Orchards founder suing senators, reps

By Linda Carman12:00AM / Wednesday, July 21, 2004Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN â€“ A former Williamstown businessman and selectman now living in Tucson, Ariz., has filed a lawsuit charging that senators and representatives who take out-of-state, or out-of-district, contributions are in conflict of interest. Saying his lawsuit wants to restore power to â€œWe The People,â€ Chester P. Soling said Tuesday that he aims to plug a loophole in the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance law that lets non-constituents gain influence by donating to candidates in many districts and states. Soling sued Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other Arizona politicians and candidates in federal court in Tucson on June 21. The suit maintains that officials who accept contributions from contributors outside their state or district violate their duty to represent only those who elect them and are thus in conflict of interest. â€œElected officials should not take money from people or entities that they donâ€™t represent â€“ entities that have self-serving agendas that often diverge widely from that of the voters,â€ Soling said. â€œIâ€™m doing what I can as an American citizen to help get our country back on track.â€ According to Soling, the Constitution specifies that the election of members of Congress â€œis an action of the individual states.â€ â€œThat is obvious, for each state makes its own election laws and conducts its own elections,â€ he wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. â€œSo my question is, why can anyone in another election district or state have a direct say in who the electorate of the district elects. Money is power. You canâ€™t run for office without an adequate source of funds. So when a wealthy person in another state or district donates money to someone running elsewhere, they are not doing that because they like the candidateâ€™s looks. They want to see that person elected to office.â€ In effect, he said, this practice gives the person an extra say, or even an extra vote, while the voters in the district go unheeded, especially after the congressman gets elected. The congressman opens his office to the high roller, not to the ordinary voters, Soling charged. â€œIn this way, we are saying loud and clear, Mr./Mrs. Congressman, represent those who elect you, not those who support you!â€ Soling wrote. â€œThey are directly violating their oath of office, and that is to be a surrogate and represent those who vote for you. In other words, my cause is to bring back the power to We The People, not we the money. And, hey, I get nothing out of this but satisfaction.â€ In a story in The New York Times last month, Soling said the Founding Fathers would be â€œdespondentâ€ over the role of money in politics, which is not in keeping with the spirit of a republic. Soling has launched the Web site www.CongressAbuse.com that contains information about the lawsuit and to contribute to the cause. â€œI urge all Americans who care about the future of our country to go to our site and contribute what they can so that we can take this case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary,â€ he said. Solingâ€™s lawyer, Leon Silver of the law firm Keller Rohrback P.L.C., was quoted in The New York Times story as saying Soling wants an injunction to level the playing field and to return the government to the people as the framers of the Constitution intended. Soling maintains that congressional hearings after the 1998 elections found that senators and congressmen often act from obligation to those who donate the most money to their campaigns. His action would also restrict rich candidates from running for Congress on their own funds, setting the same limit of $2,000 that other contributors face. Soling, a former real estate and Wall Street business executive who owned a seat on the American Exchange and who built The Orchards in Williamstown, has long been active in public betterment. In addition to serving as a selectman in Williamstown, he was a board member of the League of Women Voters and on the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University, of which he is an alumnus.

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Nearly 100 Compete in Lee's Main Street Mile

iBerkshires.com Sports01:23PM / Monday, September 21, 2026

LEE, Mass. -- Noah Hassmer and Michaela Grady were the top male female finishers at the Main Street Mile on Saturday.

Hassmer ran a time of 5 minutes, 2.5 seconds to pace the field at the event, part of the Founders Day celebration in town and a fund-raiser for the Lee Middle and High School cross country teams.

Hassmer finished 27 seconds ahead of runner-up Sam Harding.

Pittsfield's Grady placed sixth overall and first among the female runners, hitting the finish line in 5:55.69.

Ninety-six runners finished the event.

Full results are available on the Berkshire Running Center website.

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