Framingham League Of Women Voters Leadership Flip Rankles Some

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A new group of leaders took control of the Framingham chapter of the League of Women Voters (LWV) last week, but some members are worried about the new team's motives, and the speed at which they took power.

During a Wednesday meeting, co-presidents Stephanie Deeley and Jim Pillsbury ceded leadership of the chapter they've led since 2018 to a group of well-known Framingham residents, some with political ties. The election came after about 19 people joined the league in November and December, according to members. Many new members were supporters of the new slate of leaders, although a few joined the club to potentially stop the leadership change.

A few days before a Dec. 8 leadership meeting, District 6 City Councilor Phil Ottaviani nominated the new slate:

• President Suze Craighead, a former Zoning Board of Appeals member
• Vice President Cynthia Blanc Preiss MacLean, a Mrs. International contestant and local life coach
• Secretary Natasha Rausch, chair of the Agricultural Advisory Committee
• Treasurer Rich Shapiro, who has hosted political forums in the past
• Membership Chair Nathaniel Joslin, a Framingham Cultural Council member
• Voter Services Chair Jacob Binnall, a 2021 City Council candidate and former head of the city Republican committee — he resigned the GOP leadership role on Oct. 2, however.

About three dozen LWV members attended the Dec. 8 election meeting, which was advertised on the league Facebook page about 24 hours earlier on Dec. 7. One member moved to postpone the leadership election vote until after the Jan. 11 special election in the District 3 City Council race. The members knocked down that motion, however. The new slate was elected with majority support from new members and many abstentions from existing members, according to attendees.

Norma Schulman, a LWV member dating back to the 1980s, paid her lapsed dues to the league just to partake in the Dec. 8 meeting. She said she was concerned about how little time had passed between when Ottaviani nominated the new slate and when the meeting was held.

"It was an attempt to take over an organization and take it away from the people involved," she said. "These [new members] were people, for the most part, who have never been involved in any voter registration drives, and that I've never seen involved in our candidates forums."

Craighead said she simply asked new people to join and was concerned about dwindling membership. She also highlighted that Deeley and Pillsbury were running the league without any support, and did not put their names forward to run for reelection.

"I just basically asked everybody I knew if they were interested in joining and asked them to ask other people they know," Craighead said. "I just put out the word."

Lori Bernstein joined the LWV just before the meeting and was also concerned new leaders would be "hyper-partisan" — particularly before a District 3 special election that includes a candidate some of the new members have supported.

"The intent was to replace the current board before [Jan. 11] so they could have an influence on the election," she said.

League member Mike Hugo, the chair of the Framingham Democratic Committee, wanted to delay the leadership change until after Jan. 11 because the LWV will be in charge of setting up a candidate forum in the D3 race.

"It would make sense if the structure of the league that’s been in office for many years, and has experience of conducting many successful debates, stayed the same for just one more month until this special election is completed on Jan. 11 to conduct this candidate forum," he said.

Binnall is now in the process of arranging the event, Craighead said. Deeley hosted a previous District 3 forum before the Nov. 2 election, which Framingham Patch cosponsored and helped write questions for.

Craighead said the new leadership won't take sides in the race, and criticized Hugo's involvement in 2021 candidate forums because the Framingham Democrats endorsed Cesar Stewart-Morales in the D2 race. ("The Democratic Committee voted with no opposition from any members to endorse [Stewart-Morales]. I was but one of 27 votes to do so. But, because I voted to endorse Cesar, I did recuse myself from any participation in the writing or adopting of any questions for the D2 Council race," Hugo told Patch this week).

Craighead and Shapiro, the incoming treasurer, have also both donated to Feeney's campaign this year — $50 from Craighead, $60 from Shapiro, according to state records — and are District 3 residents. Binnall was the only other new leader who has made local donations in 2021, but they were to his own D2 campaign.

"I know [Feeney], I know Adam Steiner, and I take my duties, whether it's with the league or any other position, very seriously," Craighead said.

Another concern voiced by some older members: some new members may be involved with the website Framingham Unfiltered.

The website features tidbits and gossip posted by multiple contributors under the moniker "Frank Wood." The site has posted some controversial items, including images of District 9 Councilor Tracey Bryant and Mayor Yvonne Spicer in clown makeup. The site has also referred to Steiner as a "s--tstain," and urged readers to vote for Feeney on Jan. 11.

At the election meeting, league member Brian Sullivan asked the leadership candidates to say if they were involved in Framingham Unfiltered. Shapiro said he wasn't, according to attendees. Joslin, the membership chair, posted a photo of himself on Facebook wearing a shirt that say "I am Frank Wood." Some members also said Justin Kapust, also a new LWV member, may be involved with Framingham Unfiltered.

Asked if he contributed to Framingham Unfiltered, Kapust did not respond directly.

"As an autistic person I prefer to not be talked about, and I try to not get involved in public activities," he said. "I had hoped in the LWV I could have an opinion, and it would be celebrated as another opinion. I’m hopeful that the new leadership can breathe life into the organization."

Craighead said she doesn't keep track of what organizations other members are involved in — and contributing to Framingham Unfiltered or similar activities might not be disqualifying.

"I don't think people exercising their free speech on either side is a reason to throw them out of the league," she said.

Deeley asked the LWV's state Executive Director Patricia Comfort and President Elizabeth Foster-Nolan to observe the Dec. 8 election. Foster-Nolan said it's not unusual for her and Comfort to do that, and don't typically get involved except to answer questions. She also said she did not observe anything atypical during the Framingham election.

Foster-Nolan lauded the new leadership team for adding many new members, and bringing diversity and youth to the organization. MacLean, the new vice president, is Black, and Binnall is in his early 20s.

But Framingham residents will have to wait and see what the new leaders do with the local league, she said. The chapter has to abide by its own rules, and perhaps the main rule of the LWV: to be nonpartisan.

"The League shall not support or oppose any political party or any candidate," the state bylaw says. There are about 47 separate leagues across Massachusetts, and all are required to adhere to the nonpartisan policy. That rule is looser for non-leadership roles in the league — they can hold elective office and be members in political groups.

"The League of Women Voters is a well-respected organization, and I expect them to continue that," Foster-Nolan of the new Framingham leaders. "We want to put our hand out to help and congratulate them."

Want to join the Framingham League of Women Voters? Email Nate Joslin at framinghamlwv@gmail.com

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the date Jake Binnall resigned from a leadership role in the Framingham Republican Party.