By Will Collette
Halloween was the deadline for the town’s political parties and candidates for public office to file their finance reports for on-going activities with the RI Board of Elections.
The Charlestown Moderate Party filed a notice of dissolution last July. In 2010, the Moderate Party ran a candidate against incumbent Rep. Donna Walsh. Donna wiped the floor with the guy, especially here in Charlestown
The Charlestown Republicans started the quarter with $1064 in their treasury, raised no money and spent $400 on legal advice from Philip M. Sloan Jr., Esq. of Westerly. That left them with a current balance of $664.
The Charlestown Citizens Alliance began the quarter with $2,340 in cash but raised no money and spent almost half of their treasury buying “Directors & Officers” insurance for their Steering Committee. After this expense of $1,141, the CCA is left with a current balance of just under $1200.
The CharlestownDemocratic Town Committee started the quarter with $1,289 and spent $575 to support its Labor Day tag sale and part of the cost of the fund-raiser for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The CDTC raised $1,289 for itself, closing the quarter with a current balance of $2,278.
The money raised for Senator Whitehouse went directly to his campaign (and was reported by the Senator's committee), but the estimate for the Charlestown
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The 2010 slate of town candidates closed out their campaign accounts after that election, which is a pretty standard practice. Planning Commissioners Ruth Platner and Linda Fabre who are up for election in 2012 have not opened campaign committees yet.
Jim Mageau and his running mate David Mars also closed their campaigns down. However, both of them have unpaid campaign violations stemming from reporting violations in 2010. Mageau declared some months back that he did not intend to pay the fines for his transgressions. As of the current reporting period, the Board of Elections has this on his record (and a lesser, though similar notation on David Mars’ file). If Mageau follows through on his threat to put a full slate of candidates in the field for 2012, he'll no doubt have to settle up with the Board of Elections.
