James F. Alley Aims for Return to Town Politics

By IAN FEIN

First in a series of profiles leading up to the West Tisbury town
election.

In his 73 years James F. Alley has done a bit of just about
everything.

He ran a riding school at Misty Meadows horse farm, served as the
West Tisbury postmaster for more than 20 years, spent a few decades at
Alley's General Store in various capacities, built a laundromat
and car wash, sold used cars, and had a real estate business with his
father, among other things.

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Now the venerable Mr. Alley wants to go back and try one of those
things again: He is running for West Tisbury selectman, a position he
held more than 40 years ago.

Mr. Alley said last week that he decided to reenter town politics
because he believes West Tisbury is suffering from a lack of leadership.

"I love West Tisbury. It's my town. And I don't
think it's headed in the right direction," Mr. Alley said
last week, leaning back in his chair and enjoying a cup of iced coffee
from Humphrey's Bakery. "I think we're like a big
ship, sailing along with no one at the wheel. Until we ran onto a
sandbar, and then everyone went all clamoring around."

As a selectman between 1962 and 1965, Mr. Alley served alongside
Daniel Manter - the grandfather of the man he is now trying to
unseat. But he assured this week that his decision to run against
current board chairman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter should not be construed
as a personal fight.

"I have no axe to grind with Skipper," said Mr. Alley,
who was also a childhood friend of Skipper's father, the late
George Manter. "I just want to help the town. I think Skipper does
too, but he doesn't have enough seasoning."

Despite an earring that belies his age, Mr. Alley turns 74 next
month, while Mr. Manter is still two years shy of 50.

The age difference is somewhat ironic, however, considering that Mr.
Alley 45 years ago ran an unsuccessful campaign against incumbent Daniel
Manter on a platform of youth in office.

This will in fact be the fourth time that a West Tisbury
selectmen's race features an Alley-versus-Manter battle. When
Skipper was elected to the board in 2003, he ousted Mr. Alley's
younger brother John, who had been a town selectman for 27 years.

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James Alley said last week that he thinks some of Mr. Manter's
comments from that election now work against him.

"In past elections, Skipper said my brother had too many
jobs," Mr. Alley said. "Well, it seems he has just as many
jobs now. And he probably can't do as good a job with all of
them."

Mr. Alley said he supports a new proposed town bylaw that would
limit the number of elected offices a town resident can hold. The
proposal will appear on the annual town meeting warrant this year as a
citizens' petition.

"I think it's probably a good idea," he said.
"We need to get more people in town involved. Everybody's
got good ideas."

If elected, Mr. Alley said he would reach out for advice and
feedback from other people in town - including his brother John.
He noted that even though they do not always see eye-to-eye, he
appreciates his brother's knowledge of the town. "We work as
a pretty good check and balance," Mr. Alley said. "I would
hope that if I am elected, I could draw on some of his expertise."

The elder Alley knows the town of West Tisbury pretty well himself.
He was the West Tisbury appointee to the first Martha's Vineyard
Commission in 1975, served on the town's first finance committee
in 1961 and held posts as town assessor, welfare agent and
veteran's agent.

Mr. Alley acknowledged that the town has changed since then -
the population increased five-fold between 1970 and 2000, making it the
fastest growing town in the commonwealth. He said town officials worked
to keep a handle on the growth by creating a full-time police department
and building a new school, but added that - looking back now
- they may have gone too far. The West Tisbury school has seen
steadily declining enrollment in recent years.

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"I think the pendulum may have swung too far," Mr. Alley
said. "People act as if we went from being a one-horse town to a
four or five-horse town. But I think we're still more of a
one-and-a-half-horse town."

He is concerned about town spending; the annual budget has increased
since 2000 at a rate of more than 10 per cent each year. "We have
to get real fiscal responsibility and soon," Mr. Alley said.
"The town leaders need to realize that they can't get
everything they want. Because some day the bond issues come home to
roost, and we're not a wealthy town."

Mr. Alley reappeared on the political scene at a special town
meeting in November to criticize town leaders for their support of the
$5.5 million town hall renovation project. He admitted that the need for
a new town hall poses a tough conundrum for the selectmen, but said that
other options - such as the latest proposal to sell the building
to the Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust - make more
sense.

"West Tisbury is famous for not keeping up its town
properties, until there's a crisis," he said. "The
people who work for the town deserve a decent facility. But whether that
building there is the facility, I'm not sure. I'm worried
that if we open up the walls we will probably be in for a bushel full of
problems."

The current atmosphere in town hall can also use some upkeep, Mr.
Alley said.

"If elected, I would work toward a kinder, gentler town hall,
so people won't get shuffled around when they go in there,"
Mr. Alley said. "I think the people who walk in there now
don't always get treated too well. That hostile attitude is
new."

He said he would spend up to an hour a day in town hall every day to
solicit public comments and research any of the legal issues that might
be on the table. He said he is unhappy with the town's increasing
legal expenses.

"We live in a litigious society," Mr. Alley said.
"So we need to make sure that we always know where we are before
we jump off the diving board."

A former town assessor, Mr. Alley said he has read almost the entire
transcript from the Graham property tax hearing last summer. He chose
not to speculate about possible outcomes, but said he believes the town
made a mistake in not settling the case. The total price tag for West
Tisbury taxpayers stands now at roughly $225,000.

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"I think if you're a good negotiator, you can usually
work it out and avoid litigation. Now it's been a strain on both
the taxpayer and the town," Mr. Alley said. "If you look at
how much each side has spent on legal fees, you'd think they
should have been able to reach a middle ground."

The selectmen should have exhibited more oversight and been more
involved in the case, Mr. Alley said.

"It's the assessors' ball of wax, but these kinds
of problems concern the whole town - and thereby the
selectmen," Mr. Alley said. "They didn't get involved,
and by the time people started paying attention, the horse was not only
out of the barn - it was already halfway to town."

With an affable and colloquial demeanor, Mr. Alley has earned a
reputation in some circles for his sharp sense of humor.

In a May 1972 letter to the editor in the Gazette, he urged his
neighbors to cooperate with supporters of the Nantucket Sound Islands
Trust bill filed by U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. "The price of
crow on Martha's Vineyard is going up to at least $2 a
pound," Mr. Alley wrote. "A lot of it is going to be eaten
by the outspoken opponents of the Kennedy Trust Bill." A short
1973 Gazette article reported that Mr. Alley was passing out orange
bumper stickers that read "Don't make baloney out of my
pony."

But when talk turns to town politics, Mr. Alley quickly grows
serious.

"I was born and raised in West Tisbury. I've been here
probably all but eight years of my life," Mr. Alley said.
"And I hate to see the town struggle. It's not slipping away
- they're throwing it away."