Is 'Save Hamilton' Funded by Developer with Agreement to Buy Pirie Property?

A former member of the Hamilton Board of Selectmen says that a website opposing the town's purchase of the Pirie property is registered to the developer that hopes to purchase the property.

But one of the leaders of the "Save Hamilton" group that opposes the purchase says that almost every member of the group is a Hamilton resident and voter and the developer simply volunteered to register and set up the website since none of the members of the group knew how to do it.

UpperCross Development of Boston has a purchase and sales agreement to buy the 80-acre Aquila Farm on Bay Road - the so-called Pirie property - for $3.9 million. Because of tax breaks given to the property in exchange for keeping agricultural and forestry uses, the town has the first right of refusal to buy it. The decision of whether to buy it or not goes before a Special Town Meeting on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Winthrop Elementary School.

"It's a grassroots organization," said Harold Lichten, an attorney who lives on Miles River Road who said he helped form the "Save Hamilton" group that is almost entirely Hamilton residents opposed to the town's purchase.

Former Hamilton Selectman Jeff Stinson, who has worked for several political campaigns, called the group "Hamilton's outsider SuperPAC," referring to an acronym for political action committees.

"I work in the business and there is at least $6,000 to $10,000 that has been spent for signs and mailers," Stinson said.

The group's spending is not regulated by local or state law, Stinson said. So unlike candidates, who are required to submit both fundraising and expense reports, the group is not required to submit reports outlining its spending. Stinson called it a "loophole in the regulations."

Stinson said he was not clear on the group's origins until this week when a postcard showed up at his home listing Save Hamilton's web address ending as ".org" when he had previously seen it listed only as ".com." He used an online service to lookup the owner of the site as found it registered to an employee of UpperCross.

Lichten said he spent $1,000 of his own money on the signs and has handed out all the signs himself. At a recent meeting of the group, there were about 70 people in attendance. Lichten estimated that three of those people were not a Hamilton resident or a Hamilton voter.

"There's no question that the developer has been to some of the meetings," Lichten said.

There have been cards mailed to Hamilton homes in recent days opposing the town's purchase. Lichten said he has not organized those mailers and did not pay for them. As a loosely organized grassroots group, he said someone else has taken on printing and mailing the cards and he did not know who had done it or how much the mailers cost.

Lichten said that accusations that UpperCross printed and distributed roadside signs opposing the town's purchase "really upset me because I was the one who did them."

Stinson said he recognizes that there are Hamilton residents who oppose the town's purchase of the Pirie property and have "very legitimate concerns."

But he said during his three-year term on the Board of Selectmen he fought hard for open government and hopes that the debate about the town's purchase of the property would have the same openness about who is involved.

Stinson said he sent an e-mail message out last week explaining how the Save Hamilton website was registered to UpperCross hoping to draw out more involvement from those who support the town's purchase of the property.

"This is not about silencing the critics," he said.

Supporters of the purchase, including Board of Selectmen Chairman Marc Johnson, Board of Assessor members Steve Ozahowski, Affordable Housing Trust member Fred Mills and Finance Committee member John McWane appear on a website that outlines their support for the purchase.