9/9/2010
By GERRY GOLDSTEIN, Valley Breeze & Observer Correspondent
SMITHFIELD – An endorsed Republican for Town Council has decided to quit the race after learning that The Valley Breeze & Observer was about to report that he served six months in a Massachusetts jail two years ago as a three-time drunk driving offender.
The candidate, Donald R. Hanson, of Lakeview Drive, had also served 10 days’ home confinement for drunk driving in 1999, and was fined and had his license suspended for drunk driving in 1996.
According to Massachusetts criminal records, Hanson, 57, was sentenced to two years, with six months to serve, and began his jail term on May 5, 2008 in the Bristol County House of Corrections in North Dartmouth.
He had pleaded guilty after North Attleboro police arrested him shortly before 2 p.m. on July 17, 2007. Police records say that a chemical test put his blood alcohol level at .25 percent, three times the legal limit of .08 in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
In the previous arrest by Burrillville police, shortly after noon on July 4, 1999, his breath tested at .266 percent. His 10-day home confinement for that violation was part of a one-year sentence with 355 days suspended.
According to the R.I. Judiciary’s criminal database, Hanson had also been fined for drunk driving in 1996, under a charge brought by Rhode Island State Police.
Under the Massachusetts “lifetime look-back” statute, a third drunk-driving offense is a felony – a factor in the jail time – no matter how much time has elapsed since the first violation, according to a spokesperson for the Division of Motor Vehicles.
In Rhode Island, drunk driving becomes a felony only when three violations occur within a five-year span.
Hanson did not return a reporter’s messages.
Republican Town Chairman Philip G. Hirons Jr. said the party will replace him on the ticket with Matthew Fabisch, 27, a lawyer who lives in the Esmond section with his wife and 4-month-old son. Fabisch, who maintains a solo practice in Newport, graduated from the Roger Williams University School of Law in 2008 and is seeking office for the first time.
Hirons said he was surprised by the newspaper’s information about Hanson’s jail term, and that when he approached the candidate about it late last week Hanson confirmed its accuracy.
Hirons quoted Hanson as saying he had no time to respond to the press because his work requires long hours and takes him out of town for extended periods. It was unclear where he works.
The party chief said he asked Hanson to drop out of the council race and also to withdraw his application for membership on the Republican Town Committee, and that the candidate said he understood and would do so.
“Obviously, we were not aware of the charges,” Hirons said, adding that Hanson’s continued candidacy “would certainly not be a plus for our campaign going into November.”
Ironically, Hanson’s GOP colleagues hold a 3-2 majority on a Town Council that has tightened liquor laws in an attempt to reduce drunk driving and alcohol service to minors.
And, the party’s November ticket is led by Council President Ronald Manni, a former Smithfield police officer who now works at Tri-Town Community Action, a nonprofit agency that campaigns against substance abuse.
Hirons said Hanson, who was seeking office for the first time, had come to the party’s attention for endorsement because he had been active in issues involving Slack’s Reservoir near his home
The North Attleboro police report said that Hanson failed to stop for the arresting officers when requested to do so, pulling over only after they activated the bullhorn on their cruiser.
They said he was clocked driving 43 miles an hour in a 30 zone, that his eyes were “bloodshot and glossy,” and that he failed a field sobriety test.
Burrillville’s report says that when Hanson was stopped in 1999, he was driving on a suspended license, had trouble keeping his balance, slurred his speech, and failed a field sobriety test.
The report says that Hanson’s car nearly struck a police cruiser and another vehicle before coming to a stop.
Hanson’s withdrawal from the race saves what might have been considerable debate over whether, as a felon, he was eligible to run for public office.
According to the Rhode Island Constitution, convicted felons are prohibited from seeking office for three years after completing their sentences.
However, while Hanson’s latest violation was a felony in Massachusetts, it was a misdemeanor in Rhode Island.
The Constitution does not spell out whether another state’s definition of a felony can override Rhode Island’s in such cases.
Lawyer Patrick T. Conley, a recognized constitutional expert in Rhode Island, said that while no case law appears to exist that would shed light on the matter, it’s his belief that the Massachusetts felony would be recognized here.
Hanson’s situation is the second in recent years where the past has risen up to bite someone on his political assets.
When it was revealed in 2007 that Democratic Town Council President Stephen Tocco had testified under immunity, years before, to complicity in bribery, that information and other criticisms led to a recall election in which voters removed him from office.
