Yet the conflict with the firefighters has seriously damaged the mayor’s standing with labor, and it can be expected to shadow him should he run for governor. (In February, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, because of concerns about protests by firefighters, clumsily told Cicilline, her former state chairman, not to attend a local event featuring the candi-date.)
And while the mayor claims credit for presiding over a burst of development — something that he calls “the trust dividend” — the moribund economy has stalled some projects, spawned a foreclosure crisis with dramatic effects in Providence, and it poses the possibility of the need to raise taxes in future municipal budgets.
During his second inaugural, Cicilline created his own challenge when he pledged a heightened emphasis on improving public education in Providence — an area in which, as he readily acknowledges, not enough progress has been made. If anything, the contretemps involving Evans, the outgoing superintendent, point to the difficulty of moving ahead.
This welter of issues has inspired the guessing game about Cicilline’s political future.
A source close to the mayor calls it “100 percent right now” that he is pursuing a gubernatorial run for 2010. “I think he’s still in the pole position in the governor’s race,” the source says. “He’s got the money, he’s got the name recognition, and he knows his area to improve upon is still the suburbs, and he’s developing a message to try to reach them.”
Councilman Terrence Hassett of Ward 12, who is among those planning to run for mayor if Cicilline departs (Hassett is undecided about whether he would run if Cicilline seeks reelection), also believes the mayor is working toward a gubernatorial run.
This is the minority view, however. Asked whether he will run for governor, Cicilline offers this boilerplate: “2010’s still a long way away . . . . It’s really too early to make that decision.”
Similarly, he dismisses his recent tough times, calling it a predictable part of the ups and downs of being a mayor. “At the end of the day, you continue to work hard for the residents of the city,” Cicilline says.
Asked whether he expects the mayor to run for governor in 2010, lawyer Jack McConnell, a confidante and top Democratic fundraiser, says, “I do not know. I don’t have an ex-pectation. I could just as easily see him run for governor as run for reelection.”
The same question was put to Ward Two Councilor Cliff Wood, one of Cicilline’s staunchest council allies. “I don’t know,” Wood responds. “I think he’s got time to decide, so he’s taking his time.”
One prominent Rhode Island Democrat, who asked to not be identified, doesn’t believe that Cicilline will run for governor, “[although] he may not know that yet. . . I think he was mapping it out, trying to map it out, but what happens, the problems of an urban community overtake a person’s own planning.”
Another Demo-cratic observer says, “Right now, I would say the chances of him running for governor in 2010 are much less than they were a year ago. He’s had some challenges of late that have exposed the inner workings of his staff and of his decision-making. They haven’t exactly been positive.”
