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Thorpe submits nomination papers for Selectmen, School Committee

Date: 2/13/2012

Feb. 13, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW — The deadline to submit nomination papers for this year's Annual Town Election has come and gone with one notable difference from years past.

In a rare move, Angela Thorpe turned in papers for nomination for both the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen.

The School Committee race figures to be interesting with five candidates — including Thorpe — vying for one seat, which is currently occupied by Joseph Cabrera. In addition to Cabrera and Thorpe, Robert Richardson, Susan DeGrave and Dierdre Mailloux also threw their hat into the ring.

Thorpe is also one of two candidates to turn in papers for Board of Selectmen, with the other being incumbent Paul Federici.

Town Clerk Thomas Florence told Reminder Publications that while this situation almost never occurs, there is nothing to prevent a resident to run for more than one elected office.

"We don't have a by-law about running for two elected positions," he said. "This is the first time I've seen [someone run for Board of Selectmen and School Committee] since I've been the clerk in East Longmeadow and town counsel [James] Donahue said he's never seen it either, but it is legal."

Florence said that there have been instances when a candidate has run for two positions, but never two positions so closely intertwined. He pointed out that in the past School Committee Chair Gregory Thompson ran for both School Committee and Library Board of Trustees at the same time and William Gorman ran for Board of Public Works and Board of Selectmen concurrently.

Florence said he has done his due diligence in researching the topic since nomination papers were returned on Jan. 31, talking with Donahue as well as the Secretary of State's office and the state's ethics committee.

"The ethics office said that there is no violation for holding two elected positions," he said.

He did admit however, that should someone be elected to two positions, there could be conflicts of interest involved, especially around matters pertaining to budgeting.

"The ethics commission pointed out there could be a compatibility issue with someone on both the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen. The commission would want to talk to the candidate to explain the limitations that would be associated with that," he said, adding that he planned on calling Thorpe to urge her to call the ethics commission to discuss those issues. "There are a lot of items that she wouldn't be able to vote on."

Florence also added that someone in two elected positions would only be able to collect a stipend for one of them.

Thorpe was unavailable for comment by press time.



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