01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, February 13, 2007

By Maria Armental

Journal Staff Writer

CHARLESTOWN — With hundreds of residents behind him, and drawing from President Lincoln’s dictums, John Goodman asked the council to consider adopting a recall petition, an added check to hold public officials accountable.

“Nearly 200 years after his birth,” Goodman said yesterday, on what would have been Lincoln’s 146th birthday, “he reminds each of you to reaffirm the rights of the voters of Charlestown to determine who should represent them in office.”

“Councilor Mageau,” Goodman said addressing Councilman James M. Mageau, “this is not solely about you … but [there is no] denying that you are the impetus for this petition and the main reason so many of your neighbors have shown up tonight in support of a recall initiative.”

Councilmen John O. Craig Jr. and Bruce W. Picard, who was not present at yesterday’s meeting, also drew criticism from Goodman.

“Each of you, Councilor Craig and Councilor Picard, bear responsibility for Councilor Mageau’s actions,” Goodman said. “To date, your silence on many of these issues has been deafening.”

Goodman’s remarks earned him a standing ovation from the nearly 200 residents who filled the Charlestown Elementary School, a larger venue selected to accommodate the anticipated turnout.

Mageau responded to Goodman’s criticism challenging the veracity of his arguments and numbers of signatures the recall provision had earned so far.

“In a democracy, the majority decides who is going to be elected to public office,” Mageau said, noting the majority of the electorate had supported the sitting council in the Nov. 7 election. Since then, he said, a “special interest group,” disenchanted with the election results, had gone around town criticizing the actions of the council’s majority – namely, himself, Craig and Picard.

Furthermore, Mageau said, if residents are so concerned about good government, “where were you on Nov. 10, 2003” when a majority of the council that included current Council Vice President Harriet A. Allen “approved an illegal overexpenditure of $300,000 for the new police station,” and later, a majority of the council that included current Council President Katharine H. Waterman when they voted against the then-council president and vice president to approve another $500,000 for the police station.

Mageau’s comments were interrupted by resident Veronica M. Briggs, who said she took umbrage with Mageau’s belligerence and condescending tone. “He serves us. He doesn’t dictate us,” the woman said.

Mageau’s statement was entered into the record in its entirety on the recommendation of Town Solicitor Robert E. Craven.

Just before Goodman, resident Joseph S. Dolock asked Mageau, Craig and Picard to resign by week’s end, charging their appointment of Craven and Town Administrator Edward M. Barrett without following proper procedure amounted to “negligence in the performance of duties and violation oath of office,” two of the causes for removal of office under the Town Charter.

Dolock pointed that while no search had been conducted prior to those appointments, the town recently published an advertisement in a local newspaper seeking candidates for town tree warden, an unpaid position.

Dolock’s complaint will head to the attorney general’s office, which is already investigating three open meetings complaints.

Earlier in the meeting, the council unanimously passed a resolution supporting open government.

marmenta@projo.com