The line-up for Charlestown races

Continued CCA control of Charlestown guaranteed by lack of opposition

By Will Collette

The outcome of November's municipal election in Charlestown is already certain.

The controlling Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) has a full, endorsed slate of candidates for Town Council, Planning Commission (a slate that includes well-respected former Planning Commission member Dr. Lew Johnson) and Chariho School Committee.

Neither the Republican nor Democratic Town Committees have come forward with their own endorsed candidates. Thus, there is only one person running who is not CCA-endorsed.

That’s Robert Malin running for Town Council as a Democrat, though not yet endorsed. He had been considering a run against CCA Party favorite Rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi and sought the endorsement of Charlestown Democrats in that race. But for some reason, Malin switched his target.

Town curmudgeon and former Council President Jim Mageau had filed declarations to run as an independent for both the Town Council and as an opponent to Flip Filippi. However, as of this writing, the state Secretary of State’s website lists Mageau as having “withdrawn” from both races. By law, he could only have run for one position anyway.

You can read about Charlestown’s prospective new rulers HERE as all but one Council seat belongs to the CCA Party by default.

As of their campaign finance report filed April 16, the CCA Party had $4558.30 cash on hand. They usually do nearly all of their fund-raising in the final 30 days before the election, raising between $15,000 and $20,000 in each election cycle mostly from the non-residents who have been among the top beneficiaries of the CCA Party's long reign.

The new Town Council will not include its long-time Boss Tom Gentz or its resident academic George Tremblay.

Gentz may have decided not to run after his disastrous attempt to interfere with the non-profit group headed by Jim Mageau that runs the venerable annual Memorial Day Parade.

Documents obtained from Charlestown under the state Access to Public Records Act show (see page 7 of the document) that on May 11, Gentz tried to rescind a $2500 grant the town had made based on a May 10 e-mail string involving fellow Council members Denise Rhodes and George Tremblay and copied to Councilors Virginia Lee and Bonnie Van Slyke.

This apparent violation of the state Open Meetings law – i.e. conducting Council business via e-mail - appears to have prompted Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz to tell Council members not to use e-mail to discuss this issue. 

Note that Stankiewicz’s e-mail was sent just a little more than an hour after Gentz’s missive to kill the $2500 payment for the Parade.

Sources tell me that Stankiewicz asserted he could not withhold the check from the Parade Committee because the grant had been made legally in an open meeting, whereas the decision to rescind the payment had not.

That yet untold part of the Memorial Day flap would have been highly problematic for Boss Gentz had he decided to run for another term. 

Boss Gentz has done many controversial things during his tenure, but messing with the revered Memorial Day Parade might have been going too far.

His position would be especially tenuous if his e-mails led to formal complaints that could run the gamut from Open Meetings Act violations to an attempted shake-down of the Charlestown Memorial Day Committee – i.e. Gentz’s threat to withhold town funds unless the committee ousts Mageau.

George Tremblay’s reasons for not running for re-election are unknown.

Without Gentz, Tremblay or any other ranking CCA Party leader on the Town Council, it’s unclear how directions coming out of the secret monthly CCA Steering Committee meetings will be conveyed to the new CCA Councilors.

I guess they'll have to rely on hand signals from Planning Commissar Ruth Platner who always sits near the front so all the council members can see her. But one thing is for sure: the new CCA Councilors will not be allowed to go rogue.

Some of you may recall that the CCA Party slate in 2006 started thinking for themselves, leading to the 2008 spectacle of two opposing CCA slates – the 2006 excommunicated CCA slate versus the orthodox CCA slate led by Boss Gentz - battling to a draw.

The Charlestown Republican Town Committee lists no one to serve on that committee in the new term that starts January 1, 2017. They also have no candidates in the field this year. According to their April 13 campaign finance report, they have $370.17 in the bank.

Charlestown Democrats filed their regular campaign finance report early on July 1. That report shows cash on hand of $2003.60. The CDTC has never been able to raise nearly as much as the CCA Party.

Nine people filed declarations seeking positions on the 15-member Charlestown Democratic Town Committee.

The CDTC Chair John Hamilton has declared his intention to run against Rep. Jim Langevin in the Democratic Primary even though the CDTC has already endorsed Langevin.

Hamilton is challenging Rep. Langevin for the second time. In 2004, Hamilton declared against Langevin but also against then state Representative Matt McHugh. Because you can’t run for two offices at once, 

Hamilton dropped his challenge to Langevin and went on to defeat by McHugh losing by a 2 to 1 margin.

Hamilton will also be going to the National Democratic Convention as a delegate for Bernie Sanders. Under a compromise worked out at the state Democratic Convention, Hamilton will also serve as the vice chair of the state delegation.