Rhode Island State Representative candidate Michael Gazdacko has been working with Lance Robbins for more than a decade starting in California, where Robbins garnered the reputation as one of the most infamous "slumlords" in the country.
Robbins was cited with 105 health and building-code violations, piled up 32 convictions, paid a $1 million settlement, just to name a few of his legal problems, according to press reports.
“Residents of a dilapidated building who say they regularly fight off armies of giant rats, swarms of cockroaches and youth gangs that roam their hallways have sued the building's owner for $10 million,” wrote the Associated Press in a 1986 article.
For more than 15 years, housing advocates, consumer groups and government attorneys took dozens of legal actions against Robbins and his companies. After years of legal battles, he pleaded to some crimes, and paid more than a million dollars in fines.
The battles between housing advocates and Robbin were epic, sparking hundreds of press articles about Robbins’ rat infested apartments.
Fast forward to today. Gazdacko, Robbins' long-time business mate, is now running against the embattled Anastasia Williams in House District 9.
GoLocalProv.com was the first to unveil a series of questions and concerns about Williams management of the John Hope Settlement House in which Williams is the Chair of the Board. As a result, many of John Hope’s funding grants have been canceled. SEE ARTICLES BELOW
Gazdacko's Ties
For voters, little is known about Gazdacko and his ties to the controversial Robbins. Gazdacko repeatedly refused to answer questions about Robbins' housing violations and fines in Los Angeles.
"I'm an employee, not a partner. I think the work that we've done here in Rhode Island speaks for itself," said Gazdacko in a phone interview. "Most of the people who meet me want to talk about me, they believe this race is based on the current state of Rhode Island. None of this [about Robbins] has any bearing on the race."
According to documents filed with the Rhode Island Secretary of States office and other documents, Gazdacko has been tied to Robbins in a number of his business interests. The business in Rhode Island that Gazdacko and Robbins manage is called Urban Smart Growth and the management team page was removed in the past few weeks. GoLocal was able to secure an achived Internet page of the site and found that Gazadacko and Robbins constituted two of the three members of the company's management team.
Repeatedly Gazdacko refused to answer questions about Robbin's violations, the difficulties tenants had or whether Rhode Islanders should be concerned about the track record of his company, his involvement, or Robbins.
"I came here to work on Hope Artiste village and Greystone Lofts, that have been rehabbed to new communities. Hope Artiste Village now holds 150 small businesses," said Gazdacko.
Controversies Surrounding Robbins
The 1986 AP story on Robbins continued,”Attorneys for the Spanish-speaking residents related nightmarish stories of cockroaches biting sleeping children, a rat they said tried to drag a baby from its bed and another that allegedly attacked a man in the shower.”
Robbins was twice disciplined (1991 and 1994) by the State Bar for "facts and circumstances surrounding habitability violations in properties" that his companies owned.
"In January of 2001, Robbins pleaded "nolo contendere" and was convicted of three misdemeanor violations of the fire protection and prevention provisions of the Los Angeles Municipal Code," according to Realty Times.
For years, Lauren Saunders battled Robbins in Los Angeles. Today, Saunders serves as Managing Attorney at National Consumer Law Center. The Harvard Law Bulletin featured Saunders' Robin Hood like efforts — and said her efforts should create a new category of law, “Slumlord Slayers.”
The Harvard publication story that featured Saunders’ efforts for enforcing housing laws against Robbins. The Harvard article said, “And for the last three years, she’s battled Los Angeles landlord Lance Robbins. The case, she acknowledges, ‘has really consumed me.’ Working with city attorneys, she created a novel legal strategy that targeted all of Robbins’ business practices at once rather than attacking a single housing code violation at a time. Saunders pored over housing records to identify all of his properties, which are hidden within a maze of shell companies.”
Robbins left much of his business in Los Angeles and started buying up properties in New England - Pawtucket was his first target. Like his empire in Los Angeles, Robbins created a series of corporations to manage the range of financial interests.
