On April 4th there was a fundraiser held at the Cherry Valley American Legion Post for the Leicester Library which is undergoing an extensive renovation and expansion. As a resident of Leicester, I received a flyer in the mail which notified me of the time of the event and a short list of people attending which included one of our selectman, Doug Belanger, State Rep. John Binienda, and our State Senator, Michael Moore. When I first saw the flyer a couple things immediately came to mind. First, while the library project is a noteworthy thing, it would seem to me replacing our out dated main fire station or the rehiring of the town's laid off police officers would be more of a priority for our elected officials. Maybe that is asking too much of the likes of Belanger who eagerly went along with a money laundering scheme set up by then Congressman Richard Neal involving funds from the Obama stimulus of 2009. That scheme resulted in Becker College receiving around $425,000 dollars of Federal Stimulus funds in the same month those officers were laid off in 2009. Secondly, I thought it strange the event was being held at the same time as a campaign kickoff for a local resident, Scott Francis, who is seeking a spot on the school committee. Scott also happens to be an active member of the Leicester Republican Town Committee and the local Tea Party. That event was held at Ellers restaurant, which is located almost directly across the street from the aforementioned Legion Post. I guess I should have thought of a third thing to be upset about. Apparently the library fund was just a pretense for a campaign event for the sitting politicians who were in attendance.
Last week I read an article about the event and some sort of dust up between one of Mike Moores people and Steve Simonian, an Auburn selectman who is challenging Moore for his seat. See the article here:
http://www.thedailyleicester.com/news/simonian-and-moore-dispute-fundraiser-incident
Whatever went down with the incident, it is not as problematic for me than the less than honest way the event was advertised. If it was in fact a campaign event, that should have been made clear on the flyer. I am also curious whether the politicians sponsored the event out of pocket or if they used campaign funds. If they did use campaign funds that should have been disclosed as well.
