"It is my understanding that the Tolman campaign agreed to remove the two parcels from the list after receiving many calls over the weekend from Concord residents and others," Christopher Wheland, town manager, tells GlobeSt.com. Warren Tolman, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate is owed $2.5 million under the Clean Elections law, which provides candidates who agree to spending limits with funds. The citizen's initiative was passed by a two to one margin in 1998 but the legislature has refused to release the funds that were set aside to support the law. The state's Supreme Court found the legislature in violation of the state constitution and has allowed state assets to be sold off to fund the law.
According to David Donnelly, director of the Massachusetts Voters for Clean Elections, Tolman had the monetary judgment in his hand and he could "basically sell any state property that he wishes." But Wheland notes that the Tolman campaign maintains that they wouldn't have sold those two parcels had they known about their sensitivity. He adds that they decided to remove the two parcels now because they were concerned about the "possible environmental and historical damage based upon the characteristics of these two properties."
The two parcels comprise five acres off Route 2 near Fairhaven Rd. and Arena Terr. and, two acres also off Route 2 near Baker Ave. and Gifford Lane. Donnelly says that among the historical elements of the sites are a smallpox burial ground and a Native American campsite. He points out that the state Department of Environmental Management has been trying to get the land conveyed to them because they want to be able to preserve it.
Perhaps the most potentially tricky element of these two properties is that the Federal Highway Administration paid for that land when it built Route 2 and then gave it to the state. Donnelly points out that the federal agency has said that if the land is used for some other purpose the federal government has a right to recoup its losses.
"The state didn't provide this information to us," says Donnelly. "We only heard about it from the local government." Donnelly adds that it is unclear if the attorney general knew about these issues when it put these sites on the list of properties that could be sold.
The auction will continue Wednesday with the sale the 72-acre former Lakeville State Hospital site which has been assessed at $24 million.
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