UPDATED: CCA files changes to report showing who REALLY owns the CCA Party

UPDATED: CCA Party changes its financial disclosure report to include more non-residents.
Most CCA Party funding comes from out of state

Who says Charlestown's non-residents don't have the right to vote?
They vote early and often and OWN Charlestown town government. They've 
turned Charlestown into a government subsidized retirement village where, 
as Ron Areglado says, they can spend their time in quiet contemplation. 
Of their wealth.

By Will Collette

UPDATE: As of this writing, the CCA's final pre-election campaign finance report due on Tuesday, has not been posted. It is listed as "status pending."

However, the CCA Party did file two documents amending the report they filed on October 7 (click here for that report). 

These amendments show even more non-resident funding, boosting the CCA Party's total to more than 60% coming from outside of Charlestown.

Continue on for the new donor list reported in the CCA Party's amended report.


The amendments were filed by CCA Party Treasurer Leone Mainelli, who is also running as a CCA candidate for Town Moderator. The documents are difficult to read due to Leo's handwriting. Click here and here for those new filings.

One significant change is that the CCA Party raised a lot more than they reported on October 7 - $15,047.32, and not $11,714.16 as reported earlier - $3,333.16 more or more than 28%.

The new major donors listed in the report are: 
NON-RESIDENT:

• James Coogan of New York who gave $250
• Barbara Kent of New York who gave $100
• Brian Mahoney of Connecticut who gave $250

Deborah Brink is listed as a Charlestown resident, but was listed in the CCA's earlier report as an Arlington, Virginia resident (where she also works). She also lists Arlington, VA as the address where her tax bills are sent. I think it's fair to count her additional $100 donation as coming from a non-resident. 

Non-resident additional total: $700.

Added Charlestown major donors:

• Shirley Pompei - $125
• Christopher Philips - $100

The CCA Party also reports an additional $80 in small donations, sources unknown (you don't have to itemize small donations on these reports).

If you add up all these newly reported donations, they only add up to $1,005 and not the added $3,333.16 reported here. 

That's how the CCA Party carries out its platform pledge to operate openly and effectively. I think it might be time for somebody to give Mainelli a hand in handling the CCA Party's accounts. Maybe he's just swamped with all those out-of-state checks coming in.

Charlestown Democrats new campaign finance report shows a modest income of $567, all from local people with $250 coming from Frank Glista and $50 coming from my wife Cathy.

That's the end of the update. Here is my original article:

Local political parties (the CCA Party and the Charlestown Democrats), as well as local candidates, filed their campaign finance disclosure forms for the October 7 deadline.

As I predicted, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance had a flood of outside campaign contributions to their campaign coffers. They raised an amazing $11,714.16 between July 1 and October 6. 

Most of it came from non-residents. 

The influx of out-of-state cash wiped out the big financial lead Charlestown Dems had held and now puts them way behind in the hunt for campaign cash.

Unlike the 2012 campaign season when the CCA Party cheated by mislabeling donors as if they lived in their Charlestown vacation homes, not where they really live, this time around most (but not all) of the non-resident donors are listed by their out of state addresses. 

These donors gave $4,850 to the CCA Party.

However, the CCA report isn’t totally honest because it still lists a number of donors as if they are Charlestown residents when their tax bills go elsewhere. They gave the CCA Party $2,100, bringing the total amount given to the CCA Party by non-residents to $6,950 or almost 60% of the CCA’s total haul.

So once again, the dollars show who really owns the CCA and most likely, it’s no one you know.

As we’ve shown time and again, the decisions by Charlestown town government, which is totally controlled by the CCA Party, are done as “pay to play.” These non-resident donors get their money’s worth from the CCA Party majority office holders who represent their interests even when they conflict with those of us who actually make Charlestown our home.

Let’s break down the numbers and look at who gave what.

Click here to read the CCA Party’s CF-2 filing. It was done in hard-to-read long-hand by CCA Party Treasurer Leo Mainelli who is also running for Town Moderator this year. There are several entries that are difficult to read and a number of entries with box numbers rather than the required street addresses. Several are also missing information on the donor’s employment which is required by law. Mainelli is responsible for the accuracy of this filing.