In California, from the mid-1980s to the mid-to-late 1990s, Robbins was cited with 105 health and building-code violations ranging from operating apartment buildings with blocked emergency exits to failing to maintain fire extinguishers, according to California Superior Court records.
Robbins says the charges were politically motivated. He says he was championing policy changes in the city that would allow landlords to remove rent control if they invested in upgrading buildings. That made enemies for him among affordable-housing backers, he says.
The citations also included operating buildings with unsanitary bathrooms and the presence of "vermin," according to records from the State Bar Court of California. They resulted in 32 convictions-- some with summary probation and fines attached, according to California Superior Court records.
The Los Angeles city attorney's office "has had seven criminal cases against Mr. Robbins," for building-code violations, said Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for that office, in an e-mail.
Robbins says his push to refurbish properties and revitalize neighborhoods was seen by some as "gentrification" and generated a personal backlash.
"What happened was, they would periodically pick a landlord, target him and get press for prosecuting them," he said.
Related Slideshow: 10 Primaries to Watch in RI in ‘16
Rhode Island political primaries on are September 13 -- here a just a few key races to watch out for.
The path to square off against Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello in Cranston starts in the Republican primary. Republican National Committeeman Frias — who twice ran for State Senate unsuccessfully in his early 20s in Providence — has consistently set his sights on the Speaker, and not his primary opponent, founder of Rhode Island Alliance for Vaccine Choice challenger Shawna Lawton.
The cohort of Republican voters that the candidates are looking to woo aren't high. In the 2014 Republican gubernatorial primary, 4065 votes were cast city-wide when Allan Fung squared off against Ken Block — and the recent GOP Presidential Preference primary saw just over 5,100 votes cast for GOP candidates city-wide in Cranston this past spring.
Mattiello won in the general election unopposed in 2014 with almost 4200 votes. And come the general election, independent Patrick Vallier waits in wings along with Mattiello, making for an always difficult cross-cutting three-way race.
DeSimone, the tax-beleaguered House Majority leader, recently shook off an ethics complaint filed by the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats for his failure to disclose his indebtedness to the City of Providence, as well as income derived from the city and state for his role in United Providence, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars.
First elected in 1992 and chosen as Majority Leader in 2014, DeSimone is facing a strong challenge from Progressive Democrat and Providence school teacher Marcia Ranglin-Vassell. “Our community needs someone who will fight for us. For too long, we’ve had politicians who are only helping themselves and their well-connected friends,” Ranglin-Vassell said when she announced she would be running back in June.
She faces a formidable candidate in DeSimone, who despite his need to pay over $18,000 in back taxes, landed in the #6 slot on GoLocal’s list of legislators with the biggest war chests back in June, when he reported having over $111,111 cash on hand through the first quarter of the year. The question now is will deep pockets and leadership machinery be a match for Ranglin-Vassell who has the backing of an energize Progressive Democrat operation this year.
Pawtucket resident Norton has been campaigning long before he declared officially declared his candidacy this past January. Norton had been one of the main organizers in the effort to keep the PawSox at McCoy, when the effort arose in 2015 by the new owners to move the AAA team to a new, taxpayer-subsidized stadium in Providence.
After notching that win — for now — Norton joined forces with City Councilor Sandra Cano to hold a series of “Crash Pawtucket” events to bring residents to a different establishment each month, to rev up support for small business in the city.
Opponent Coughlin was first elected in 2014 when he ran unopposed, which Norton said was “handed” to him by House leadership. Coughlin recently fired back at Norton’s position on the plans for a new train station in Pawtucket.
“This train station will raise the quality of life for Pawtucket’s residents and businesses and it will breathe new life to an area that is still recovering from the Great Recession. Combined with his opposition to the millions of dollars to fix Pawtucket’s roads and bridges, and our state investments to find ways to rebuild and renovate McCoy Stadium, my opponent does not seem to be in touch with the needs of the people and businesses of Pawtucket,” said Coughlin.
Incumbent Rep. Bill O’Brien and progressive challenger Bill Deware have been trading barbs throughout the summer in North Providence, with the Progressives going after O’Brien about missing ethics filings, and O’Brien releasing a video of his campaign signs being stolen in the district — and questioning Deware’s voting record, having voted in Johnston while living in the district.
