Declarations filed
for continued Charlestown
Republican Town
Committee
Plus, the CCA announces its
slate
By Will Collette
On that other blog, Mike Chambers wonders if there is a Charlestown Republican Town Committee (CRTC). In his own peculiar
fashion, he ruminates over where the Republicans might be.
As usual, he doesn’t do his homework very well, since the CRTC
has been around for a long time. He just didn’t know where to look for their
names.
So, to help straighten him out, here’s the list of
Charlestown Republicans who have just declared their membership in the
Charlestown Republican Town Committee, and have been endorsed to serve in the
new term that begins on January 1:
GREGORY J AVEDISIAN
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
CHARLES W BECK
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
BETTY JANE COMBS
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
CHARLENE Q DUNN
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
CAROL ANN KING
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
ROE E LABOSSIERE
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
WILLIAM F MEYER
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
FORRESTER C SAFFORD
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
GRETCHEN A TINGLEY
|
Republican Town Committee
|
Republican
|
City/Town Wide
|
Town Republicans aren’t running a slate, although Councilor Gregg Avedisian is running for re-election as an
Independent. There are a few other registered Republicans scattered among the
roster of declared candidates, but none running under the official GOP banner.
Mike Chambers also seems to think that if you are a member
of a party committee in a town, you get your ticket punched to attend the
national party convention.
Wrong again, Mike. To get to the Convention, you have to run
for election as a delegate for a specific candidate in the special Presidential
Preference Primary, which was just held.
Neither the Democratic nor the Republican Town Committees ran
any candidates to serve as National Convention delegates.
Party labels matter a whole lot less at the town level than
they do at the national level. For example, in Charlestown, it's the Democrats who have pushed for tax cuts, less intrusive regulation and support for small business.
Charlestown
has a multi-party system – we have active Democratic and Republican Town
Committees. There is a dormant Moderate Party Town Committee and about half a
dozen registered Moderates, including the CCA’s own Town Council member Deputy
Dan Slattery.
There’s a party of sorts centered around Jim Mageau. They
have a presence on the ballot this year as they usually do.
And then there’s Charlestown’s
own secret government, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance. The CCA is a
registered Political Action Committee and have just made their announcement, via e-bleat, that
identifies who among the 12 Town Council candidates and 10 Planning Commission
candidates are endorsed by them.
I’m sure the CCA held an open and transparent process that
provided its “members” the opportunity to democratically select who their
endorsed candidates will be. Those eerie noises you could hear for miles around
the derelict YMCA camp were coming from the CCA’s biennial convention to select
their candidates.
The CCA has endorsed the two 2010 CCA-endorsed Town Council members
– Deputy Dan and Council Boss Tom Gentz
–for re-election. George Tremblay, who was CCA-endorsed for Planning Commission
is also running for Town Council on the CCA ticket.
Ron Areglado is also running for Town Council as a
CCA-endorsed candidate. He has been a registered Democrat, but over the past
year, has been closely aligned with the CCA. He recently listed his occupation
as President of the Center
of Moral and Ethical
Leadership. Maybe Mike Chambers can apply his research prowess to tell us what
that Center is.
Councilor Lisa DiBello,
who has been closely allied with the CCA Councilors, is also running for
re-election. But was not endorsed by the CCA. Maybe she will run as a Mageau
candidate, a “Because I Care” candidate, the “I want my $1.5 million” candidate
or the “I hate Progressive Charlestown” candidate.
In the race for the Planning Commission, which is
non-partisan by town rule, the only CCA incumbents running for re-election are
Commissar Ruth Platner and Gordon Foer.
The CCA has also endorsed Connie Baker for Planning
Commission. Baker has been disappointed with the Affordable Housing Commission
where she is currently a member because it lacks the power to block things as
effectively as Planning, so the attempt to get elected to Planning is a natural
step.
Rounding out the CCA slate are Peter Herstein and Rev. Jan
Knost.
With just over 120 days until the November 6 election, there
will be lots of time to look at the candidates – who they are, what they stand
for – and the important issues that face Charlestown
voters.
There will be plenty of disagreements over issues and
policies, which is not only natural, but also part of what makes the political
process work.
I would hope that over these four months, we can at least
see some common agreement on basic
facts. You’ll be hearing this a lot over the next four months – each person
is entitled to his or her own opinions, but not to his or her own facts.
