Chicopee Councilor Tim Wagner resigns, moving to Boston area
Wagner, who sat on the Chicopee City Council since January 2024, told The Republican Wednesday he's moving to the greater Boston area for a new job opportunity and 'to be closer to the people I care about.'
He said he had submitted his resignation with the City Clerk's Office, and is looking at ways to donate his pay from July and August. He will officially leave the council by the end of August, he said.
'I don't think it's fair to take the full pay if I am unable to fully help my constituents,' he said. Wagner said he would donate two months of his pay to Lorraine's Soup Kitchen and Pantry, the Boys and Girls Club and the senior center.
In a social media post on June 19, Wagner asked residents to contact other city councilors for assistance, but 'I will still do my best to assist those who reach out,' he wrote, adding that he planned to continue to attend City Council meetings.
Earlier this year, Wagner announced he would not be running for re-election come November. The 22-year-old directed that decision at having 'a lot of life left to live.'
Wagner was elected to the council in the 2023 municipal election. Before that, he served on the School Committee representing Ward 1.
The young politician said he was proud of a lot of the work he has done while on the council, including restoring an economic development position to the city, adopting a 'long needed' master plan for Chicopee and proposing significant reforms.
'These were substantial efforts, but there is still more to do,' he said in a statement at a January council meeting.
Wagner is asking constituents to reach out to the other at-large councilors, Frank LaFlamme and Jerry Roy, or to their ward representatives for any assistance.
'I'm grateful to the residents for this opportunity to serve on the council,' Wagner said.
When reached by phone Wednesday, LaFlamme, who is also council president, said Wagner 'always did what he believed was right as an at-large councilor.'
'Sometimes we agreed and sometimes we disagreed, but he always did what he thought was right,' LaFlamme said.
The council president said he heard the news about Wagner wanting to resign over the weekend. The young at-large councilor will continue to serve until the end of August, LaFlamme said.
After that, LaFlamme will put a question about filling the vacancy to a vote with the other councilors, he said.
In March, after Robert Zygarowski, who was vice president of the council, died, the council voted not to fill his vacant position.
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USA Today
20 minutes ago
- USA Today
Texas Democrats flee state amid heated redistricting battle. Has this happened before?
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USA Today
20 minutes ago
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Texas Democrats know they're fighting a losing cause. At least they're fighting.
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Los Angeles Times
20 minutes ago
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California redistricting would be ‘triggered' by Texas maps, Newsom says
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The Texas House Democratic Caucus put out a statement riffing on a slogan made famous during the Texas Revolution: 'Come and take it.' One member of the caucus noted that being absent was not a crime and that Texas warrants can't be served in Illinois or New York, where many lawmakers have gone. 'There is no felony in the Texas penal code for what he says,' said Jolanda Jones, a Democrat. 'He's trying to get soundbites, and he has no legal mechanism.' The Texas House Republican speaker, Dustin Burrows, said that Democrats leaving does not 'stop this House from doing its work. It only delays it.' But Abbott's legal options to get his redistricting bill passed, by expelling Democrats or compelling their return, appear narrow, likely forcing the governor's office to make challenges in courtrooms based in Democratic districts. Abbott has until the end of the year to secure new maps for them to be used in the state's March 3 primaries. At a news conference last week in Sacramento, Newsom compared Trump's pressure on Abbott to add five Republican congressional seats as akin to his efforts to 'find' 12,000 votes to win Georgia after the 2020 election. 'We're not here to eliminate the commission,' he said. 'We're here to provide a pathway in '26, '28 and in 2030 for congressional maps on the basis of a response to the rigging of the system by the president of the united states. It won't just happen in Texas. I imagine he's making similar calls all across this country. It's a big deal. I don't think it gets much bigger.' For decades, redrawing California's electoral maps amounted to political warfare. In 1971, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan vetoed a redistricting plan that he called 'a mockery of good government.' The California Supreme Court ultimately drew the lines, and did so again in 1991, when then-Gov. Pete Wilson rejected maps drawn by Democrats. California's state lawmakers last drew their own district lines in 2001, after members of both parties signed off on a plan drawn up to protect incumbents. In 2008, California voters stripped state lawmakers of the power to draw their own districts by passing Proposition 11, which created an independent redistricting commission. Two years later, voters handed the power to redraw congressional district maps to the same panel by passing Proposition 20. That group drew the lines before the 2012 elections, and again after the 2020 Census. California set the date for its last statewide special election — the 2021 attempted recall of Newsom — 75 days in advance. County election officials would need at least that much time to find voting locations and prepare ballots for overseas and military voters, which must be mailed 45 days before election day, one elections official said. 'We need at least a similar timeline and calendar to what took place in 2021 for the gubernatorial recall election,' said Dean Logan, the top elections official in Los Angeles County. Similarly, he said, counties will 'need the funding provided upfront by the state to conduct this election, and the funding to do the redistricting associated with it, because counties are not prepared financially.' The 2021 recall election cost California taxpayers about $200 million. The preliminary estimate for Los Angeles County to administer the redistricting election is about $60 million. Republican strategist Jon Fleischman, former executive director of the California Republican Party, said Republicans nationally need to take state Democrats' efforts to redraw the maps seriously — by pulling out their checkbooks. 'Our statewide Republican fundraising has atrophied because it has been over a generation since we had a viable statewide candidate in California,' he said. 'The kind of money that it would take to battle this — it would have to be national funding effort.' While Texas prompted California Democrats to take action, Fleischman said, the issue has enough momentum here that it ultimately doesn't matter what Texas does. 'If Gavin Newsom places this on the ballot, it means he's already done his polling and has figured out that it will pass because he cares more running for president that redistricting in California,' Fleischman said. 'And he knows he can't afford to make this play and lose.' Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who championed the ballot measure that created the independent redistricting commission, has not weighed in on the mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas and California. But a spokesperson for the former governor made clear that he vehemently opposes both. Since leaving office, Schwarzenegger has fought for independent map-drawing across the nation. Redistricting is among the political reforms that are the focus of the Schwarzenegger Institute at USC. 'His take on all of this is everyone learned in preschool or kindergarten that two wrongs don't make a right. He thinks gerrymandering is evil,' said Daniel Ketchell, a spokesperson for Schwarzenegger. 'It takes power from the people and gives it to politicians. He thinks it's evil, no matter where they do it.' Wilner reported from Washington, Nelson and Mehta from Los Angeles and Luna from Sacramento.