"I think people should be more concerned on the issues than worrying about signs and petty politics, when there are policy issues to debate,” said Deware following the sign incident. O’Brien, meanwhile hit out at Deware on this issue of his voting. "I am deeply disturbed by this revelation. My opponent admits to committing voter fraud multiple times. People have fought and died to protect the right to vote fairly and I have a colleague from Pawtucket who lost an election by one vote," said O'Brien.
Deware, who is endorsed by the Progressive Democrats, recently came back from a hospitalization from meningitis that had left him in a coma — but said in a statement that full recover is expected.
Who: Matt Fecteau v. Mark Theroux v. Sen. Jamie Doyle
What: Dem Primary
Where: Pawtucket
The three-way Democratic primary in Senate District 8 in Pawtucket which features six-time incumbent Jamie Doyle; Matt Fecteau, who ran against United States Representative David Cicilline in the 2014 primary; and Mark Theroux, is one of the top races to watch this primary election.
In 2014, Fecteau, a political newcomer, was able to snag 37% of the vote in the primary in the first Congressional district against Cicilline, with 22,447 votes to Cicilline’s 38,186. Meanwhile, Doyle needed to amend his ethics filings after admitting he failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars in personal and business debts. WPRI reported Doyle filed the amended the amended ethics reports after he had “not disclosed multiple liens on his home and business properties related to unpaid taxes.”
Meanwhile, the Valley Breeze reported that Theroux’s wife, who is on the Democratic Committee for Senate District 8, voted to endorse…Doyle.
Incumbent Malik, who was first elected to the House in 1996, is facing a fierce challenge from primary opponent Jason Knight.
Sam Bell with the Progressive Democrats highlighted the race back in June. "Malik has been extremely ideologically conservative, with an 'A plus' rating from the NRA. He voted against marriage equality and his district isn't extremely right wing -- it's very liberal on social issues. And Warren is a place where you saw two successful progressive town council primaries last cycle, knocking out established [Democrats]," said Bell.
The East Providence battle pits a former State Representative against a Democratic candidate who is currently under investigation by the State Ethics Commission.
In 2004, outgoing District 64 State Representative Helio Melo challenged then-incumbent Coogan in a four-way Democratic Primary, winning with 970 votes (62.1%) and then prevailing in a three-way general election. Now, Coogan is seeking a return to his former seat.
This past July, GoLocal reported that Cunha, who current serves as East Providence Assistant Mayor, had been been barred from trading in the futures industry by the National Futures Association, the industry-wide, regulatory organization for the U.S. derivatives industry. Then earlier this month, East Providence Mayor Thomas Rose filed an ethics complaint against Cunha, which the Ethics Commission voted to investigate.
Senator Frank Ciccone, who was first elected in 2002, is being challenged by Doris De Los Santos, who garnered the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats.
“In 2012 Governor Chafee appointed Doris as the director of the Office of Municipal and External Affairs. Her opponent, Frank Ciccone, has been involved in several scandals, including threatening a police officer who had pulled over conservative Senate Majority Leader Dominic Ruggerio for drunk driving,” wrote the Progressive Democrats in their release.
Michael Gazdacko, a West End resident and member of the City Plan Commission, announced his candidacy in June as a Democrat for State Representative in District 9 — to take on incumbent Rep. Anastasia Williams.
In May of this year, GOP Chair Brandon Bell filed an ethics complaint against Williams for failing to disclose her employment with the city of Providence on her state financial disclosure form.
In 2014, the ousted Executive Director of the John Hope Settlement House alleged that Board President Rep. Williams had used the house for political purposes, without compensating the organization, including holding a campaign event for then-Democratic candidate for Governor Gina Raimondo.
GoLocal reported that Williams appointed former discredited head of ProCAP, Frank Corbishley, to serve as the interim Executive Director in the wake of former Director Taino Palermo's sudden departure, when Palermo challenged Williams' leadership.
