UPDATED: CCA Party changes its financial disclosure report to include more non-residents.
Most CCA Party funding comes from out of state
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:
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:
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.
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.
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
|
New York City
|
$100
|
|
Riverside, CT
|
$500
|
|
Brighton, MA
|
$500
|
|
Kate
Waterman[3]
|
Mystic, CT
|
$500[4]
|
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
|
18 Neptune Ave. Charlestown
|
New York City
|
$500
|
|
Kathleen McDonnell
|
PO Box 1226, Charlestown
|
Naples, FL
|
$200 x 2
|
Total
|
$2,100
|
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
[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.