From the sidelines or in the middle, it is all the same By CJ Ferry Wow, the Recall of 2014 was a wild ride. Not only did it have its ups and downs, but it was also filled with turns, threats, slander, liable, intimidation and in-fighting and that was just within the body of the group known as recallers. (A term that is so overused and almost hateful to some). On August 4, 2014, a small group of people decided to hold an organizational meeting at the Elks Club in Fall River, Massachusetts. This small rag tag group of people were thought of as a nuisance to the then Mayor William A. Flanagan and as had occurred two years earlier, no one, including the Mayor thought it had any chance of happening. That was the first mistake of the political pundits and the press. That initial meeting had people fill the small room at the Elk’s and people were outside the doors listening intently to what was going to happen. This was the start of the Recall of 2014, a revolution in politics in Fall River. Seven days after their first meeting, on August 11, 2014, a formal meeting was held at the Liberal Club in Fall River, where twelve people stepped forward to swear out an affidavit to recall then Mayor Flanagan. The dirty dozen had they have been referred to by the press and others were Jordan Silva, Robert Camara, Joshua E. Silvia, Thomas C. Fitzgerald, Daniel Botelho, Doreen Arruda, John Pacheco, Paul R. Mendonca, Robert Leeds, Joshua Fonte, Dorn Arruda and Kyle Bradley. The affidavit was sworn out before a Justice of the Peace and Notary Public, CJ Ferry. On August 12, 2014, the affidavit was delivered to the Fall River City Clerk Alison Bouchard first thing in the morning. The excitement could be felt in the air that day and the questions started to arise. Would Corporate Counsel would do as she had done previously and deny the affidavit on technical grounds? Would they find cause to disallow a signer or the affidavit as a whole? Well they did not, and the petitions were made available and the process had begun. The recall process had 20 days to collect 5% of the registered voters that day, which was 49, 183. The needed signatures were 2,459. After receipt of the petitions, the game was on; the streets were flooded with purple shirts emblematic of the straw that finally demanded accountability of the Mayor, the PAYT program. In the days that followed, Facebook, a social media outlet, was abuzz with actions by the recall effort. Where they would be, where they were needed and how many signatures were collected on a daily basis. This wasn’t a game, it was a war and initially it was designed by Robert “Chip” Camara and me as a well oiled military operation, ward captains, door to door operations, data collection centers and coordination of resources. It was a well oiled machine and was extremely effective. The recall movement turned in over 5, 500 signatures to the City Clerk on September 2, 2014, then the wait began. It was at this point that the personal interests, personal agendas and the too many chiefs and not enough Indians started to raise their ugly heads. There was discontent in the recall camp, which exists to this day. People started to lose sight of the cause and started to push forward their own agendas. This is not new to the political game, but could destroy a group of people that have started a new voice, a new way at looking and dealing with government and the elected representatives who are supposed to listen to the constituency, which as we know is not done. As everyone waited to hear if they met the threshold of the required number of signatures, the attacks on both sides were taking place on Facebook, in the media and in the City Council chamber. No one was safe. The Election Commissioner Elizabeth Camara kept informing the Recall Petition instigators that she could not reveal the counts until the process was completed and she said that with State’s Elections she had to reprioritize things to accommodate that election process. Yet, once the threshold was made, Mayor William Flanagan gave an interview to WSAR insinuating that he knew he was going to have to prepare for a recall election and had retained an Attorney in Pawtucket, RI to represent him. How come he was told, but the filers of the affidavit were not told until all signatures were certified. Seems to be more than a little unfair. Meanwhile, back on the farm, the recall movement started to get bored and started to wander. It appeared that the recall movement lost its momentum. Waiting for certification caused a loss of hope, did they meet the threshold? Did they accomplish the first step? Efforts to keep the people motivated and on point resulted in a breakdown of any sense of structure or leadership. Friendships were being broken and small cliques were being formed of people who thought they knew better. Was this the beginning of the end? Time will tell. During this period of waiting, several members of the dirty dozen started to break away from the structure that had been setup and designed by Chip and myself. People started to say this is not the military, this is voluntary. While all true, we knew that structure and order must be maintained for this entire process to succeed and be successful. One of the big issues of contention was Jordan Silvia. Jordan was a very vocal and sometime intimidating member of the group. He had been described as a man who would never miss a photo opportunity or run away from any microphone. Jordan had some very good intentions, but he scared people of the community as a loose cannon and based upon his past behavior, some even felt he was dangerous. The Recall Movement would never get away from Jordan, nor did they try, but I felt it was necessary to disavow Jordan for some of his actions and statements. A meeting was held with John Pacheco, Joshua Fonte, Doreen Arruda, Kyle Bradley and myself; Jordan had decided to not attend, as was becoming a very regular thing. It was discussed and decided that Jordan would indeed be disavowed. Some people in this meeting felt that meant to not be Jordan’s friend or to cut him off. Nothing was further from the truth. All that was being asked was to be sure that Jordan was held responsible for his actions and statements and they did not represent the recall process. After leaving this meeting, John and both Joshua’s had a clandestine meeting and decided to not do as had been decided. This was the start of the great division of the recall movement and almost resulted in its demise. After that clandestine meeting and it was brought to Chip and myself, arguments started to begin regularly and threats of “do it yourself” were regularly thrown about. Egos were becoming the issue of the day and eventually weeks. It did not seem that it would ever end. Many friendships and trust were lost and will probably never be healed. The signatures were certified and the recall was on. There were plenty of machinations from this point on. First the hearings of the elections board, a joke at the very least. All the commissioners recused themselves, because Fall River is incestuous and everyone is connected to someone, in some way. This would result in legal actions. Both sides had obtained counsel, but how would that be paid for by the recall team? What was left of them? The recall group had lost their cohesion and was broken down into small ineffective groups of egos and “it’s