By Sean Flynn/Daily News staff
NEWPORT - A belly-dancing class held in a meadow in Ballard Park Tuesday evening had a political component to it, according to Fourth Ward Councilwoman Kathryn E. Leonard.
Leonard accused Colleen McGrath, executive director of the Friends of Ballard Park and Leonard's opponent in the Nov. 2 election, of co-mingling the class held on city property and co-sponsored by the city's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, with McGrath's election campaign.
McGrath, who was registering about 15 women dressed in exotic costumes for the class at 5:30 p.m. at the nature preserve's entrance off Hazard Road, denied the accusation.
She said Friends of Ballard Park is a nonprofit organization that provides educational, cultural and passive recreational programming to the community in the city's only nature preserve. The belly-dancing class is just another one of those offerings, much like the upcoming Pumpkin Tour in October, she said.
Leonard said she was told that people received an invitation to participate in the belly-dancing class and to come to McGrath's house for a "cocktail party" afterward.
Leonard said McGrath "needs to be told" that she should not be mixing the activities of the nonprofit corporation and a city department with politicking.
"People have to do the right thing," Leonard said, although she said she does not consider this "a big deal."
McGrath said she believes it is nothing at all.
McGrath said invitations to the belly-dancing class were sent out in one mailing. Separately, she said, she invited a group of women, some of whom were participating in the class, and men to come to her house on Eastnor Road for a party.
"They were two completely separate mailings for two separate events," she said. "My friends will be coming to the party. It is not a fund-raiser."
Leonard complained about what she still considers a conflict to City Manager James C. Smith, a complaint that Smith confirmed he received.
McGrath said her actual fund-raiser, and the official kickoff of her election campaign, will take place on Aug. 24 from 6-8 p.m. at the Newport Yachting Center off Thames Street.
"I think we should be discussing issues and not personal things like this," she said.
Candidates will be discussing issues in upcoming informational meetings and forums, such as an event scheduled for Thursday from 6-8 p.m. in the Newport Public Library on Spring Street. Newport Neighbors United, a group led by Burt Hoffman, is sponsoring the meeting. Former Mayor David Gordon, currently chairman of the Newport School Committee, will lead the discussion.
Leonard and McGrath are the only two City Council candidates in the reconfigured Third Ward, so they will not be on the Sept. 14 primary ballot. They will be on the Nov. 2 ballot for the city election, which is nonpartisan.
Because of a charter change approved by the voters in 2001, the number of wards has been reduced from four to three for this election, so there will be three ward council members and four at-large council members on the City Council that takes office in January. There are currently four ward council members and three at-large members.
This is McGrath's first run for elective office.
McGrath went to local schools and graduated from Rogers High School in 1986. After graduating from Providence College in 1990, she held marketing and special event positions at several national magazines including Art & Auction, American HomeStyle & Gardening, and Metropolitan Home, all in New York City, for nine years.
Since returning to the city in 1999, she has been involved in the community in various positions. She writes two weekly columns for Newport This Week and provides public relations and marketing services to several local businesses.
Leonard, a retired schoolteacher, is well-known in the community as an active council member. Most recently, she has been engaged in an effort to preserve the Fort Adams naval housing and prevent expansion there when a private developer is expected to take ownership of the buildings later this year.
Leonard first served two consecutive terms in the council's Fourth Ward seat from 1995-1999, when she lost a re-election bid by just 32 votes to Joseph P. Pratt.
Pratt decided not to seek re-election in 2001 and Leonard easily was elected again to the Fourth Ward seat that year. She then faced opposition from Conor J. Maguire, who was a student at the University of Rhode Island at that time.
Pratt is running for an at-large seat on the City Council this year.