New York money manager also adds to the CCA Party’s coffers.
Even though the next election is more than a year and a half
away, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance is already starting its major
fund-raising.
In the 2012 election cycle, more than 60% of the CCA Party’s funding came from out-of-state donors who were misleadingly listed on the CCA’s campaign finance reports as Charlestown residents. The CCA Party used the addresses of their "summer cottages" as their home addresses.
In the 2012 election cycle, more than 60% of the CCA Party’s funding came from out-of-state donors who were misleadingly listed on the CCA’s campaign finance reports as Charlestown residents. The CCA Party used the addresses of their "summer cottages" as their home addresses.
Most of the balance of the CCA Party budget came from major
donations from its well-heeled supporters, most of whom live south of Route
One. I documented this in detail in “Who
Owns the CCA?”
The new quarterly campaign finance reports have been filed
and they show this pattern is continuing.
The CCA
Party report, filed on April 13, shows the CCA has a cash balance of
$4,439.70. The CCA collected $1,000 from Tom and Mary Lou Gentz. Gentz, a
former health insurance executive, is also Town Council president and a
steering committee member for the CCA Party. The Gentzs own two residences off
West Beach Road assessed at a combined total of $1,249,200.
The other major donor listed is Sean Reynolds. According to the CCA Party campaign finance report, Reynolds lives at 19 Boulder Avenue, just a
little over a block away from the Gentzs. It's one of those "summer cottages" assessed at just under $1 million. However, the Charlestown Tax Assessor database lists Reynolds’ actual home as Harrison NY, a commuting suburb north of New York City in Westchester County.
The CCA report also incorrectly lists Reynolds’ employer as
Lazard Finances. It’s actually Lazard
Asset Management with offices in Rockefeller Center. Lazard is one of the world's largest international
investment banks.
The CCA also incorrectly listed Reynolds’ job as “assist. managing partner.” He is actually Senior Portfolio Manager and Director with a compensation estimated at well over $1 million a year based on Lazard’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The CCA also incorrectly listed Reynolds’ job as “assist. managing partner.” He is actually Senior Portfolio Manager and Director with a compensation estimated at well over $1 million a year based on Lazard’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The CCA Party also revised
its December post-election report to mask the identities of CCA leaders who
were reimbursed after the election for paying for goods and services (printing,
postage, refreshments) used during the election. Their amended report only
shows that the CCA Party made reimbursements totaling $1,634.
However, the earlier
report shows that the payments went
to three CCA Party leaders: Tom Gentz for $609.27, Councilor Dan Slattery for
$334.18 and Planning Commissar Ruth Platner for another $691.
I have no idea why the CCA Party decided to amend its filing
and disguise these reimbursements.
I have no idea why the CCA persistently misrepresents its non-resident supporters as if they were full-time residents.
Although I think we can all guess the reason, like maybe some concern that they will be revealed to be bought and sold by Charlestown's landed gentry, both non-resident and native.
It does fit into the CCA Party’s paranoia about controlling information . And it also fits the CCA Party's long-standing practice of telling lies that suit its purposes and political agenda.
I have no idea why the CCA persistently misrepresents its non-resident supporters as if they were full-time residents.
Although I think we can all guess the reason, like maybe some concern that they will be revealed to be bought and sold by Charlestown's landed gentry, both non-resident and native.It does fit into the CCA Party’s paranoia about controlling information . And it also fits the CCA Party's long-standing practice of telling lies that suit its purposes and political agenda.
In 2011, the CCA Party was found to have violated RI
campaign finance law based on a Charlestown Democratic Town Committee complaint
that the CCA had failed to report similar non-cash donations made by some of
the same leaders until after the election, masking the amount the CCA
Party used to buy the 2010 election.
The CCA Party also maintains
another fund it uses for “support for
special election, funding to remove and elect members of the town council and
to enforce fiscal and charter compliance.” Why the separate fund, I don’t
know, but it could be a vestige of the time when the CCA tried to pull off a
recall election of Jim Mageau who served on the Council from 2006-08.
The CCA never pulled that one off. Instead, when Jim Mageau
complained to the state Board of Elections that the CCA was operating as a
political action committee (PAC) by trying to set up a recall election, the BOE
ruled that Mageau was right and that the CCA did need to register and operate
as a PAC, launching them on the path to becoming Charlestown’s controlling political party.
All of this financial finagling by the CCA Party is what has
made it Charlestown’s dominant party. They preach openness and transparency –
for others. They preach open elections – yet they
hold secret ballots during open Town Council meetings….and of course, they
operate the CCA Party as a secret, closed society that you
can’t join, even if you want to.
They claim to be the party that represents ALL the people of Charlestown – yet they are bought, paid for and serve wealthy non-residents and Charlestown’s elite. And they try to cover it up.
They claim to be the party that represents ALL the people of Charlestown – yet they are bought, paid for and serve wealthy non-residents and Charlestown’s elite. And they try to cover it up.
Other Campaign Finance Reports
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| Tina Jackson - the fines keep growing for her failure to disclose campaign finances |
The Charlestown Moderate Party filed
an affidavit with the Board of Elections that it had gone dormant. My
theory about the Moderate Party is that the CCA Party might simply take them
over in Charlestown. Councilor Dan Slattery is aligned with the Moderate Party
front guy, Ken Block, and once served as the state Moderate Party Treasurer.
Now that Block
has effectively merged his little cult of personality with the Rhode Island
Statewide Coalition (now known as “RI Taxpayers”) and the RI Tea Party, he has
created just the sort of right wing political stew that would attract people
like the CCA Party.
 |
| It's hard to match the CCA Party's money machine |
It will come as no surprise that Republican Tina Jackson,
who tried and failed to unseat Rep. Donna Walsh, did not file the required quarterly campaign finance report. She has not filed a campaign finance report since
October 9 which now makes it four straight reports she has failed to file. She
is accumulating daily fines for these delinquencies.
I guess Jackson has been busy testifying at hearings against
the Deepwater off-shore wind energy project. She
tried to get formal intervener status for her organization, the American
Alliance of Fishermen and their families, only to be tossed out because she
failed to file the simple two-page annual report and the Secretary
of State revoked her corporate charter.
I could go on, but suffice to say that Tina Jackson has
maintained her no-hitter streak of failing to abide by the same laws and disclosure
duties that apply to everyone else.
Jackson’s 2010 opponent, incumbent Democratic state
Representative Donna
Walsh filed her report on time, showing a respectable fund balance of
$8,733.01.