Cha Ching… Can you hear it?
Sunday, Oct 24th 2010 at 3:08 pm by Carol Costa
Posted in: Blog, Featured, General, Issues
“Pay to play”; a practice that has been highlighted in this election at like no other time. It rears its head in state, and national races, but when it travels to the local hamlet of Scituate voters should be very alarmed. Make no mistake, pay to play is alive and well and living in our town. The recent, yet tardy posting of the GOP campaign finance reports for the reporting period of July 1, 2010 through October 4, 2010 shows a disturbing reliance on current town employees, town officials, and vendors to support the GOP campaign machine. This practice sullies the process and adds the unnerving and familiar sound of Cha Ching to elections!
Of the $5125 reportedly raised by the GOP nearly 26% of all the funds raised come from town employees, political appointees, and others who do business with the town. The largest contributor is the law firm of Gorham and Gorham who members contributed $325.00 to the GOP war chest. In return, Gorham & Gorham get to be hired as town solicitors through a non-completive selection process worth thousand of dollars to their firm. This may help explain the flurry of litigation that the Town is involved including Chopmist Hill Fire, Open Meeting’s Complaint, and the on-going dispute with the IRS regarding the so-called volunteer fire department Cha Ching!
The contributors also include Blackmore Transportation who along with Collins Bus Company receives the town’s school bus contract through a no bid process. Following these contributors, you can find the names of our school Superintendent Paul Lescault, the Assistant Superintendent, the Tax Assessor, the Chairman and Vice Chair of the Zoning Board, the Director of Recreation, the Director of Senior Services, and various other appointees and employees of the town Cha Ching!
“With these types of salaries and vendors who contribute more than 25% of all the funds received by the GOP machine, you really have to ask yourselves if the governing bodies in our town can really be objective when dolling out lucrative contracts, salaries, and other bids,” noted Carol Costa, Chair of the SDTC. , “The time has come to remove the Cha Ching from the process.”
In addition, the Rhode Island Code of Ethics specifically forbids an elected or appointed official from soliciting campaign contribution form their subordinates. Thus, voters must wonder how these contributions were solicited! Can pay to play be alive and well in Scituate? You betcha and if you listen close you can hear the Cha Ching!
