Board Approved Fifth GOP Candidate
By Cynthia Drummond
July 3rd 2024
RICHMOND – At a meeting at the Town Hall on Tuesday, the Richmond Board of Canvassers approved the declaration of candidacy of Republican, Jeffrey Dinsmore.
Chairing the meeting was Carolyn Richard. Board members Raymond Pouliot and Eileen Burton and alternate, non-voting member Pamela Rohland, also attended.
At issue was the declaration of candidacy for Town Council by Dinsmore, the husband of Louise Dinsmore, who is running for a seat on the Chariho School Committee.
Dinsmore’s declaration was filed on June 27, the day after the filing deadline. The nomination was made by Republican Town Committee Chair and Town Council member, Michael Colasante.
Jeffrey Dinsmore was not present at the meeting, but several representatives of the town and state Republican Committees attended, including Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Joe Powers and Rhode Island National GOP Committeewoman Sue Cienki.
Colasante, Louise Dinsmore, fellow School Committee candidate, Clay Johnson and Town Council member and Town Committee Vice Chair, Helen Sheehan, were also in the council chambers.
The Legal Argument
State law, specifically, Chapter 12 of Title 17, permits the filing of a declaration of candidacy up to 24 hours after the official filing deadline, in order to complete a slate of candidates.
Richard said the statute had already been pointed out to her numerous times and asked Town Solicitor Chris Zangary for his opinion.
“I know that we have received copious amounts of memorandum and papers and copies of Title 17,” she said. “I believe this issue has been discussed by the election Clerks or the Town Solicitor, so I would like to hear your take on all of this.”
Zangary noted that there were four issues to be considered, all of which pertained to the delegation, by Powers to Colasante, of the authority to nominate Jeffrey Dinsmore.
“Taken as a whole,” Zangary said, referring to three letters to the town from the state Republican party, “do they constitute a nomination pursuant to 17-12-2…”
Two of three letters to the town were from Powers and one was from Colasante.
Zangary told the board that if it decided that Colasante’s letter regarding his authority to nominate Dinsmore was sufficient, that would settle the matter.
However, Richard was not convinced that Colasante’s letter was enough.
“The only authority stated in there is ‘I am authorized,’ she said. “There’s no authorization with it.”
Referring to a July 1 letter from Powers, in which he refers to party bylaws pertaining to the delegation of authority, Richard asked Zangary,
“The authorization comes, purportedly, from this letter, correct? Which would be the July 1. It was received on July 1?”
“That’s a question for you, as a group,” Zangary said.
Rhode Island law permits the state committee to delegate authority to a subcommittee, which, Zangary said, could be a group or just one person.
But Richard countered,
“He’s not really specific about it. He doesn’t say ‘I specifically nominate this person or follow names for the statute…of a committee or a person.”
Several times during the discussion, Zangary repeated the statement that the determining factor in the party’s authority to nominate a candidate was the fact there was a vacancy on the slate.
Pouliot, who was Chair of the Republican Town Committee until he was ousted by Colasante last April, said he was not convinced that Colasante had the authority to make the nomination.
“I reached out to the Secretary of State’s office and it was stated to me that this would be permitted if Mr. Colasante was a member of the state Republican Executive Committee, … and he advised that he was,” Pouliot said. “And I reached out to Joe Powers through a third party and he said Mr. Colasante is not a member of the Executive Committee. So, he misrepresented that he was a member of the Executive Committee at that time, before the deadline.”
Richard said she was going to support Dinsmore’s declaration, with reservations.
“I think there’s things amiss, should never have happened,” she said. “But, it’s a very reluctant, very reluctant, yes to allow this to go through.”
Pouliot said he could not support the nomination because it had been received after the deadline.
Burton said,
“I also have issue with the dates and the timing.”
Richard asked Cienki to comment.
Cienki pointed out the distinction between Colasante’s nomination and Powers’ endorsement. Colasante was permitted, according to party bylaws, to nominate a candidate to fill a vacancy within 24 hours of the June 26 filing deadline.
“That’s the first letter that you have,” she said. “The second letter that you have, from Mr. Powers, is a completely different issue. That’s the endorsement of the candidate, and the endorsement of a candidate is allowed to be received on Friday, 48 hours after the close of the endorsement, if the local party fails to endorse. And that is what happened, because there is a vacancy.”
Pouliot said he would be open to changing his vote if he could read the party bylaws.
“I would change my view depending on the internal rules,” he said. “If we have proof of the internal rules, I would definitely change.”
The discussion continued, until Colasante announced that the relevant text of the bylaws had been located. Once Pouliot had read it, he said he felt comfortable voting for the nomination.
In the final vote, Richard and Pouliot voted yes, and Burton voted no.
Outside the Town Hall after the decision, Louise Dinsmore said she was pleased that questions regarding Colasante’s authority had been put to rest.
“Clearly, from the testimony of the state party Chair [Powers] and the National Committeewoman [Cienki] – the National Committeewoman used to be the state party Chair for many years – the state allows town committee chairs that authority, to delegate from the state party chair,” she said.
Trimmer Weighs In
Town Council President Mark Trimmer said he had been told, only a month ago, that the Richmond Republicans had a full slate of candidates.
A Republican who was effectively banished from the Town Committee, Trimmer is running for reelection as an Independent.
“They led me to believe that they had a full slate and that I would not be endorsed,” he said. “I believe that my rejection from the Republican Town Committee was directly related to my filing of an ethics complaint against the Town Committee Chairman, Michael Colasante.”
That complaint, involving Colasante’s relationship with then-electrical inspector Jeffrey Vaillancourt, is headed for an adjudicative hearing before the Rhode Island Ethics Commission in the fall.