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| Just some of our winning candidates |
To the
Editor:
Most of Dave
Pepin’s February 16 article, “Republicans trying to revive party in Charlestown,” was quite accurate, as well as interesting
reading, but as Chair of the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee, I must
correct the mistaken impression that our Committee only managed to get two
Democrats elected to office in 2012.
The CDTC endorsed ten
candidates and five of those candidates won. Topping our ticket was Rep. Donna
Walsh who won by the widest margin of her political career. She was also the
highest vote-getter in Charlestown. Ironically, she won over Tina Jackson who
features in the article as having been recruited by state GOP chair Mark
Zaccaria to somehow “reorganize” the town Republicans, without even consulting
them.
We also provided the winning
margin that elected Cathie Cool Rumsey as the new State Senator representing District
34. She defeated two-term Republican incumbent Frank Maher.
We elected Paula Andersen to
the Town Council with the second highest vote total, Brandon Cleary to the
Planning Commission and Henry Walsh as Town Moderator.
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| We helped to raise lots of money for Senator Whitehouse's election, too |
Plus, we turned out the vote
to help re-elect Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Jim Langevin by wide
margins.
Yes, we would have liked to
have won all ten seats where we had endorsed candidates, but batting .500 for
our first full season is pretty decent.
We empathize with the problems
town Republicans face in revitalizing their committee because we faced them
ourselves. Our own committee only won formal recognition in May 2010 when we
filled a year and a half long void during which there was no Democratic Town
Committee.
We recruited and rebuilt the
town committee, raised more money than any previous town party committee,
brought our message to Charlestown citizens and, in my opinion, did well in
2012.
I predict we will do even
better in 2014 as Charlestown tires of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance’s
program of negativity, fear tactics and favoritism for non-resident shoreline
property owners. We will continue to stand for fair taxation, real
environmental progress that includes more than just open space, opportunities
for small businesses and a better Charlestown for ALL of its citizens.
Catherine O’Reilly Collette,
Chair
Charlestown
Democratic Town Committee
