Town Council oath ceremony may have been illegal

At minimum, it was bogus.
And so a fourth term of CCA Party control of Charlestown begins

Senator-elect Elaine Morgan swears in Boss Tom Gentz even though she
have NO legal authority to administer oaths. Or was this just faked?

By Will Collette

The newly constituted Charlestown Town Council was sworn in Monday night in a brief, but error-packed ceremony. 

In fourteen minutes, the new Council, comprised entirely of Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) candidates, received their oaths of office and then proceeded to re-elect Boss Tom Gentz as Council President and elect George Tremblay as the new Council Vice-President. 

Or did they?

Filippi gives the Oath to new CCA Party Councilor Virginia Lee. 

The oaths of office to the five Council members were administered by Blake Filippi (I-Oathkeepers[1]) and Elaine Morgan (R). Click here for the Clerkbase video.

Filippi and Morgan were incorrectly identified as State Representative and State Senator, respectively. 

As much as the CCA Party would like to ignore the facts[2], those titles are actually held by Rep. Donna Walsh and Sen. Cathie Cool Rumsey until January when Filippi and Morgan are themselves sworn in to replace them.

This lapse is no mere slight nor is it just a technicality. Under the RI General Laws, this makes a huge difference to what happened Monday night. As Representative-elect and Senator-elect, Filippi and Morgan are not authorized to administer the oaths of office as they did Monday night.

Here is what the state statute says about who is legally authorized to administer oaths:

TITLE 36
Public Officers and Employees

CHAPTER 36-2
Power of Officers to Administer Oaths

SECTION 36-2-1

§ 36-2-1  Officers with statewide power. – The following persons may administer oaths anywhere within the state: the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, assistant attorneys general, general treasurer, active and retired justices of the supreme, superior, family, and district courts, each member of the general assembly after he or she has filed his or her signature with the secretary of state, [emphasis added] commissioners appointed by other states to take acknowledgments of deeds and depositions within this state, and notaries public. 

SECTION 36-2-2

§ 36-2-2  Officers with power in county or town. – The following persons may administer oaths within the respective counties and towns for which they may be elected or appointed to office: clerks of courts, justices of the peace, mayors of cities, judges of probate, presidents of town councils, or persons acting as such, town clerks, and town wardens.  

Morgan and Filippi do not meet the requirements of either section of the statute so the oaths they administered are very likely invalid.

And if the Town Council members were not legally sworn in, the two actions they took – selecting Boss Gentz as Council President and George Tremblay as Council Vice-President are probably also invalid.

Why would the CCA Party do this when they had at hand Town Clerk Amy Weinreich who does have the authority to administer oaths? 

Maybe these Council members were actually sworn in at some point before this ceremony, though there was no mention of it in the Westerly Sun's coverage. If so, why not say so? Why run a bogus ceremony that looks like it violates the law and present to the public the spectacle of Filippi and Morgan usurping powers to which they have no right?

Tremblay claims the CCA Party
had nothing to do with getting
Filippi and Morgan elected.
They're just BFFs.

Was this just theatre to provide the CCA with a platform to show off  their two new legislator buddies even though George Tremblay went to great pains to make the incredible claim that the CCA Party had not endorsed them and had nothing to do with their campaigns?

Whatever their reasoning, it was a bad way to start off a new Council term.

Senator-elect Elaine Morgan, a dry cleaner by trade, swore in Boss Tom Gentz, Denise Rhodes and Bonnita Van Slyke. Representative Flip Filippi, a lawyer, cattle farmer and inn-keeper, swore in Virginia Lee and George Tremblay.

Unless the Town wishes to start off the new Council term with a shadow over its legitimacy and perhaps a new round of unwelcome litigation, there will either need to be legal proof that the Council members were truely and legally sworn in, or the Council will have to conduct a do-over.

So begins the fourth straight two-year term for a CCA Party-led town government filled with fourteen minutes of silly unforced errors and disrespect for the law and for the two out-going legislators who have served Charlestown well. 

FOOTNOTES

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[1] Filippi calls himself an Independent although he is a registered Republican and major Republican donor, as well as closely tied to Tea Party and militia groups such as the Oathkeepers. The Oathkeepers are present and former military and police personnel who take an oath to DISOBEY any order they deem to be unconstitutional. 

Filippi is also a proud “Tenther,” a believer in a discredited interpretation of the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution that holds that government may not undertake any action or program unless it is SPECIFICALLY authorized in the Constitution. 

Under the Tenther point of view, Social Security, EPA, the Veterans Administration and virtually every other part of the government except the Army and Post Office are unconstitutional.

[2] By publicly misstating Morgan's and Filippi's titles, the CCA Party showed clear disrespect to two current legislators. Rep. Donna Walsh and Sen. Cathie Cool Rumsey worked hard for Charlestown and deserve the Council’s respect, if only to abide by the religious invocation calling for civility delivered by former CCA Party Planning Commission member Rev. Jan Knost. We’ll see after these next two years how well Fake Bilippi and Elaine Morgan fill Donna’s and Cathie’s shoes.