In her letter on January 10th, Ms. Walsh assumes that I am new to Charlestown government and therefore, supposedly, not in a position to criticize some recent decisions by Ms. Carney. I have lived and voted in Charlestown for almost 10 years and, for the record, have supported both Ms. Carney and Ms. Walsh every time they ran for election. Although I am not new to Charlestown politics, I now feel compelled to speak out on the abominable state of open government ushered in with the inadvertent election of Mageau to the Town Council.

And I am not alone - as evidenced by the ground swell of support for a group like the Charlestown Citizens Alliance whose ranks come from both sides of Route 1. I am amused every time I hear Mageau lash out at CCA and his erroneous allegations that it is somehow just a front for RISC. If there is one person who could be credited with citizens banding together to confront a broken and embarrassing town government - it is Mageau. And this, ironically, may be perhaps his only accomplishment when his term ends in 297 days. Unless, of course, you want to give him credit for why most towns in this state are now working to add a recall amendment into their town charters.

As a former supporter, I feel betrayed by both our Democratic representatives, particularly Ms. Carney's "instrumental" role, as reported by Mageau at a Town Council meeting, in the recent decision concerning Barrett, the controversial town administrator. Rather than providing her justification to all citizens, Ms. Carney chose to broker some "behind the scenes" negotiations to convince Mr. Craig to not fire Barrett as he had previously indicated. Ms. Carney owes all of the citizens an explanation why Barrett should not have been thrown from office.

Why isn't Ms. Walsh as "incensed" about the antics of Mageau as she claims to be about my opinion on the state of open government here? Not knowing where to turn, I came to her early last year for help in resolving the disturbing situation that was unfolding with the Town Council. I was afforded only the “Jimmy will be Jimmy” speech and that there was really nothing she could do. At the very least, they both could speak out against the tactics and behavior of Mageau over the last tortuous year. As I've said before, their silence on this subject is deafening and I am confident that I am not the only former supporter who feels this way. I look forward to the elections in November and the hope that Charlestown will no longer be fodder for ridicule and disreputable press coverage across the state. But any candidate who has supported, enabled or has not had the courage to denounce Mageau’s tactics and behavior will not receive my vote.

In regard to the issue of how and why the Charter Review Committee came to the decision to evaluate the legality of the planning commission, I have already provided my theories and Ms. Carney and Ms. Hogen have provided their explanations in response to my letter. The citizens of Charlestown are smart enough to draw their own conclusions.

Joan Lawlor