The result of the recall election says more about our opposition and the times we’re living in than about us or our supporters.

A small group of activists were willing to lie relentlessly in order to get enough people who opposed us to sign the recall petition and then vote, with the help of the old-school rumor mill and toxic social media. Toward the end of the campaign, no fewer than five dishonest mailers went to Tiverton homes, three of them from out-of-town special interests.

In keeping with the out-of-town influence, one outcome of the vote is that powerful state representative John Edwards, the Fourth, has his son back on track in town government. Last time he was on the council, the state Ethics Commission found that John Edwards, the Fifth, acted unethically when he advocated and voted to give taxpayer money to his own private organization. However, the prior town solicitor took the fall, saying he’d given Edwards bad advice.

With Edwards on the Stolen Town Council, Tiverton residents should keep a close eye on its activities. We should also watch for quid pro quos to others who were involved in the political hit job.

For our part, the two of us are grateful to our supporters for the continued encouragement. We took a risk in asking you not to vote in the sham recall, and things didn’t go as we would have liked. However, we continue to believe that, in the long run, our town will be better off having the recall be seen clearly as what it was: a one-sided attack on our democracy. Our experience over the past year has affirmed our belief that our town’s professional and talented employees can move Tiverton toward the future residents deserve if only we can free them of the micromanagement and political nonsense that have been far too common around here for decades.

It remains the fact that more Tiverton voters wanted us to represent them than wanted our opposition, and we will continue to advocate for you in and out of office. The TTA slate will still have three seats on the council, now, instead of four, and the two of us will be working closely with them. We will also continue bringing important issues into the open and working to develop solutions.

Our mission all along has been to help change the unsustainable direction of town government, and this experience has clarified our understanding of what needs to be addressed in order to accomplish that goal. We’re excited about what comes next.

Having been elected four times in Tiverton over the last decade, I’m now in the odd position of writing as a target in an odd recall process where just 405 voters can vote me out despite over 2,000 voters voting me in just last year. In all this, Mr. McLaughlin’s motivation with his $4M lawsuit is obvious, but as your Town Council president I am more troubled by the false information being spread about the good work being done by your Town Council.

Only halfway through the two-year term, this council has made remarkable progress on multiple fronts. New firefighter and police contracts signed. Decisions made on closing the landfill. Progress on a true long-term financial plan, a new playground, and remediating Bay Street. Personnel issues, such as the last fire chief, and replacing the last solicitor who resigned, have been resolved favorably. Grinnell’s beach re-opened and a new fire rescue was purchased. Taxes have stayed at less than inflation for a decade, and even went down the last two years. And we are releasing all executive session meeting records to further open government. There are many more examples. Of course, no one person or one council deserves all the credit for any one thing, and there is plenty of other work in process, but the real story is that things are going well – quite well, actually – in Tiverton.

Justin Katz and I put in many extra hours on administrative duties to help run the council and work with the Town Administrator and other officials, but we get just one vote like the other councilors. To those who single out Justin’s or my voting record, did you know that the entire council votes unanimously or 6-1 over 95% of the time? Not counting procedural votes, it’s still over 90%. We disagree from time to time, as we should, but after a lot of research, input from others, and good discussion the council votes together 9 times out of 10. And we’ve held over 30 meetings and workshops in just a year.

At the end of the day, Tiverton is a small town and Justin and I are just two of your neighbors. Like most everyone volunteering in local government, we juggle work, raising a family, and life’s other demands while doing the best we can for our town. You can always call me at 401-525-0469 and Justin at 401-835-7156.

In closing, two things. First, no matter how you voted last year, please consider making the choice to not participate in this recall process. Voting “yes” or “no” either way would normalize and weaponize a consuming, expensive recall process for political purposes, which is not what recalls were meant for, and guarantee deep division in the town for years to come. Second, please see through the clutter and know your hardworking council has accomplished quite a bit, even just halfway through the term, and things are going well in 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. 

Wow! Deb Pallasch.  Shame on you for claiming your litany of unsupported assumptions, opinions, and erroneous facts serve as a “path to recall.”

