UPDATED: The Good, the Bad and The Ugly

Good versus bad, fact versus fiction

The CCA record speaks volumes

By Will Collette

For the past few weeks, Charlestown voters are going to be told a fairy tale. The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) and its slate of candidates are going to tell voters to never mind what has happened over the past six years.

Indeed, in a recent letter to the editor, the CCA Town Council slate (Tom Gentz, Dan Slattery, George Tremblay and Ron Areglado) took credit for everything good that's ever happened in Charlestown. To their credit, they did not take credit for last winter's mild conditions or claim they had discovered intelligent life on other planets. But just about everything but.

“Trust us.” Don’t read that nasty Progressive Charlestown because they name names and tell lies. Ignore the documents. Ignore the records. Ignore the video of Council meetings. Don't look at Clerkbase. Don't read Council minutes. And don't bother looking at the CCA website because they've already scrubbed the craziest stuff off the site.

For the past two election cycles, enough voters took the Charlestown Citizens Alliance at their word to give them control of Charlestown government. But this time, they are being challenged from all sides by competing candidates. And they’re being challenged by the Progressive Charlestown reporters, who will continue to report the facts, no matter how much the CCA and its candidates cry foul, right up until Election Day.

For your reading convenience, I have compiled a handy reference list of what the CCA loves, and what the CCA hates, complete with links to original articles and documents. Fasten your seatbelts, folks, it’s going to be a bumpy campaign.

GOOD things the CCA likes	BAD things the CCA hates
FOR: Rich people, especially from out-of-state and most especially if they don’t have kids	AGAINST: Families with children and Chariho school kids
FOR: Using public money to fund private land acquisition such as Y-Gate	AGAINST: Funding the Chariho Schools
FOR: Nonresidents	AGAINST: Residents
FOR: Houses worth more than $1 million	AGAINST: Affordable housing
FOR: Vintage Porsches	AGAINST: Ford F-150s, Dodge and Chevy trucks
FOR: Open Space	AGAINST: Small businesses
FOR: Wind energy in 2008-2010	AGAINST: Wind energy in 2011-12
FOR: Total power for the Planning Commission	AGAINST: Conservation, Economic Improvement, Parks and Recreation, or other commissions having a say
FOR: Color-coordinated shingles and matching covers for electrical outlets	AGAINST: Brick
FOR: Low taxes for the rich and for rich people’s businesses	AGAINST: Tax cuts for anyone else
FOR: Secret Y-Gate meetings; Dan Slattery’s missing or nonexistent records from his sleuthing	AGAINST: Being called on it
FOR: Free and uninhibited speech for CCA supporters	AGAINST: Democrats talking at Town Council meetings
FOR: The “truly needy”	AGAINST: Working families
FOR: Carcieri v. Salazar	AGAINST: Anything the Narragansett tribe wants
FOR: Federal control of Ninigret Park	AGAINST: Parks & Recreation Commission
FOR: Dark	AGAINST: Street light poles
FOR: Hikers and bikers	AGAINST: Children playing, handicapped persons
FOR: Coal, oil, natural gas[1] and nuclear power	AGAINST: Wind energy, biofuels, manufacturer responsibility, recycling, reuse and waste reduction
FOR: Private beachfront property	AGAINST: Proper sanitary facilities at town beaches
FOR: Bill DiLibero in 2011	AGAINST: Bill DiLibero in 2012
FOR: Grasshopper sparrows	AGAINST: Cats, Canada geese
FOR: Pervious surfaces	AGAINST: Asphalt, unless you can extort a “donation” from a town business [2]
FOR: Pat’s Power Equipment	AGAINST: Cross Mills Fire Station
FOR: Gas-powered generators	AGAINST: Residential wind turbines
FOR: Praise for the CCA	AGAINST: Criticism of the CCA
FOR: More of the same	AGAINST: Anything Democrats want to do
FOR: “Civility” as expressed by Mike Chambers	AGAINST: Progressive Charlestown
FOR: Finding and fencing off all of Charlestown’s “phantom properties”	AGAINST: Gardens encroaching on those properties
FOR: Parking bumpers	AGAINST: Red-light cameras
FOR: Resolving neighbor disputes via town ordinances	AGAINST: Negotiated settlements and compromise solutions[3]
FOR: Letting Ruth Platner write all of the town’s ordinances	AGAINST: Involving non-CCA people in town policymaking
FOR: Giving the vote to anyone who owns property	AGAINST: Letting anyone vote who doesn’t have a government ID
FOR: Blacklisting people who do not toe the CCA line; purging staff and volunteers who don’t obey the CCA	AGAINST: Making hiring decisions and appointments on merit
FOR: “The Platner Principle”	AGAINST: Personal freedom
FOR: Mapmakers	AGAINST: Firefighters

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[1] Statement read into the record by the “Voice of the CCA” Mike Chambers, March 14, 2011

[2] See Town Council minutes for February 8, 2010. Read Mageau’s supporting documents by clicking here.

[3] Town Council minutes for May 14, 2012 and June 11, 2012. See comments by Rob Lyons. For one of the most personal and brazen attacks on a town business – with no attempt to maintain order or decorum by Council President Gentz – watch the Clerkbase video of the July 9, 2012 hearing on the punitive ordinance against Rob Lyons’ business.