With two weeks to go before the election, the working relationship between the Democratic president of the Little Compton Town Council and the first-term Republican town clerk appears to have completely collapsed amid a Superior Court complaint that one side calls a matter of safety and respect and the other, a political hit job.

On Friday, Sept. 18, attorney Richard Humphrey filed a complaint in Newport County Superior Court on behalf of Town Clerk Heather Cook, alleging that council president Patrick McHugh has “undermined” and “belittled” his client on numerous occasions since she was sworn in at the beginning of the year.

The complaint seeks injunctive relief and a temporary restraining order (TRO) — an emergency order sometimes sought in cases of domestic abuse or when there are fears of violence.

But TROs, which are often valid for 10 to 21 days, must be specifically sought through a court hearing, and in the 30-plus days since the complaint was filed, neither Cook nor Humphrey has requested a hearing or otherwise pursued an order.

McHugh, who is up for re-election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, said it is clear to him that the complaint is politically motivated.

“It’s political, definitely,” he said. “It’s false and it’s frivolous, and it’s simply untrue. I don’t have a restraining order against me … why is that? Why haven’t they pursued it? I’ve done nothing.”

Reached Friday, Humphrey declined to comment on the complaint, and Cook did not respond to an email seeking comment.

McHugh’s attorney, Gil A. Bianchi Jr., has filed a motion to dismiss that is scheduled to be heard in court in March 2027.

Fallout

While both sides await their day in court, the relationship between McHugh and Cook appears to have deteriorated significantly, and Little Compton’s interim town administrator said it is becoming an issue.

“I think Heather does a very good job at certain aspects of her job,” Anya Rader Wallack said Friday. “But the current situation is making it difficult for the town to function normally; it is causing some problems in terms of how we operate on behalf of the people of the town, who we serve.”

Neither Cook nor her two deputies has attended any of the three council meetings held since the complaint was filed — Thursday, Sept. 24; Thursday, Oct. 8; or Thursday, Oct. 15.

Cook reportedly contacted town solicitor Anthony DeSisto the afternoon of the first missed meeting to inform him that neither she nor a deputy, who she said had car trouble, would be there that night.

She reportedly advised him that he would have to serve as “clerk pro tem” and fulfill her duties.

Following that correspondence, DeSisto contacted Wallack and was officially appointed clerk pro tem. Since then, DeSisto, who replaced Humphrey as town solicitor three years ago, has been taking minutes at each meeting in addition to giving legal advice.

Asked about the arrangement and whether he could remember taking minutes at any other point in his legal career, DeSisto didn’t say, but called the current arrangement “unusual.”

Town hall

While Cook did not respond to a request for comment, McHugh said the recent atmosphere at town hall has also been off; he described workers as “walking on eggshells.”

There’s been “zero communication” with Cook, said McHugh, whose office is adjacent to the clerk’s.

“It’s business as usual for me,” he said. “I do what I need to do (at town hall, but) I’m not in there all day. My door is right next to hers and it stays open unless I need to close it. Hers stays closed. It’s certainly been an obstacle for me but I’ve worked around it.”

Under the town code, the town administrator is given supervisory authority over the town clerk in personnel and many day-to-day matters. Speaking about her supervisory role, Wallack paused when asked about the extent of her authority over the clerk’s office.

Cook’s “opinion is clear that she does not report to me, she does not report to the town council, she reports to the voters,” Wallack said.

Like McHugh, Cook will be on the ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and she is running unopposed. But if she is elected, it will be the first time voters have named her clerk. Cook served for five years as deputy clerk and took over the top clerk’s job Thursday, Jan. 8, replacing former clerk Carol Wordell, who retired at the end of last year.

The complaint in detail

The complaint filed in Newport County Superior Court names McHugh individually and in his capacity as president of the town council. And while it names only him, Humphrey writes that McHugh “may have been acting in concert with others relative to the accusations raised within this complaint.”

Those accusations include:

“The Defendant (McHugh) has undermined the office of the Town Clerk for many months including, but not limited to, emails harassing the Town Clerk and undermining the Town Clerk’s attempts at rectifying the IT issues and work stoppage within the Town Hall to properly serve the residents and guests who visit the Town Hall.”

Further, “Defendant has, on numerous occasions, belittled Plaintiff to other members of the Town Council as well as other departments within the Town Hall.”

As a result of McHugh’s alleged actions, the complaint reads, Cook “has been irreparably harmed,” and Humphrey seeks a preliminary injunction, permanent injunction and temporary restraining order ordering McHugh to “cease and desist from harassing the plaintiff and the staff of the Town of Little Compton Town Clerk’s Office.”

In addition, Humphrey seeks an order that McHugh “have no contact with (Cook) in any form or attempt to contact (Cook) in any format or in person or via third party.”

On Thursday, Oct. 8, McHugh’s attorney, Gil A. Bianchi Jr., filed a motion to dismiss. In a seven-page memorandum accompanying the motion, Bianchi wrote that Cook’s complaint is “deficient” in numerous ways and must be dismissed:

“The complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, fails to place (McHugh) on notice of the claims against him, and seeks remedies that are unjustified based on the facts provided.”

The complaint “glaringly fails to articulate any facts that would support the relief she purportedly seeks.”