Please don't vote for the xenophobe Charlie Chisholm for Ward 6 Alderman

[ron_newman]

In this thread, I stated that I personally recalled Charlie Chisholm running racist and anti-immigrant campaigns against then-Ward 6 Alderman Jack Connolly in the early 1990s. At that time, Somerville's "Sanctuary City" resolution welcoming immigrants was a major political issue. People have (understandably) challenged me for hard evidence, so I spent a few hours today at the Somerville Central Library looking over Somerville Journal microfilm from 1991 and 1993. Here's what I found:

from editorial "Hitting a new low on the campaign trail", 11/7/91:

In Ward Six, Charlie Chisholm issued a pamphlet proclaiming "Somerville: It used to be your city; now, it's Jack Connolly's 'Sanctuary City'" interspersed with photographs of houses with "For Sale" signs.

from election coverage on 11/7/91:

Chisholm apparently gained a lot of ground between preliminary day and the final election by linking Connolly to the so-called "Sanctuary City" resolution and saying the resolution was responsible for drawing immigrants that pushed long-time residents out of the city.

from "New face in midst of Ward Six rematch", 9/2/93:

"I don't see myself as anti-immigrant", says Chisholm. "What is wrong is when we have all sorts of unrestricted illegal immigrants coming in here."

Many of those illegal aliens were drawn to Somerville because of the host of service agencies here, says Chisholm. And the city has borne too heavy a burden for its welcoming attitude in areas like education and housing, he argues.

Charles Chisholm answers questions from the Journal, 9/23/93:

... the "Sanctuary City" substitute "City of Hope" resolution, which was sponsored by Alderman Jack Connolly, should be repealed and those groups and agencies which encourage illegals to settle in Somerville should desist from targeting Somerville for a further increase in population. We cannot afford a further influx of illegal aliens. Already, plans are being developed by the School Department's Somerville 2000 Committee to meet the necessity of forced cross city busing to accommodate Chapter 636 of M.G.L. This law requires "racially imbalanced" schools to be integrated. Finally, we should support the passage of a law to report illegals for deportation who have committed crimes. It must be clear that Somerville will not tolerate becoming another crime infested Massachusetts city. Also, the movement to have illegals vote in city elections, which has begun in Cambridge, makes a mockery of citizenship and should be opposed.

In 1993, some people in Somerville circulated a local initiative petition to place repeal of the Sanctuary City resolution onto that year's general election ballot. The city's Election Commission disqualified the petition after finding that many of the signatures on it were forged and faked. The Journal's article on 10/7/93 said:

One signature that was valid was that of Charles Chisholm, a candidate for alderman in Ward Sox who signed the petition on a separate sheet of paper.

I can't support someone who chose to divide the community this way when campaigning for political office. Yes, these campaigns were 22 and 24 years ago --- but in his current campaign, he's claiming that his one term on the Board of Alderman 38-40 years ago (the last time he held public office) is relevant experience.

When you vote this Thursday, please choose one of the other three fine candidates for Ward 6 Alderman: Lance Davis, David Lieberman, or Elizabeth Weinbloom. Thank you for listening.

EDIT 9/16 8 pm: Just to make things completely clear: In this post I'm speaking solely for myself as a Ward 6 resident and voter, NOT as a co-moderator of Davis Square LiveJournal.

Comments

[lanze108.livejournal.com]

How can someone with a campaign manager that has the last name DECOSTA be xenophobic? Your unfair treatment towards Charles shows a lot about your character as a person. You take snippets from 24 years ago and cut them up to serve your own interest. Charles said multiple times that he is for SANCTUARY cities back then. He just thought Cambridge was in a better position to accommodate. That does not mean he is xenophobic.

You are probably the same person who is spreading the homophobic idea that Charles is a pedophile, because his campaign manager is younger. And to "get rid of your line of twinks". You're probably part of the same crowd that tore down Charles' literature and replaced it with Davis' in order to sabotage a campaign event. You're the same type of naysayer that told me that "There can never be an LGBT center at Bryant University". There is one now.

Maybe I'm naive as a 26 year old. I didn't expect a local campaign to be this dirty. I expected people to be fair and equal access to the candidates and their viewpoint. I guess I was wrong.

I know many of you have already made up your mind about other candidates. But if any of you want to hear the true story about Charles' background and stance on sanctuary cities, feel free to email me at jonathandecosta@gmail.com. The true story is never going to get out on a Live Journal like this that is run by a biased person like Ron Newman.

[cos]

I think you discredit yourself with what you say about Ron. However, as should be very clear to you from your participation in this and other posts, Ron's role as a co-moderator of this community in no way prevents you or anyone else from making your/their case or presenting "the true story" as you/they see it. If you feel that "the true story is never going to get out" over here, that suggests to me that you don't believe it's really true.

[ron_newman]

- Charles said multiple times that he is for SANCTUARY cities back then.

He did? Then why did he tell the Somerville Journal otherwise?

- He just thought Cambridge was in a better position to accommodate

Cambridge was and is also a sanctuary city. There's no reason we can't have more than one.

