "Mageau rule" petard, lacking that third vote - denied by CCA ally Lisa DiBello's curious abstention.

I also blame Mageau for giving rise to the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, which started out as a much-needed umbrella group for resistance to Mageau’s tyranny. Since deposing Mageau in 2008, the CCA devolved into a secret society that acts as Charlestown’s shadow government and largely serves the town’s 1% elite.

So, Budget Commission, there you have it. In the interest of sound fiscal management, I think it’s time to recognize and measure the cost of James Mageau as a distinct line item in the town budget. That will be useful information a year from now.