Seth Gitell has a tasty post up on his blog: Buddy Cianci analyzing the fall of Eliot Spitzer and diagnosing his future prospects.

Of course, it's natural that Cianci's story makes political reporters (see here and here) invoke F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gitell, formerly a political scribe for the Boston Phoenix, does this, too.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously said “there are no second acts in American lives.”

Fitzgerald never met Vincent “Buddy” Cianci was the larger than life former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island not once, but twice. Cianci’s first 9 consecutive years in office came to an end after his resignation in 1984 after he plead no contest to charges that he assaulted his estranged wife’s paramour. Cianci came back as mayor in 1990 having won a rousing election campaign. He lead Providence for another twelve years, helping to revitalize downtown Providence and making it one of America’s comeback communities, all until being convicted on one count of racketeering conspiracy, out of an indictment that originally carried 30 counts. He resigned and completed four and a half years in federal prison. Since last May, he has been back in the limelight in Providence, hosting a highly-rated radio talk show on WPRO appearing as a political analyst on the city’s ABC television affiliate.

If any politician in American can help the disgraced former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, find a way to rebuild his life and reputation, it’s Cianci.

Cianci is quick to distinguish his case from Mr. Spitzer’s. First, he says, he fought prosecutors tooth-and-nail on the charges against him, ultimately being convicted on only one of a slew of charges against him. Second, he always maintained a significant portion of his popularity in Providence: “I was mayor for 22 years and I’ve been to ever bar mitzvah and every first communion and every wake. I became part of the fabric of the city.” Third, he points out, he never portrayed himself as a moral paragon as Mr. Spitzer did.

Of the events that lead to his first comeback, Cianci says, “the first thing … a guy was fooling around with my wife and I gave him a couple slaps. It’s a lot different.” Of the charges that lead to the second, he says “I was found not guilty of all the predicate acts but guilty on the conspiracy.” All this, he emphasizes, is different than being linked to prostitution, particularly for a politician who made a name prosecuting others. “When you fall from grace, it’s a lot more difficult to come back.”

The first shock Mr. Spitzer will have to overcome, Cianci says, is the adjustment after years of being an elected official to returning to life as an ordinary citizen. “This guy’s going to go through some tough time when he wakes up and finds he doesn’t have the trappings of office,” Cianci says.

Another obstacle Mr. Spitzer faces, according to Cianci, is the possibility that legal charges could be brought against him. “He’s lucky he’s rich,” Cianci says, noting the financial cost of protracted court fights.

Despite the differences he cites, Cianci talked about the pain of a draining legal battle and prison sentence. “I went to work every day after court,” he says. “But it does take a toll on you. You have to have a lot of testicular fortitude to go through that.”

Surviving prison, he says, was a challenge. “It’s boring. It’s not a pleasant place to be,” he says. “The first six months I was there, I worked in the kitchen mopping floors. Then I got a job in the library.” Through it all, he took things “one day at a time.”

Before Mr. Spitzer or anyone else reclaims his public image, he must restore his relationships with his family and his own psyche, Cianci says. “You have to reach down into your soul and believe in yourself and have tremendous self-confidence,” he says.

Cianci’s come back has been helped that his gift of gab is coupled with a roguish but inherently likable personality, which, of course, is one recipe for a successful talk show host.  Cianci has shown up on the airwaves after both instances of downfall. It’s hard to imagine the often-dour Mr. Spitzer jousting with work-a-day callers on the airwaves. Still, it’s possible to envision Mr. Spitzer some day down the line teaching or writing after the passions of the moment subside.

3/27/2008 9:06:20 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

I can't put it any better than Dan Kennedy:

This is why New York Post editors make the big bucks.

3/11/2008 8:57:18 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Bill Harsch, a two-time loser in his runs for AG against Patrick Lynch, has been appointed by Governor Carcieri to the state Ethics Commission.

Deborah Cerullo, who matches Arlene Violet in having a religious (nun) and prosecutor background, has also been appointed.

From the Gov:

Cerullo, a Catholic nun who served as an Assistant District Attorney in both Massachusetts and New York, replaces George Weavill, Jr.  Her term expires on September 1, 2011. Harsch, a Providence attorney who previously served in the Carter Administration and in Rhode Island state government, replaces James C. Segovis. His term expires on September 1, 2012.

     

“Despite years of effort, Rhode Island’s political system is still beset by many ethical challenges,” Governor Carcieri said. “The Rhode Island Ethics Commission needs the leadership to not only prosecute misdeeds under the existing rules, but also to ensure that the current rules are sufficient to cover all the potential conflict of interest situations in state and local government. I firmly believe that Sr. Cerullo and Bill Harsch will provide that leadership.”

