WALLINGFORD - Among the lawn signs advertising candidates for Town Council and Board of Education, another variety of sign has begun to crop up. It states simply: "Save Our Charter."

The red and blue signs are the work of a new political action committee, formed by Christopher Diorio, urging residents to reject all seven of the proposed revisions to the Town Charter when they go to referendum on Nov. 3.

Diorio, a member of the Republican Town Committee with three children in the Wallingford school system, says he formed the committee because he doesn't think any of the proposed revisions to the charter will benefit the community.

"I'm very concerned about the proposed changes to the charter and I do not think that they will be good for the town's government," Diorio said. "You're playing on a very slippery slope when you have proposed questions to change the document that this town is governed by. I figured somebody needed to do something about this, so I went down (to Town Hall), did my homework and filed the necessary paperwork to get this started."

Forms were filed with the town clerk on Sept. 29 and list Diorio as committee chairman and Michael Glidden as treasurer. The PAC has received $900 in campaign contributions from four donors: Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. ($250); Laurie Manke ($200); William Wadsworth ($250); and Glidden ($200).

Manke is a former chairwoman of the Board of Ethics and a Republican, along with Dickinson and Glidden. Wadsworth, who owns Wadsworth Investment Co., is unaffiliated. The Wadsworth Family Foundation, a charitable initiative set up by Wadsworth and his family, made news this summer when it donated $4,500 to help save the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra's free outdoor holiday concert over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Federal Election Campaign Act states that an organization becomes a "political committee" when it receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of $1,000 with the intention of influencing the outcome of an election.

Diorio said the committee has placed about 140 signs around town thus far, but has no plans at the moment to launch a mailing campaign or stage any type of public rally or event to further spread its message.

"Everything is very fluid right now. It's a work in progress," he said. "My goal is to alert and inform the citizens about the proposed changes. I think we have a great system here. I think we are a model town for the state. My attitude is: if it's not broke, don't fix it."

But Lucille Trzcinski, who opposed Dickinson as an unaffiliated candidate for mayor in 2007 and was among the group of residents who helped lead the petition effort that started the charter revision process, said she thinks the committee is actually doing a disservice to voters by encouraging them to reject all seven revisions.

"There's absolutely no explanation" about why people should vote no, Trzcinski said. "In other words, don't think about it, don't investigate it and just listen to us and vote no. This is a culmination of hours and hours of work on the part of a lot of busy people, and now they're just saying, 'Vote no.' "

The commission that handled the majority of the revision process was appointed by and mirrors the makeup of the Town Council - five Democrats, four Republicans - but the council itself had final oversight and approval of its proposed revisions. Because of this, Republicans have been vocal in their opposition throughout the process, saying that the revision is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to whittle away at Dickinson's power.

Dickinson, who has held office since 1984, said he donated to the "Save Our Charter" committee because he supports its message.

"I think serious harm can be done to the town by adopting the charter revision," Dickinson said. "I think, for the most part, it's unnecessary."

The town adopted the charter in 1961, and has amended it four times since, the last in 1989. An attempted revision was voted down by residents in 1993.

dmoran@record-journal.com

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