Friday, October 31, 2014

Follow the CCA Money

On October 18th and 19th the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee held two fundraising gatherings so that they could introduce their local candidates to the voting public. 

The turnout was good and they made a little money, but outside of Democrats some interesting visitors turned up.......Republicans and Independents. Overall, more Republicans and Independents showed up than Democrats. Although they had many local concerns, the one thing that stood out was their concern over the continued takeover of our town government by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) and their "out-of-state" money fundraising machine. 

 So I decided to do a bit of research and found the following:

What is the Charlestown Citizens Alliance? The CCA is a Political Action Committee or (PAC), which is registered with the State of Rhode Island. 

What is a PAC? PAC's are formed by special-interest groups to raise money.

How much money has the CCA PAC raised? At the end of the last filing period with the Board of Elections, the CCA had a starting balance of $13,942.32. After expenses, their ending balance for this period was $10,595.45.

How much is out-of-state money? 50-60%.

Where do their candidates live? The CCA has five candidates running for Town Council and one for Town Moderator. Of those six, three live in Quonochontaug and one in Arnolda, both of which are expensive waterfront communities.

Who runs the CCA? According to their web site, the CCA is run by their "Steering Committee" which consists of eight members, three of whom live out of state and are not residents of Charlestown.

Are they all independent candidates? Yes, all the CCA candidates are running as independent or unaffiliated but are under the control of their "Steering Committee".

Before casting your vote, you may want to consider the following questions: 
  • What do you think of the way this organization is run? 
  • Do you think that these individuals can relate to the hard working families of Charlestown? 
  •  Do you want your town to be controlled by "out-of-state" money and to be governed by people who don't reside in our town? 
 I know I don't.

Please vote for the local Democratic Candidates and help them give the CCA a run for its ("out-of- state") money.

Jane Glander, Charlestown
This Letter to the Editor was previously published in The Westerly Sun