Why Are Charlestown Independents At The Bottom Of The Ballot?

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The following letter was published in local newspapers and is reprinted here with permission of the author Denise Rhodes. Ms. Rhodes is a member of the Charlestown Planning Commission and a former member of the Charlestown Town Council.

In this year’s Charlestown Town Council race, you will find independent Town Council candidates Susan Cooper, Peter Gardner, Ann Owen, Joshua Vallee, and David Wilkinson together, in the bottom section of the ballot.

On September 14, the Charlestown Board of Canvassers held a lottery for ballot position for local offices in Charlestown. The lottery, however, only applied to independents and non-partisan candidates because Rhode Island election laws had already secured for the political party candidates the more desirable spots at the top of the ballot. The laws were written by the political parties to serve their own interest.

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance candidates have always run as independents and have had no association with either political party in town. They truly are independent of any local party interest. Charlestown’s largest developers and gravel bank operators historically led the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee. It wasn’t a good match for CCA candidates who were motivated largely by natural resource protection, rural character, and low taxes. Members of the Republican Town Committee eventually aligned with the same local interests as the CDTC.

The Town Council candidates running under a political party banner this year ran as independents four years ago and before that ran with their parties. All of this flipping back and forth from party to independent is an attempt to appear to be what they think the voters are looking for. Four years ago, the opposition candidates were told that they should run as independents because the parties couldn’t win. In this highly partisan election year, they must believe that ballot position and party association will be worth more than appearing to be independent.

The independent CCA candidates don’t like being at the bottom of the ballot, but they do cherish their true independence. They have always run as independents. Free from local party influence they can create their own platform to serve the interest of the people, environment and economy of Charlestown.

In this year’s Town Council race the best is last — the best is at the bottom. Please vote for the five independent Town Council candidates in the bottom section of the ballot: Susan Cooper, Peter Gardner, Ann Owen, Joshua Vallee, and David Wilkinson.

Denise L. Rhodes

Image below shows ballot position for all the local candidates