WINDHAM – A week before the Windham Town Council is scheduled to vote on the appointment of a seventh councilor who would break the 3-3 split made evident in recent meetings, one of the three applicants has withdrawn.

Kaile Warren, a resident of Gin Mill Lane who represented the North District on the council in 2008 and 2009, emailed his withdrawal letter to Town Manager Tony Plante and Town Clerk Linda Morrell on Tuesday.

Warren had applied for the seat made vacant in September with the death of former North District representative Peter Busque. In requesting the appointment, Warren said he had similar philosophical and political convictions as Busque and would make an ideal representative of the business-dominated district.

Former councilors Carol Waig and Peter Anania have also applied. Four votes will be needed to confirm any appointment.

Warren made national news when he was indicted in 2009 on investment fraud charges with his Rent-A-Husband handyman company. The Maine Attorney General’s Office lifted the criminal charges in 2010, but civil fines remain in which Warren must repay $1.99 million to investors. He is suing his former legal firms to recover the investors’ money and his reputation.

In recent council meetings, Warren has spoken critically of councilors’ voting practices, a topic he raised again in his withdrawal letter.

“Recent events and quotes have led me to believe that Windham is in real danger of having a runaway council,” Warren wrote. “As such, I feel the best way I can help prevent that, if it is preventable, is to narrow the field of candidates down to two.

“It has been proven that Windham’s process for the town council’s appointing replacement councilors is inconsistent and tainted by voting for the sake of showing solidarity. The process is a disgrace to the citizens of Windham, and I hope that it can one day be improved. Windham citizens deserve better than what they are getting.”

Asked to explain what he meant by a “runaway council,” Warren replied via email.

“A runaway council is one that is leadership dominated and driven more by personal agenda, emotions and delusions of grandeur,” he wrote. “In my opinion, if this council is not put in check, it has the potential to run an agenda with this modus operandi.”

Warren also is critical of Councilor Tommy Gleason, who voted for Anania a year ago when Anania was tapped to replace former Councilor Bill Tracy, who had resigned the previous fall.

When criticized by Warren in a public meeting earlier this month, Gleason acknowledged he wanted to vote for another candidate, Dave Nadeau, but voted for Anania to show the council was unified after a few previous traumatic months during which three councilors – Waig, Donna Chapman and Tracy – had resigned. Warren argues councilors should be free to vote their conscience and not be “arm-twisted” into voting with the majority.

“When Peter Anania was last selected to fill a council seat it was discussed and consensus was drawn in a closed-door, backroom, executive council session,” Warren wrote. “When the councilors emerged, Councilor Gleason stated that he wanted to vote for Dave Nadeau, but voted for Peter Anania in order to show solidarity. I have known Mr. Gleason for a while now and have always respected him and believe him to be a good man. For him to compromise his vote in order to show solidarity shows the arm-twisting that goes on behind closed doors.

“Of course councilors will deny arm-twisting. But I was a councilor and I saw first-hand what goes on in those backroom meetings. Fortunately, I was a strong councilor who was not influenced. Compromising to break gridlock is one thing, compromising to take a vote from 5-0 to 6-0 is something else. Windham has a critically flawed system that, one, can repeatedly cheats the public of their right to weigh in with their votes on a specific individual who represents them, and, two, leads to town leaders compromising their votes.”

Gleason said he felt the compromise was necessary.

“I did compromise,” Gleason said. “For one reason, the town deserved better. And a statement like that from Kaile Warren, who, when he was on the council, it was the most disruptive, fragmented council there’s ever been in this town. And nothing, absolutely nothing got done when he was a councilor. And I didn’t want to see that happen again.”

Gleason also said Warren – who made it known that, if appointed, he would refuse to serve if he wasn’t elected council chairman – realizes he doesn’t have the votes to be appointed.

“He knows he doesn’t have a chance (of being appointed). So he’s going to make any hay out of it if he can,” Gleason said. “Anything he can get for himself, to ingratiate himself, to make himself look better in front of everybody, that’s what Kaile’s going to do.”

Warren denies any grandstanding, saying he’s trying to make a point that the council has a flawed appointment process and even warns that it’s “about to come to light.”

“Everyone working within the councilor-replacement process is working with a process that is critically flawed and suspect,” Warren said. “As the citizens of Windham know from my time on the council, I flushed out government actions and systems that were operating in a counter-productive manner to the citizen’s best interest. The Windham Town Council replacement process has a very dark side, which is about to come to light. The public exposure of suspect or manipulated government process/practices is always in the citizen’s best interest. Once exposed, it is the citizen’s choice to decide what or any corrective measures should take place. I hope this council pays attention.”

When asked if he’ll run for council in November, Warren said, “I am leaving all public service options for 2012 and beyond wide open.”

Scott Hayman, council chairman, did not return calls for comment.

Kaile Warren