You claim by clairvoyance to know how TTA members are feeling, and the motivations of all the signers of the recall petition.

You assert that the actions of the two town council members who are the subject of this recall “failed to discharge the duties of their office” but you fail to list any of these actions.

You assert they didn’t listen to people who wanted them to go out to bid for a new solicitor who has municipal and land use experience.  Be advised, per the Tiverton Town Charter and State Law, there is no obligation for the town council to go out for bid for a town solicitor, and the solicitor who was hired does have municipal and land use experience.

Your claim they didn’t deal with critical issues like rescue vehicles and land fill is strange given that rescue vehicles have been replaced, and this town council has addressed the land fill closure issue – unanimously. 

You speak about Katz meeting with the superintendent.  So what!  You assume once again to know Katz’s intentions and that they are bad.   You are on the School Board, so stop assuming and go find out what went on at the Katz / Superintendent meeting.

As to Rom’s appointment to the Library Board of Directors, a board of trustees benefits from members with diverse backgrounds and priorities.  Rom was selected for that very reason, and to provide a taxpayer perspective on the library’s requested future funds from the town. 

For your information, it was the Carpionato group who asked to be on the town council agenda to present their development ideas.  When that meeting had to be continued because of too many attendee’s, the Carpionato group decided, the day of the re-scheduled public comment agenda item, not to come.  Further, there is nothing wrong, in fact everything helpful, in an entity considering a huge development that is going to call for a zoning change to want to inform the public and local government.

Recall petitions are serious and should be reserved for major misdeeds – like actual crimes.  If the erroneous and unsubstantiated actions you cite constitute a path to recall, then going forward any elected official will be fair game.  Is this the precedent you seek to establish?  

However, you did succeed in demonstrating the sham of this recall petition for which I thank you, and I urge all voters not to participate.  Reject the recall.  Don’t vote. A non-vote is a no vote.

I would like to put personality differences aside and discuss the facts of the past 16 years in Tiverton. It was a dream of mine as a child to live in this beautiful town, even though I have seen some horrendous politics in the town during my 31 years here.

I look at my tax bill for the past eight years and it has an average increase of 0.7 %, the previous eight years had an average tax increase of 6.2% — by the way the previous eight years the council was controlled by the group supporting the recall of two council members. Keep this in mind when you decide if you should participate in this self-serving recall.

About 10 years ago, Justin Katz and Robert Coulter spearheaded a movement to have a democratic private ballot vs. an archaic system of publicly raising hands at the school auditorium. The Financial Town Referendum (FTR) changed that forever and finally gave the voters of Tiverton a chance to privately voice their opinions and control their taxes and the proof is an average tax increase of 0.7% which correlates with inflation.

This same recall group lobbied heavily against giving the voters a voice in this and the FTR. From everything I can determine, this recall has been led by a group of sore losers who collected signatures by misleading people about what Coulter and Katz’s positions are on allowing a mall in Tiverton.

Neither of them or anyone I know want a mall in Tiverton but it was a good selling point to collect signatures and it seems to me some people believe if a lie is repeatedly told it becomes the truth. History has proven this to be correct and it has had disastrous results.

Coulter and Katz have brought long overdue stability to the town of Tiverton, helped level our taxes and increase property values and have made decisions which are in the best interest of the public, not just a few or special groups trying to grab control and lead you to double digit tax increases like we experienced in 2003 (10.1%), 2007 (11.5%) and 2009 (11%).

I encourage you not to vote and participate in these shenanigans and power grab. By not voting it will invalidate the recall based on the required number of votes. Do not let this group of squeaky wheel crybabies who collected signatures based on false statements push you around. This fiasco has been spearheaded by a group who have their own interests in mind. Do not vote in this foolish recall and waste of your tax dollars.

There seems to be a lot of one-sided rhetoric in Tiverton these days, against the town council particularly those on the right (as you look from the gallery).

Pure and simple they are TTA members.  They are interested in controlling taxes in Tiverton as their first mission.  They are very interested in transparent government and town welfare.  There are many of us who feel this a noble mission.  