all about me.” This was also about the same time that the term recaller was starting to be taken on by people who did little to nothing in regards to the recall movement and a few of the radio personalities at WSAR would throw out the term as an insult or as a defining term to belittle or call them out, even the Herald News would do that as well. Members of the Recall Movement took that term back and used it themselves to call themselves it with pride! I am a recaller! It was starting to put a different face on the recall movement. During all this mayhem, William Flanagan, his legal team and vast array of acolytes and minions made accusations of intimidation, falsification of signatures, harassment, Facebook attacks and the creation of many libelous, slanderous and untrue Facebook pages. This was not limited to the Flanagan team, but was also quite commonly used by the Recall Movement with memes, political satire and defense from the hate tactics of people like Gene St. Pierre, Rob Bergeron, Andrew Faria-Mozzarella, Denise Chretien-Martin-Murray and so many others that their names escape me. It was truly a war of words. It was painting Fall River as city in civil war and chaos. Well, the court case had finally started and was assigned to Judge Thomas McGuire, former Corporate Counsel for the City of Fall River. Judge McGuire was also the immediate supervisor of Attorney Gary Howayeck, was representing the City of Fall River, the Fall River City Clerk and the Board of Elections. At no time was it disclosed by the Judge that a conflict of interest may exist and no attorney had filed a motion to recuse the judge. After one major court hearing at the New Bedford Superior Court House, again the waiting began. All three attorneys filed motions and briefs and tried to get this recall election to be held on the side of one or the other. The final ruling, like it or not, was not the best for anyone. Judge McGuire found that the election will be held, no testimony was taken and in the end William Flanagan could re-run for the Office of Mayor, even if he was recalled. It made no sense to the movement, no sense to many in the community and more especially to Attorney Lesley Rich, Attorney for the Recall. For a further slap in the Recall Movements face, the Mayor would appear at the Top of the ballot as an incumbent running for re-election. What was that? It was very clear throughout this entire process that all sides, including the Judge, were picking and isolating various parts of Massachusetts General Law, the Special Recall Legislation and other election practices. Nothing seemed to be beneficial and nothing worked. The next question was does the Recall appeal? If an appeal was filed, could the recall movement afford this part of the process? Could Will Flanagan? Could the City? All involved decided that no appeal would be filed and now it was onto the election. Here, the division grew wider, stronger and more emotional. With eight candidates on the ballot who would the recall movement endorse? Who would they choose to support and throw their support behind. Chip Camara continually said, “It is not who we vote in, but who we vote out!” Without any further guidance, the members of the Recall Movement deciding to pick different candidates to support, mainly Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter and City Councilor Michael Miozza. This was not a defining endorsement to any candidate but having the face of the Recall on their campaign was great attribute to their candidacy. At what cost to the Recall Movement and some of their friendships? Michael Miozza was being termed, “The People’s Candidate”. C. Samuel Sutter has a great reputation as a District Attorney and seemed to be easily assessable to the people. Would any of this make a difference? Yet another candidate, Shawn Cadime, former City Administrator, was running for Mayor, but did it have support from anyone in the recall? Shawn has a reputation as a man with the financial know how and was able to manage the City budget in the past and felt that he would be a great Mayor for Fall River, but the recall movement felt otherwise. The members of the Recall Movement remembered and made it known that Shawn Cadime was responsible for the financial fiasco that Fall River is currently in... During his term as City Administrator, he claimed that Fall River had a surplus, the budget was sustainable and our bond ratings were better. All untrue? Shawn was blamed because immediately after he left in December, 2012, the city’s finances went into the toilet and statements that Shawn had made to the State Delegation and the President of the Senate, that Fall River was in over half a billion dollars debt and they should just do what he asked regardless of the cost to city taxpayers, employees and retirees. The Recall Movement did not even consider him a viable candidate. With all these candidates, could Will Flanagan be re-elected? Well on December 16, 2014, the recall election was held and what a surprise occurred. The man who has always claimed he was re-elected with 70% of the votes; was fired (recalled) with that same 70%. In the election process he came in second to C. Samuel Sutter and actually conceded the election with only fourteen of the twenty-nine precincts reporting. He knew his reign has ended. The people of Fall River had awakened to what would become the new light on Fall River. Over 16,000 people went out to vote in this special election, many of whom were new voters, registered in part by the recall movement. People were now starting to look at government as their government. They now know you can beat City Hall! The people can and do control what is done by their elected officials and yes you will comply with the voices of the people or you will be held accountable, whether at the next regular election or by a recall. This recall election happened on the 241st Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the birth of our nation’s revolution. December 16, 2014 will be remembered as the birth of the People’s Revolution in Fall River. Thomas Jefferson once said, “When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The people of Fall River no longer fear the tyranny of our government because we proved that we can rebel and bring the will of the people forward and make it be heard loud and clear. What now? What will happen next? Many people, political campaigns, TV, news and production companies have asked what is next. Is this the beginning? How about a documentary? Well that is up to the people. The cost of this recall went beyond money, it destroyed friends, families and brought brother against brother, it was another civil war. People said your Recall Movement is now another political force that many would be seeking. While it may have been true, has the Recall Movement been so bastardized by egos and in fighting that the power developed is faltering as well. I would hope not. History will look back on this movement is say it is when the people were heard and Fall River did not fall into the abyss. Would you join this movement? Would you support the future? Could you do what these people did? I know I did! This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it. - Abraham Lincoln, 4 April 1861
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 11:34:03 +0000
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