The Phoenix

Cicilline: a go or no for governor?

Is this a great week or what for looking into the political tea leaves for the future of the Providence mayor?

While Cicilline could indeed still run for governor, a string of other events — including the snow storm, his brother’s guilty plea in a federal corruption case, and a steady barrage of unanswered criticism from talk radio (mostly from Cianci), and even the dour economy — have complicated the terrain, offering a stark reminder of how quickly the worm can turn in politics.

At the same time, a small but significant group of Cicilline supporters are encouraging the mayor to pursue a third term — a race in which he would remain a prohibitive favorite — because of concerns that his approach would come undone if he were to leave City Hall.

It would be a mistake to dismiss Cicilline, considering how he and General Treasurer Frank Caprio have steadily led the campaign-fundraising quest for 2010.

And a $25,000 poll undertaken on the mayor’s behalf by the Washington-based Feldman Group indicates stronger support for Cicilline than some may surmise, says a source. The poll, completed in February, reportedly shows generally strong statewide backing for the mayor’s 51 percent favorable rating. It also rated Cicilline as tied with Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch (after Jack Reed, Lincoln Chafee, and Sheldon Whitehouse) for the fourth-highest favorability rating in the state.

Then again, the last time a Providence mayor made the jump to the governor’s office was more than 60 years ago — in 1950, a wholly different political era — when Dennis J. Roberts accomplished the feat. And if Cicilline does go for it, his opponents will have quite a bit more ammunition to use than in the past.

Published Jul 09 2008, 03:35 PM by Ian Donnis

joe bernstein said:

Cicilline's new initiative on selling garbage bags to city residents combined with a charge per bag for pickup on top of a tax increase and non-pickup of bulk items for weeks at a time is really endearing him to city voters.Not to mention his own little sanctuary city nonsense with his boy Esserman doing the dirty work.

I hope the marco Riz controversy stays a hot topic for a while.The "advocates"are apparently feeling the heat.Pretty soon even the Journal will be unable to carry his water.His lickspittle columnist,"Charlie the Schnorrer"Bakst will thankfully be folding his tent soon,which will leave him only Bob Kerr and a few reporters to have his back.I think Cicilline's days as a political power may be numbered.I sure hope so and will do whatever possible to hasten his downfall.

July 9, 2008 3:56 PM
mass guy said:

I agree joe. There a lot of issues hanging out there regarding the Mayor, someone should look at his fundraising when he first ran. Who held funraisers? How much cash was taken in? What about his campaign headquarters on Elmwood Ave. Who ownes the building? Who hired Juan Ghirdo? in his law firm. Not the upstanding honest person esserman claims he is.

July 9, 2008 4:26 PM
Will said:

I can't even believe this is being discussed seriously ... but it is the Phoenix, not the Wall Street Journal. The only way he has any chance, is that if he were the only one running.

Cicilline can probably be mayor of Providence for as long as the illegal aliens and dead people in Providence cemeteries keep voting him in. The people who vote in Providence have dubious standards which they use to determine who gets elected as mayor or to city council, which usually comes down to getting a job or a tax break or something else of value out of the city's coffers in exchange for their vote (or votes if they vote other different names). By and large, the population of Providence is not representative of the state's population as a whole, by any number of ways one might determine that.

I don't see any way, under any circumstance whatsoever, in this or any other universe, that he would ever even make it out of a Democratic primary for governor, nevermind actually having any chance in the general election. He would be slaughtered like a pig (with lipstick?).

This may be a largely Democratic state, but it is not a liberal one. He'd probably do himself well to go back into private practice defending illegal aliens, drug dealers, and mobsters -- since he has so much prior experience at it.

July 9, 2008 10:33 PM
joe bernstein said:

Will-There are a lot of people in Providence who are like the rest of the state.

I voted for Chris Young in the primary and Dave Talan in the general election-I would vote for a steaming dog turd before I'd vote for Cicilline.

The little scumbag's latest attempts to shake down the already overburdened residents will backfire on him and city council members.I am reaching out to my councilman on this and I am not being friendly about it.

July 10, 2008 10:58 AM
Rhody said:

If Dave has Buddy Cianci complaining about on radio every day and Don Carcieri running to Bill O'Reilly to bring Buddy's gripes to a national audience, he must be doing something right.

Seriously, I'd rather see Dave run for mayor again. I don't want the Cianci crew back in charge.

July 10, 2008 11:33 AM
joe bernstein said:

Buddy can't run until 2014,when he probably wouldn't consider it.There ARE other people around who'd run.

July 10, 2008 5:06 PM
mass guy said:

Rhodys logic makes no sense. Is he saying if ANY BODY raises an issue or disagrees with boy david,that means he's doing something right? Or that means Cianci and Co are trying to come back?

Wow! Wait for the next shoe to drop, its coming.

July 11, 2008 9:02 PM
rhody said:

For the record, there are at least three people I'd vote for governor before Cicilline. But if you're willing to give the convicted felon on talk radio any credibility...

July 12, 2008 11:23 AM
joe bernstein said:

Rhody-you may not like Cianci-I was never involved in politics at all,and frankly didn't vote for him,but i will say that he did a lot of good things in Providence,and more importantly he didn't make a concerted effort to destroy the quality of life for middle class taxpaying homeowners by picking their pockets every time they breathe,unlike this mayor does.When it comes to what goes on in Providence and running a city,for better or worse,Cianci is an authority.It was his life.Rhody,I sometimes get the impression that you resent people who worked for what they got and want to hold onto it as somehow akin to Dick Cheney and his gang.It gets real tiresome to hear after a while.I resent Cicilline sucking up to two groups:the rich East Side limousine liberals,and the drug dealers and moochers who helped him get elected.I am voting against my councilman if anyone runs in opposition because he seems to go along with Cicilline on evrything.he owns a business in Providence and maybe he is intimidated by Cicilline's ability to make his commercial life miserable.I don't know,but he won't answer my messages so I effectively have no representation.

July 12, 2008 12:43 PM
mass guy said:

Rhody are you saying every issue raised has no credibility? Regardless of who raises it? The issues are not being created by any organization or person other than Cicciline's administration. They should answer for everyone of them instead of hiding behind quick agrogant sound bites.

July 14, 2008 2:04 PM