CCA Party Donors: Non-resident

Donor Name	Address reported	Amount given
Deborah Brink	Arlington, VA	$100
J. Michael Divney	White Plains, NY	$100
Michael Conway	Canton, NY	$100
Russ Ricci[1]	Lincoln, MA	$250
Gregory Howey	New Britain, CT	$250
Karl Bratigan	South Norwalk, CT	$200
James Arnold	Berwyn, PA	$500
Nicki Whittemore	Greenwich, CT	$500 twice
Jean Terrile	Southport, CT	$200
John Muller	New York City	$100
Joseph McLaughlin	Riverside, CT	$500
Joanne D’Alcomo[2]	Brighton, MA	$500
Kate Waterman[3]	Mystic, CT	$500[4]
Patricia Krayniak	Ridgewood, NJ	$150
Mary Hierlihy	Naples, FL	$100
Anita Baxter	New Hartford, CT	$200
Andrew Jackson	Ridgewood, NJ	$100
TOTAL		$4,850

CCA Party Donors listed as Charlestown residents whose tax bills go elsewhere

Name	Address reported by the CCA	Address listed on Tax Assessor database	Donation amount
Sarah Whittemore	90 Hunters Harbor Drive, Charlestown	Barrington, RI	$500 x 2
Mary Harrahan	40 Hunters Harbor Drive, Charlestown	Jupiter, FL	$100 x 2
Thomas Farrell	18 Neptune Ave. Charlestown	New York City	$500
Kathleen McDonnell	PO Box 1226, Charlestown	Naples, FL	$200 x 2
Total			$2,100

Total CCA Party receipts from non-resident donors: $6,950.

Other Major CCA Party Donors

Name	Notes	Amount
George Tremblay	CCA Candidate for re-election to Town Council	$300
Jan Knost	Present Planning Commission member (CCA Party) not running for re-election, Special advisor to the CCA Party Steering Committee.	$100
Dan Slattery	Deputy Dan is former CCA Party President and two term Council member. Not running for re-election	$100
Paul Singer	No employer listed though required	$100
Wayne Coddington	Listed as retired	$100
Mary Lou Gentz	Spouse of CCA Party Town Council Boss Tom Gentz	$500
Boss Tom Gentz	Hizzoner	$500
Roe LaBossiere	Spouse of Faith LaBossiere, one of the CCA Party founders	$100
Sandra Arnold	Listed as retired	$100
Christian O’Connor	Actually, it’s Kristan. She’s one of the Ill Winders who benefited from the town’s $2.1 million purchase of the proposed site of the Whalerock project	$500
Karen Jarret	Charlestown Land Trust and a main player in the Y-Gate scandal.	$100
Noel Rove	Farmer	$100
Victor Dvorak	Former CCA Party Planning Commission member	$100
Lew Johnson	Popular local veterinarian and dark sky advocate	$350
Peter Herstein	Won Planning Commission slot on the CCA ticket but is not running for re-election. Leader of Sachem Passage Association	$650
Joan Lawlor	Cox Communications	$100

And in addition to all these big checks, the CCA Party also reports receiving a total of $964.16 in donations of under $100 from individuals. The law does not require disclosure of small donor names.

That’s pretty much the way the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee raised the $2,963.10 in the last quarter. Only three donations exceeded $100: $120 each from former state Representative John Hamilton and Ron Russo, who is running on the CDTC slate for Town Council and the Cranston Firefighters Union PAC donated $500.

Their union brother Brandon Cleary, who is a full-time Cranston firefighter, is running for election to Town Council this year, having won a seat on the Planning Commission in 2012.

You can read the CDTC’s campaign disclosure report by clicking here. Contrast that with the CCA Party’s disclosure form which you can get by clicking here.

This is one very concrete way to cut through all the political caca de toro to see who the main contenders really represent.

In the case of the CCA Party, you can look at their deeds over the past six years and see for yourself how closely those deeds line up with the interests of the non-residents who fund them, as opposed to their creatively written “platforms.”

FOOTNOTES

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[1] Russ Ricci was a central figure in the 2012 Y-Gate Scandal where Charlestown was almost conned into buying the abandoned YMCA on Watchaug Pond largely for the benefit of the non-residents of the Sonquipaug Neighborhood. The scheme involved the town lining up almost $1 million in town and state money and then giving the campground to the Charlestown Land Trust of which Ricci was Treasurer. In 2012, Russ Ricci’s substantial donations to the CCA Party were misrepresented – Ricci was listed as a Charlestown resident when in fact he was living in Providence. This time around, we seem to be getting a true address.

[2] D’Alcomo was another major figure in the Y-Gate scandal as leader of the Sonquipaug Association.

[3] Waterman is a former Charlestown Town Council member and remains on the CCA Party’s Steering Committee even though she had to move out of state.