The squabbles in council chambers always seems be an “us against them” situation with one side dissing the other.  Everyone is interested in a better Tiverton.  Many good ideas abound and much good work has been done.  I had a grandfather that always said “there is more than one way to skin a cat”.  Because you don’t get your way doesn’t mean the other party is wrong.  Just a different way of doing things.

It’s time the people of Tiverton realize we are all fighting for the same thing, a better Tiverton.  And petty quarrels are just an interruption and distraction. 

A recent article in your newspaper described the CEO from Patriot Solar Energy wishing to lease unused acreage in the town industrial park suggesting the town could benefit by $250,000 to $400,000 per year by (Patriot Solar) installing a solar array at no cost to the town. Zero!  What the paper didn’t mention is it was a TTA member that did the background and introduced him.  

The TTA is looking out for the welfare of the town.  In this situation seeing both sides of the cash flows benefits the citizens of Tiverton.  And they look typically at both sides of issues thoughtfully.  Let them do their job.   Just because they are “skinning the cat” differently doesn’t mean they are doing the wrong thing.

In the 2017 special election for Tiverton Charter Review Commission (CRC) there were 24 candidates running for 9 available seats. 9 of those candidates were endorsed by the TTA, and subsequently, all 9 were duly elected by the voters of Tiverton. The sitting town council dismissed the 12 months of intensive work by the CRC and put their own charter changes on the ballot, denying the voters of Tiverton the opportunity to revise their own government from the work by the duly elected CRC.

In the 2018 election for town council,18 candidates ran. Seven candidates were TTA endorsed and ran a great campaign based on “shaking things up” by introducing new and fresh ideas to solve the long, on-going issues and preserve the future of Tiverton. The 7 TTA endorsed candidates promised to end the “we have always done it this way” mentality, they promised an open government with fewer “behind closed door” discussions, they promised resident access to meeting agendas, they promised long term goals, less contentious contract negotiations, they promised to either follow the existing rules or change them, and they promised to implement an employee “code of conduct” to prevent some of the past, very expensive pay-outs for town employee misconduct.

Town council candidates Katz, Coulter, Cook and Driggs (Coulter, Cook and Driggs were previously elected to the CRC) were duly elected, again, to serve the people of Tiverton. In the 10 months since they were elected, they have worked tirelessly to kept those campaign promises and will spend the remainder of their term doing the same.

Unhappy voters from the 2017 and 2018 elections want a “redo” of the 2018 election for no other reason than they did not like the outcome and are using ridiculous statements, and sometimes outright lies, to try and overturn the results. The recall has absolutely no validity and is driven by the sore losers of the past 2 elections.

Voting is a constitutional right that must be preserved. The strategy based “just don’t vote” campaign has been difficult for me to endorse, however, because I know the history of the 2017 and 2018 elections, I am convinced that the recall is a total sham that voters should ignore. Consider staying home and enjoying your day.

When it comes to board appointments in Tiverton, longstanding Town Council policy is clear.  Whenever there are more applicants than open seats, two things apply.  First, the applicants must be interviewed by the council.  Second, the council does not vote until the meeting after all interviews are done.  This is only fair to the applicants, and also gives the council and the public time for consideration.

For the pending open seat on the Tiverton Zoning Board of Review, there are two applicants: an incumbent whose term is ending and seeks re-appointment, and a new applicant looking to join the board.  Both applicants want a primary seat (not an alternate seat).

When the incumbent (who happens to be the chair) did not attend interviews on August 26th, as a courtesy we held the matter open until our next regular meeting so she could attend on September 9th.  Now that interviews are all done, the council will vote at its next meeting on September 23rd.

This written policy was formally adopted in 2012 and has been used by five councils in a row, including this one which approved the current version unanimously.  Incumbents and new applicants are treated alike, and this too is only fair.

The Daily News article on this routine matter completely misses this point, despite my explaining the policy a half-dozen times at the meeting.  But it’s a perfect example of how political gamesmanship, and the loudest voices in the room, can lead well-meaning, hardworking newsreporters to spin even the most routine business into “news” which, though astray from reality, looks great for those with agendas.  In this case, it’s the personal agenda of a recall petitioner suing Tiverton for $4M, and the political agenda of his allies piggybacking on the opportunity.