     

“In seeking individuals to serve on this critical board, I sought independent thinkers who held promise to be proactive, staunch defenders of the public's interest in ethical government,” the Governor said. “The Ethics Commission is at an important crossroads in meeting its constitutional mission, and as a matter of moving forward I put a premium on strong personal integrity in choosing these appointees.”

Governor Carcieri deserves credit, as does executive director Kent Willever, for strengthening the Ethics Commission from this point when it was mired in conflict.

2/4/2008 12:53:41 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

While most everyone was focused yesterday afternoon on New Hampshire, the office of Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch released a statement about a proposal to counter public corruption.

Although it seems a bit unusual for this kind of thing to drop shortly before 5 pm on the day of the primary, it also marks a retort of sorts to gripes about the feds typically taking the lead in corruption prosecutions.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch [yesterday] announced that he is submitting legislation that would, for the first time, put a strong public corruption felony statute on the books in Rhode Island.

 

The Government Integrity and Public Accountability Act of 2008 will, if enacted, create a new chapter of law entitled Crimes Against the Public Trust under which the criminal offense, theft of honest services, will allow the state to vigorously prosecute those violating the public trust. The new law, modeled on the federal statute that was enacted in 1988, would apply to public servants at all levels — from elected officials to state, municipal, and town employees, and contract employees.

 

“The citizens of Rhode Island need assurances that their government, at all levels, is working to further the public good,” Lynch said. “This legislation provides a safeguard for government integrity, gives us the means to return stolen money to the state’s general fund, and, most importantly, a means of prosecuting those who choose to abuse the public trust. We have the will to get the job done, but not the way. This bill gives us the way.”

 

Lynch’s bill includes a provision, much like criminal forfeiture, that enables the state to civilly pursue recovery of any monies that the public servant unlawfully received in the course of a violation knowingly committed in an official capacity, if the public servant has been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor.

 

“The money recovered would be allocated to Rhode Island’s general fund, where it rightfully belongs,” Lynch said. “The state is the victim. It is the residents of our state who are harmed and adversely affected. It is the residents of Rhode Island who suffer each time another public corruption offense takes place. With a looming $500 million state budget deficit and a sluggish economy, state leaders need to transform government. This bill is integral to accomplishing that transformation.”

 

Another provision of the bill would amend Rhode Island General Laws 12-12-17 to extend the statute of limitations for crimes against the public trust from three years to 10 years.

1/9/2008 11:24:59 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

On Tuesday, Representative Ray Gallison (D-Bristol) settled with the state Ethics Commission over his failure -- for three years -- to disclose his employment with a legislatively financed nonprofit. This came not long after N4N reported that Spencer Maguire, Gallison's Republican opponent in 2006, has moved to Washington, DC.

Any connection there?

"No, it had nothing to do with that at all," says House spokesman Larry Berman. The resolution had been in the works for several months, he says, "and it has nothing to do with Maguire."

In response to the ethics settlement, RI GOP chairman Gio Cicione is calling on Speaker William J. Murphy to remove Gallison from his leadership posts as deputy majority leader, vice chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and chairman of the Municipal Government Committee. 

“Speaker Murphy talks about the need for honest government and claims he doesn’t tolerate unethical behavior if he finds out about it among legislators; it’s time he face up to one of the poster boys of unethical behavior,” Cicione says of Gallison. “The people of this state demand that Speaker Murphy step up to the plate, recognize the scope of ethics violations at work here and immediately force Gallison to step aside.” ....  

 

The investigative report that produced the settlement fine indicates Gallison failed to report that his $4,000 per month income is derived from his operation of a nonprofit educational organization, the College Readiness Program, which is completely funded with taxpayer money through legislative grant. Such grants are voted on and awarded by legislators themselves. The Ethics Commission settlement indicates Gallison, by failing to properly report the income source for three consecutive years (2000, 2001, and 2002) engaged in “intentional nondisclosure.”

Cicione also urges AG Patrick Lynch to look into the Gallison case "as a clear ethical violation of law and an abuse of public office."

 

In response to Cicione's call for Gallison to be removed from his leadership posts, Berman says he hasn't yet been able to get in touch with Murphy. "It certainly seems political," he says.

 

Regarding how Gallison failed to make the required disclosure for three years, Berman says: "He made an error and he’s taken full responsibility for the matter, and it’s been resolved. His explanation was that he made the error the first year and then he copied -- they have to do a disclosure statement every ywar -- and he copied the previous statement. .... [It was] a mistake that got perpetuated. .... As soon as it was pointed out to him, he went in and corrected it."

12/20/2007 10:47:55 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |