By Will Collette
Read Part 1 by clicking here
PROGRAM NOTE: Vandemoer has requested time to speak at the Monday, June 11 Town Council meeting. Also, Elyse LaForest, regional head of the National Park Service's Federal Lands to Parks program and the person with an actual say over what happens in the 172 acres of Ninigret Park subject to Interior Department restrictions, is also on the agenda to speak on Monday.
In the earlier installments of this series, I covered the key role played byCharlestown ’s
federal overseer, Charlie Vandemoer of the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Charlestown politics.
Vandemoer’s job is to run the Ninigret Wildlife Refuge and the other refuges in southernRhode Island and Block
Island . He does a great job at managing the refuges which are
truly gems to be treasured.
In the earlier installments of this series, I covered the key role played by
Vandemoer’s job is to run the Ninigret Wildlife Refuge and the other refuges in southern
But if only he had stuck to the job the Interior Department
is paying him to do. As I detailed in Parts 1 and 2, Vandemoer found plenty of
time in the past two years to instigate some of the ugliest political fighting Charlestown has seen in a
long time by poking his nose into matters outside his jurisdiction.
When I filed my Freedom of Information Act request with the Interior Department, I asked for Vandemoer’s communications with town officials going back to 2007. I wanted to see whether he has always taken an interest in town politics, or whether it is a recent phenomenon.
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| Map of LarryLand ("subject parcel" from Vandemoer's unsolicited opinion letter |
As the records show, Vandemoer’s interventions in town
affairs grew exponentially from 2009 to the present. The records I received
from Interior show that Vandemoer intervened in many Charlestown controversies that were far
outside the boundaries of the lands he is paid by the taxpayers to protect.
Here are some examples:
LarryLand
According to the records sent to me by the Interior Department, Vandemoer intervened unbidden to offer his detailed opinion that the town should acquire the 81 acres owned by developer Larry LeBlanc astride the moraine on the north side of Route 1.
LeBlanc has variously proposed to use that land for a large
housing development or a wind farm or to offer the land for sale to the
Narragansett Indian Tribe. Though the land is not within his jurisdiction,
Vandemoer offered his opinion without a request from the town.
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| Vandemoer wasn't excited about this |
Y-Gate
He did the same on the abandoned YMCA campground on Watchaug Pond (a.k.a. Y-Gate). In May 2011, he sent a letter to the town offering tepid support for the conservation development that was proposed by the Westerly YMCA and Ted Veazey.
In contrast to his damned-with-faint praise letter on the
Veazey project, Vandemoer offered his full-throated though apparently uninvited opinion letter for the proposal to spend state and local money to buy the camp as open space.
In his letter, Vandemoer said this land was great open space, even though it is
not, and should be acquired.
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| But he loved this Vandemoer thinks this is prime open space |
It is also outside of his jurisdiction. His letter sounds
remarkably like arguments for the Y-Gate deal that were penned by some of the
Y-Gate players, include Planning Commissar Ruth Platner. However, the Interior
Department did not include any records of communication between Vandemoer and
Platner when they responded to my FOIA request.
Municipal Wind Power
He asked Charlestown to scrap the municipal wind project in May 2009 well before there was even a
site for the project, and well before there was any consideration of siting the
turbines on the town’s restricted use 172 acres. He did it again in February 2011. even though by then it was clear the town was only considering its own 55 acres
for the project location.
The Dog Park
In May 2009, he tried to kill, or at least move, the proposed dog park that is now one of
Mud Cove
Vandemoer also intervened on the town’s use of its Mud Cove property. There were no records of communication to lay the foundation for his intervention, such as a request for an opinion from a town official.
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| Vandemoer won't allow the Ninigret Bomb to be displayed at the Ninigret NWR |
The Ninigret Bomb
Add to all of this Vandemoer’s shameful treatment of the artifacts from the Ninigret Naval Auxiliary Air Field, and the picture emerges of a federal official who is perhaps a little too absorbed in promoting his own personal power and agendas.
His job is to run the National Wildlife Refuges and, when he
does that job, he seems to do it well.
However, the lands in Ninigret
Park belong to the Town of Charlestown . 55 acres are
unencumbered. The remaining 172 acres must be used in ways that are not
“inconsistent with” the wildlife refuge, but the enforcing agencies for that
deed restriction are the National Park Service and the General Services
Administration, not Charlie Vandemoer.
Vandemoer is not a Charlestown
resident – he lives in South Kingstown – although he is a Charlestown “business owner” if you count the
National Wildlife Refuge as a business. But even if you consider the Refuge to
be a “business,” it is a business owned by the taxpayers, not by Charlie
Vandemoer and he should remember that before he tries to throw his federal
weight around.
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| 50 Bend Road is also the address for Charlie Vandemoer's office at the Kettle Pond center |
Some of his interests in Charlestown politics may be skewed by the
fact that the Charlestown Land Trust lists Vandemoer’s headquarters at 50 Bend Road as the
Land Trust’s headquarters. That certainly helps to explain why Vandemoer
intervened twice in the Y-Gate
Scandal in the Land Trust’s interests.
My view of Vandemoer’s repeated involvement in Charlestown controversies
would be different if the town had sought his expertise and counsel.
I had
expected to see records in the Interior Department's response to my FOIA letter showing requests
for assistance perhaps from town officials, or the Planning Commission, Parks
and Recreation Commission or Conservation Commission.
But except for Deputy Dan Slattery’s overtures after Vandemoer killed the funding for the sports lights (see Part 1), I saw no
record to show that Vandemoer had been asked to get
involved in a town controversy. Unless he withheld records, it appears to me
that starting in 2009, Vandemoer turned rogue.
Our Town Council majority currently consists of members who
are willing to grant Charlie Vandemoer far more power than he is due under the
law. For reasons they need to explain, the Town Council majority has put
Vandemoer’s opinions and interests above those of the citizens of Charlestown .
What I expect from our town leaders is that they will fight
for Charlestown ’s
rights, rather than kowtow to an over-reaching federal official. I think the
moment when matters got out of control was last January when, instead of being
pissed at Vandemoer for his sneak attack against the sports lights, Deputy Dan
Slattery and Boss Tom Gentz started
looking for ways to appease him.
Rather than try to placate Charlie Vandemoer, I think a
conversation that began “Hello, Senator, we have a problem…” would have been a more
appropriate response by our elected officials.