242 Acres of State Land Seized

The move came as a surprise to local residents because it is the first time that any of the properties used to fund the law was seized. Moreover, this property had been taken off the list of sellable state surplus properties to fund the campaign of candidates who agree to spending limits. The legislature has refused to release the funds that were set aside to support the law and the state's Supreme Court found the legislature in violation of the state constitution, allowing state assets to be sold off to fund the law.

Karen Grant, a spokesperson for the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Warren E. Tolman, the main plaintiff in this case, tells GlobeSt.com that this property was only taken off the original list because the attorney general's office said that sufficient notice hadn't been given. A 30-day notice to a town is required before a state surplus property can be put up for auction. Grant emphasizes that Tolman's lawyers are only "investigating everything about the property now" and there s no indication yet that the property will be put up for sale.

But Russell Connor, Grafton's town administrator, contends that "they're beyond just looking at it. I talked to attorney [John] Bonifaz and they're not just looking at it. They're poised to put an ad in this Friday." The 30-day notification requirement starts upon seizure making it possible for an auction to happen fairly quickly.

Connor calls the seizure a way to pressure state legislators. "I believe they intend to use this as leverage to get area legislators to lobby the legislature to fund the law," he tells GlobeSt.com. "They're playing political games." The state senate has appropriated $9.6 million for the law in its most recent budget proposal--which would cover this election cycle--but the House has yet to approve that. "At any point, the legislature could put a stop to this [sale]," points out Grant.

"The state budget is due to be sent to the governor within the next few days," notes Connor, "and they are using this as a threat to legislators." Unlike the other parcels that have been auctioned, this site is currently in use, by a federal job program, the state Department of Mental Health and the state's Division of Youth Services.

But the site means even more to the area in the potential if offers. Connor points out that this site is located between Route 20 and Route 30 in an area that is destined for economic development by the state. In fact, the state has already given the town and its neighbor, Shrewsbury, millions of dollars to develop the areas surrounding this site such as CenTech Park, a one-million-sf biotech/high tech office park that has seen $100 million worth of economic development. "All the parcels on this site are within a half-mile of the economic development area," notes Connor. "The legislature was attempting to take these parcels out of play and that's why the clean elections people seized them. There is a lot of backroom stuff going on here and it shouldn't be."