- You are probably the same person who is spreading the homophobic idea that Charles is a pedophile

No, I've never even heard this allegation before you brought it up here.

- You're probably part of the same crowd that tore down Charles' literature and replaced it with Davis'

I've never heard of this happening. When and where? (By the way, I'm not necessarily a Davis supporter. I'm still deciding.)

- You're the same type of naysayer that told me that "There can never be an LGBT center at Bryant University"

I know nothing about Bryant University, but I've supported LGBT rights consistently for many years.

- But if any of you want to hear the true story about Charles' background and stance on sanctuary cities, feel free to email me

Or you (or Charles) could post it here as a comment, or as a new post in DSLJ. That way everyone can read it.

- a Live Journal like this that is run by a biased person like Ron Newman.

This community has four moderators; I'm just one of them. This post speaks only for me, not necessarily for any of the other three moderators, and certainly not for any other participants in this LiveJournal. This is a free and open platform that anyone can participate in. I have not deleted anyone's post or comment on this campaign, nor do I intend to.

[teko.livejournal.com]

You are probably the same person who is spreading the homophobic idea that Charles is a pedophile, because his campaign manager is younger. And to "get rid of your line of twinks".

Can you say more about this bizarre rumor and why you're bringing it up in this forum? It's the first I've heard of it anywhere, and I have no idea what "getting rid of your line of twinks" means. I respect a lot of Charles' ideas and the work he reports to have done for the LGBT community, but it'd be awesome if you or Charles could straightforwardly and calmly rebut the claims Ron made here rather than counter them with left-field accusations.

[lanze108.livejournal.com]

I will request Charles to write something up for your benefit when I see him again.

I do not feel that this forum is very fair or great place for open discussion when one of the moderators is posting over and over again about how Charles chose not to attend a DSLJ event, when he knows Charles had prior engagements. And where one of the moderator posts serious allegations based on snippets from old newspapers with the sole purpose of tarnishing someone's reputation.

Unrelated and on top of this, I am very upset right now about what has happened to him today and not in the state of mind to write anything in-depth:

We were supposed to throw a campaign event for the people at 27 College Avenue. We put up literature on 9/14 at the bulletin board in the afternoon and gave 48 hour notice for an event (as is required). Mysteriously, the literature was all thrown out (there was a lot of it, so it definitely wasn't an accident with three pins on each piece). In its place was a Lance Davis invitation to have Chinese food and his event took place a night before ours with what seems like a lack of the required 48 hour notice.

I can't believe that someone (whomever it may be) would think it is okay to deny equal access to the candidates. I would NEVER throw out someone's invitations to an event.

We have over 30 pastries that are still good and we are looking for somewhere to bring them. I'm thinking of donating to a homeless shelter or pantry so that they don't at least go to waste.

[ron_newman]

I'm sorry that happened to you. It's completely unacceptable and I would also like to know who did it.

The Somerville Homeless Coalition's shelter at the Holy Bible Baptist Church on Chapel Street might appreciate the food donation.

[lanze108.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I hope we can find a home for these.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Agreed that that is a disgusting act, and I would hope that Lance Davis would step forward to apologize or correct this situation, whether he and his group are responsible or not.

[lancedavisward6.livejournal.com]

As I stated elsewhere, this campaign had absolutely nothing to do with what Mr. DeCosta has alleged and I certainly would not and do not condone any sort of tampering.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I'm just upset that neither party was advertised here!

[ron_newman]

27 College Avenue is Ciampa Manor, so I'm guessing these events were both specifically for senior citizens there.

[ron_newman]

- whether he and his group are responsible or not

I don't think it's reasonable to ask someone to apologize for doing something if they didn't in fact do that thing.

[teko.livejournal.com]

In this sort of situation, I do. Someone literally did this in Lance Davis' name, and while by no means would I think he or his team is responsible, it's an act that gives the appearance of "dirty politics". I'm glad that Mr Davis stepped forward to clearly separate himself and his team from this sort of thing.

[lanze108.livejournal.com]

Hey Teko, I just posted Charles' response to Ron Newman.

Thanks for asking for his perspective! I was so upset early about these allegations and what happened. I'm glad that there are some people here who are willing to listen to all the perspectives.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

I haven't made up my mind in this election, and I'm sorry that your event was interrupted. But I think you might want to take some time and reconsider your tone above.

Ron's a good guy, personally known to many people here, and made clear efforts to find and cite sources for his opinions. I'm not going to write off someone's candidacy based on comments from more than 20 years back, but your first response above, the one with the claim that "You are probably the same person who is spreading the homophobic idea that Charles is a pedophile[.]", is just bizarre and off-putting. This is the first I've heard of such a slander, which is of course abhorrent. But it's not coming across well to me that you're conflating a specifically sourced and documented criticism with baseless slanders, and assuming that one implies responsibility for the other.

[tikva.livejournal.com]

Agreed. And someone has to be pretty unsavvy politically to insult Ron publicly, and that doesn't look so good for that someone's campaign.

(Also, Ron is nice and doesn't deserve that. What he DOES deserve is a sincere apology).