The Phoenix

The Advocate touts Cicilline's gov hopes

Because it ignores David Cicilline's various political problems over the last 13 or so months (including his controversial brother), this piece in the Advocate -- which talks up the Providence mayor's gubernatorial hopes -- feels rather disconnected from reality (h/t GC:PVD).

Cicilline’s salesmanship could soon be put to a new test. Widely considered one of the state’s most viable gubernatorial candidates for 2010, he’s hinted that he’ll throw his hat into the ring early this year. “It’s something I’ve been looking at in a serious way,” Cicilline says.

It’s a victory that would be historic. No other governor has ever run as openly gay (New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey came out while in office). But it’s not a done deal.

“Mayors don’t translate to governors easily,” says Donald Sweitzer, Democratic National Committee finance director. “Big-city mayors face an enormous amount of problems in their day-to-day duties, and they rack up a lot of detractors.” But Cicilline, who has largely maintained a 60%–plus approval rating, could buck the trend. His only major adversary is the Providence firefighters labor union, with which he’s been engaged in a hard-fought contract dispute.

“But David is a unique character,” Sweitzer adds. “He will hold statewide office soon.”

Published Jan 09 2009, 01:30 PM by Ian Donnis

Jef Nickerson said:

I didn't go into it too much in my post on GC:PVD (because we steer away from politics there), but my first thought when reading that article was, "when was this written?"

The Advocate has been going through a bit of tumult of late, I think it's parent has had some financial issues (maybe they were even sold, I can't recall without consulting the Google machine), a new editor came in, they switched from a bi-weekly to a monthly pub... I could see The Advocate doing an in-depth piece about the good and bad of Mayor Cicilline, this piece was quite puffy. Seems like it was sitting around for a while, or someone said, "we need a page, whip up something about that mayor in Providence."

The line that stood out for me, and made me question the freshness of the article was, "(w)idely considered one of the state’s most viable gubernatorial candidates for 2010." I'm not a political junkie, but I try to keep track of what's going on, and it seems to me that 2010 is Frank Caprio's to lose.

January 9, 2009 8:54 PM
Jen Coleslaw said:

I would be very disappointed to learn that The Advocate (or any other magazine/newspaper) supported a gay candidate simply because he/she is gay and not because he/she is a good candidate.

January 10, 2009 12:54 PM
joe bernstein said:

Well said Jen-if Cicilline were a good candidate,his orientation wouldn't make a difference-just as it doesn't have anything to do with his being a corrupt,lying little vermin.

There have been other homosexual or lesbian politicians who are honest and competent.Why profile such a creep to make a point on "gay this or that"?It only defeats the Advocate's(presumably)attempt to put a good light on gay people in politics.

January 14, 2009 10:12 AM
Jef Nickerson said:

Jen:

The Advocate can tend to be a cross between People and Newsweek. You'll have frivolous stuff right next to in-depth reporting on issues. It can sometimes be hard to figure out which articles are trying to be which. This was definitely in the feel-good "look what gay people can do" camp. The Advocate has it in them to come here and shine a light on the mayor and do a real article, this just wasn't it.

January 14, 2009 3:03 PM