If Mr. Mageau truly wishes to protect the public from faulty intelligence, he need only put down his pen
The following letter appeared in local newspapers and is shared with us here by the author George C. Tremblay. Mr. Tremblay is a member of the Charlestown Town Council and Town Council Liaison to the Planning Commission.
In his letter urging readers to distinguish fact from fiction in Charlestown politics (Westerly Sun 17 Sept), James Mageau commits the very sins he warns against. Lacking privileged information on the DiBello settlement, Mr. Mageau simply fabricates what he speculates to have transpired during private hearings in Council executive sessions and mediation. How can he know what impediments delayed resolution during these confidential hearings? I was present at these sessions, and the bounty of Mr. Mageau’s imagination does not comport with what I witnessed. I am bound by law to keep these deliberations confidential, but the reader can gauge the tenor and spirit of the Town Council from the press release it forwarded to the public upon reaching closure. It carried the title “The right thing to do”, and it was endorsed by all. Endorsed enthusiastically, I might add.
On the duration of the DiBello proceedings, Mr Mageau offers that “One can speculate that the Town Council refused to settle because…” True enough, one can speculate, but a more circumspect observer, interested in the facts, would guard against speculation. Speculation can feed on itself, to the point where the truth is nowhere to be found, with equanimity and fair play seriously challenged. Speculation is dangerous.
Mr. Mageau goes on to reveal a “whispering campaign” intended to discredit Councilor DiBello’s reelection campaign. I serve on the Town Council with Ms. DiBello, and I consider our relationship to be congenial. Yet I am unaware of, and do not hear, this whispering campaign. Who are the principals? Mr. Mageau suggests that the culprits just might be those involved in the decision to terminate Ms. DiBello’s employment some four years ago. Where’s the evidence? Where does the record substantiate Mr. Mageau’s allegation? Is it fact, or fiction? Elders among us might be reminded of the late Senator Joe McCarthy’s witch hunt in the 1950s, “I have here in my hand a list of names…”, used to bully witnesses, but never revealed.
Mr. Mageau criticizes Tom Gentz and his CCA allies for hijacking town government. It is noteworthy that three different political entities are represented on the current Town Council. Too many motions are approved unanimously, or with no more than one dissenting vote, to support such a notion. Indeed, Mr. Gentz and the CCA came to power precisely because the voters sought to restore to town government the civility the Mageau Council trashed.
If Mr. Mageau truly wishes to protect the public from faulty intelligence, he need only put down his pen.
The writer is a CCA-sponsored member of the Charlestown Town Council