It was a Golden opportunity.
As the now infamous blizzard of 2026 bore down on Plymouth and plunged the town into darkness, Select Board Chair David Golden seized the moment.
Over the next few days, Golden, a recently announced candidate for state representative, worked to make himself an isolated source of information for residents trapped in their homes and begging for help.
He was all over — picking up care packages at Shaw’s for folks holed up at the town’s emergency shelter and broadcasting the latest info from inside the town’s emergency operations center.
He documented his efforts on Facebook. And many residents thanked him online.
But his efforts were solitary. He did it alone, even though several other Select Board members urged him to organize a group effort to disseminate storm-related information to residents.
On the day of the storm, three other board members expressed anger and frustration at what they viewed as Golden’s efforts to exclude them from storm-related decisions, according to texts among board members obtained by the Independent.
Golden abruptly rebuffed requests from three other board members to have a Zoom meeting to coordinate a response. He showed up alone at the town Emergency Operations Center to shoot video updates he published online – not from his old Select Board account, but instead from a newly renamed Facebook campaign page “David Golden for State Representative.”
Using the storm to boost his political campaign raises questions about whether he may have breached state ethics law barring elected officials from using their position to get an “unwarranted privilege” others cannot get.
In an interview with the Independent, Golden said everything he did was meant to benefit the town and not himself and shrugged off his colleagues’ frustrations.
“I reject that wholesale,” Golden said. “I was trying to help my community recover from a natural disaster.
“On Tuesday morning I was on the phone with the town manager. He indicated there would be information shared at the Emergency Operations Center, so I drove down there. When I got there, the emergency manager needed some assistance answering phones, so I sat down and started answering phones.
“I went there in order to work,” Golden said. “They were welcome to do so if they wanted to. I wasn’t asked to go. I just went. They could have done the same.”
Golden added anyone who has a problem with his delivering supplies or picking up food for folks working long shifts, “that’s their hangup, not mine.”
All three Select Board members who expressed concern in texts with Golden – Kevin Canty, Deb Iaquinto and Bill Keohan – declined to be interviewed for this report.
On the Monday the storm hit, however, they were more forthcoming about their criticism of Golden’s “temperament.”
In group texts, they debated whether to cancel an in-person select board meeting scheduled for Tuesday and instead meet on Zoom to discuss a possible joint board effort to provide storm updates for residents.
According to the texts, Golden dismissed the idea.
“I know we want to be efficient with town staff during an emergency,” wrote Keohan, “but rather than canceling the Select Board meeting, we should consider suspending the current agenda and reduce the meeting to a Zoom meeting only” to “enhance everyone’s work” to keep residents informed.
“The meeting is canceled,” Golden responded. “End of discussion.”
Canty and Iaquinto chimed in.
“I agree with Bill,” wrote Canty. “I think it should be like the updates we had during the pandemic…it would put people at ease.”
“Folks, we don’t have time for that,” Golden said. “You want to help — grab a shovel and go see your neighbors.”
“I was only inquiring on the possibilities of a Zoom informational meeting only,” countered Keohan, “Your response as chairman is confusing to me. This is not the time nor the place for such a temperament.”
Then Iaquinto joined the conversation.
“I agree with Bill and Kevin,” she texted. “A 10-15 minute update from town leadership would go a long way right now. We don’t have to recreate content, just deliver it in a different way and also help clarify how plowing, power restoration etc. are being prioritized.
“I’d also like to know how the rest of us can help in a meaningful way,” she went on. “We’ve certainly all been helping our neighbors, but as a member of the town’s leadership team, I’d really like to be doing more.”
Instead, Golden ended the meeting and struck out alone, posting videos from EOC to his campaign site.
He said all his actions were as the select board chair, not as a candidate running for higher office. He would have taken the same actions and posted the same videos, he said, if he weren’t campaigning for state representative.
“It was just my selectman’s page,” he said. “I changed the page to reflect my running for state rep,” Golden said. “There’s no there there. I was just trying to help my community recover from a natural disaster.”
He told the Independent he was joking when he suggested board members grab shovels and visit their neighbors.
The fifth member of the Select Board, Dick Quintal, did not express any frustration about Golden’s actions in the group texts. He told the Independent he is aware some of his colleagues were irked.
He said no one brought it up at the Select Board meeting last Tuesday after the storm.
“That’s how people know how you feel,” he said. “This is the board of no communication.”
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.