Thus, another night of the council’s good work is ignored, while nothing more than a routine, courteous application of a longstanding, fair policy is presented as drama or scandal.  Let’s hope readers of the Daily News remember this going forward, because inaccurate reports like this are not good for anyone other than a select few.

McLaughlin’s allegation that this town council is not representing the will of the voters is a tall tale divorced from reality.

There were 18 candidates who ran for the Town Council in November 2018 and the “will of the people” elected as the majority Tiverton Taxpayers Association (TTA)-endorsed candidates: Donna Cook, Robert Coulter, Nancy Driggs, and Justin Katz. (Donna Cook, Justin Katz, and Nancy Driggs – in that order – being the highest vote getters.) Yet the lowest vote getter, William McLaughlin, joined by town council minority members, former president Denise DeMedeiros and Patricia Hilton, now claim to represent the will of the people in their down-is up and up-is-down topsy-turvy world.

But, if the majority who voted for this town council feel it was misled and its will is not being represented, where are its voices, where is its outrage? If the actions of this town council are so egregious, then why was third lowest vote-getter David Paull’s ethics complaint against Coulter, Driggs and Katz dismissed? And why were the DeMedeiros and Hilton Open Meetings Act charges dismissed? How come McLaughlin’s (the lowest vote getter) and two council minority members’ strident voices are all we hear?

Speculation about why this recall scheme was begun and has the support of DeMedeiros and Hilton includes McLaughlin wanting to change the town council majority to ensure settlement of his $4 million lawsuit against the town, and DeMedeiros and Hilton itching to be in control of the town council again.

What is not speculation is this town council’s accomplishments to date and its future plans: Contrary to McLaughlin’s allegations, it has expanded civil debate by allowing public comment on agenda items, and access to the agenda itself; Katz and Cook, the town council liaisons in the firefighters’ union contract negotiation, successively, and creatively, negotiated a contract and forestalled the anticipated need for arbitration which saved the town between $50,000 and up to $100,000 in legal fees; It scrapped a solar ordinance poorly conceived by the prior DeMedeiros town council and tasked the Planning Board for its input on future solar energy projects. (Unfortunately, for legal reasons some solar projects which had been approved when the solar ordinance was in effect can proceed); And, among other items, it is working on a long-term financial plan, ordinances such as an employee code of conduct to govern the right to receive certain benefits upon termination, and increasing openness and transparency in its actions (which too often in the past were shielded from public scrutiny in executive sessions).

You can defeat McLaughlin’s political stunt fostered and supported by sore losers, by not voting in the election. Because the recall charter provision requires a certain number of people to vote in the election, by not voting and keeping that number low you are helping to reject the recall petition power grab of McLaughlin and his cohorts which is so clearly against the will of the people.

Recall elections are for recalling sham artists, people who somehow hoodwinked voters into thinking they were great citizens and would steer their town into great prosperity. However, the Tiverton recall election is exactly the opposite. Four million dollars is driving the Tiverton recall election.

A gentleman named Bill McLaughlin (who started the recall election) has a lawsuit against the Town of Tiverton. He and the town went through both state and federal courts over zoning ordinance infractions he committed and refused to correct. That ended with the town tearing down his partially constructed garage. Because of that McLaughlin is suing the town for $4 million.

A federal court subsequently ordered the Tiverton Town Council to enter mandatory mediation with McLaughlin but no agreement was reached. Could it be that McLaughlin seeks to recreate a town council (through the recall process) that will reach a mediation agreement that is more to his liking? Could it be McLaughlin is trying to take your election away from you for his own benefit? I think the answer to both questions is yes.

It is not complicated: It’s the money. I call it the McLaughlin Recall.

In order for a recall election to count, a minimum number of votes must be cast (like a quorum). In this case 808 voters must participate for a valid election. If you do not vote in the McLaughlin Recall your non-vote turns into a no vote. Your non vote would be a vote for: 1) not removing your duly elected councilors, 2) against abusing the recall process, and 3) against McLaughlin’s scheme to maximize his lawsuit payout at the expense of the “will of the people” as expressed in your November 2018 Election.