Joel Bishop, Tiverton
Tiverton is a beautiful town with wonderful residents. People here get to know their neighbors and lend a hand when help is needed. I’ve only lived here for 5 years, but have seen people stop to help stranded motorists more than once. I have also come to realize that Tiverton has a reputation for drama. Most recently, a recall, started by William McLaughlin (Billy Mac), of town councilors Justin Katz and Robert Coulter.
When I think of a recall, I think corruption and scandals. When our representatives cheat, they should be recalled. This is democracy and the people have a voice.
In this case though, no laws were broken, no codes of ethics violated, no corruption afoot. In Tiverton, when one group loses an election, they start a recall campaign. Why recall these two councilors you wonder? You’ll have to ask Billy Mac about that.
I asked him, before forming my opinion, early on in this round of Tiverton town drama. McLaughlin has his list of complaints, but no evidence of wrong doing. Generally, he just doesn’t like them. Bill Mac told me directly that the evidence against these two exists, but he didn’t want to be accused of “steering people’s opinions” by showing it!
Any time I don’t understand something, like why a person would go through so much trouble to gather signatures and recall two elected officials (who beat him in the last election), I follow the money. Wouldn’t you know, William McLaughlin actually has a $4 million lawsuit against our town. Coulter and Katz have both been fighting this lawsuit, but Billy wants his payout.
If you don’t live in Tiverton, please don’t let this drama influence your judgment of our town. I know we get a bad rap, but Tiverton is actually a very nice place to live and raise a family. The drama is caused by a small group of townies who want the good ol’ boys back in power.
The only story here is a political stunt and an abuse of the Tiverton voters in the last election. McLaughlin couldn’t win the general election, but he’ll try to win with a much smaller majority in an off cycle election. To win, he needs just over 400 votes against the council president, as long as at least 800 total votes are cast. Compare this to the over 2000 votes Counter received in the general election, and I think we all can see what’s going on here.
Remember though: You only legitimize this stunt by participating. Tell William McLaughlin you stand behind your original vote and reject this recall. If the minimum 800 votes are not cast, this charade is over.