PLYMPTON – A postcard produced by the Plympton Community Preservation Committee demonstrating what the CPC does, in preparation for a Town Meeting warrant article that sought at a future point to ask voters to eliminate the CPC on a ballot, has been cleared by Town Counsel.
Former selectman John Henry questioned the legality of spending town funds on the post card – about $1,000 according to the CPC – from CPC administration funds.
Although town funds cannot be used to influence an election, educational materials are exempt from this campaign finance law when a Town Meeting warrant article is involved.
The postcard was sent to each mailing address in town educating the population about the projects that have been done in Plympton with Community Preservation funds since the Town voted to be included in the CPA. It also answered questions about low income and senior exemptions.
The Selectmen expressed concern that this might have been a grey area since the Town Meeting article sought to put a question on a ballot at some future date to put an end to Community Preservation Act in Plympton, so they brought the question to Town Counsel for clarification.
Town Counsel Ilana Quirk referred the matter to another Kopelman and Paige attorney, Lauren Goldberg, who cleared the CPC of any wrongdoing, citing several precedents showing that, in her opinion, no issues were raised under the Campaign Finance Law, and the CPC had done nothing wrong or illegal.