Cianci Mania is Crowding Out Critical Issues
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
That Vincent "Buddy" Cianci would dominate the news this autumn if he ran for Providence Mayor again was as predictable as an hour-long wait at Twin Oaks or Marchetti's on a Saturday night. In other words, very.
That's understandable. The charismatic former mayor, who has ruled City Hall for portions of every decade from the 70s up until the early 2000s, is everything that makes a politician interesting. He's flashy, magnetic, and he has a disarming sense of humor. Even more important in capturing everyone’s attention, however, is that he's notorious.
“If you don’t know Buddy Cianci has been convicted of two felonies, I’m sorry, but you've been living under a rock,” said Robert Paquin, the Republican Party’s Executive Director.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTYet it’s the degree of which that’s been the case that’s been shocking. Nobody could have predicted that Cianci's comeback bid for Mayor of Providence would've garnered as much coverage and interest--both positive and negative, as it has. The sheer magnitude to which that that has taken place ever since the dust has settled after the primaries on September 9th astonishes even political scientists.
And that’s probably not a good thing for Rhode Island. Rhode Island has serious problems, including high unemployment, persistent and growing out-year budget deficits, and crumbling infrastructure simply aren't getting the attention they deserve because Rhode Island's media, and to be fair, citizenry, is too focused on the state's most famous celebrity politician.
Ever since Buddy Mania has enveloped The Ocean State, there has been almost no discussion of the enticing statewide races, like those for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. And the General Assembly has fallen completely by the wayside as far as news and attention is concerned. Cianci’s cult of personality has crowded it out completely.
What's More Important? Cianci or State House Reform
Let’s not be Pollyanna about Rhode Island politics—the General Assembly seldom garners much attention from the public. Yet if there were ever going to be a year where voters turned their attention to the state legislature, it should have been 2014. With former House Speaker Gordon Fox’s office raided by the FBI this Spring, the 38 studios debacle still fresh in the minds of the citizenry, and a Constitutional Convention question on the ballot that could literally change and remake the mechanisms that govern Rhode Island, the narrative of this year’s election might be better directed towards those issues.
Ironically, the entity that’s fueled Buddy Mania more than any other has been perhaps his biggest nemesis, The Providence Journal. Despite dwindling circulation and out-of-state ownership far more interested in profits than quality news (just ask the Journal’s union), the Journal is still the state’s dominant print source.
And, to the surprise of none, it’s leading the anti-Cianci charge. Cianci’s old quip about the Journal is that if he walked across the Providence River, the Journal’s headline the next day would read “Cianci can’t swim”.
But even Cianci has to be surprised at the vehemence in which the Journal’s editorial pages, and even the news pages, have taken aim at him. Since August, the Journal has run 8 separate scathing anti-Cianci editorials—four of which ran in the span of one week. There have been scores of other OP-ED pieces and letters to the editor. Even the Journal’s Sports columnist, Jim Donaldson, has spoken out against the Cianci candidacy. That’s the equivalent of a political columnist calling for the firing of a Red Sox Manager.
Paquin said he’s been irked by the obsessive Cianci coverage. He laments the fact that it’s drawing attention from down ballot races and statewide issues. “It’s like, OK, you hate Cianci, we get the point,” said Paquin. “Do we need to be hit over the head with a sledgehammer with it?”
Paquin is calling on the Journal to refocus on important issues, not things from Cianci’s past.
Governor's Race is Dwarfed
“It just really seems like we’re wasting a lot of time focusing on one race to the detriment of races and issues on the statewide level,” said Paquin. “We’d be doing ourselves a huge service if we began to focus on statewide issues as well as the Governor’s race.”
To see a major political party’s executive director feel the need to call for more attention to a Governor’s race instead of a mayoral race (albeit a major one) speaks to the volume of attention being paid to race for supremacy in the capital city. Paquin pointed out that he’s not taking a position for or against Cianci, but that he’s irked by the out-sized focus on him. He doesn't even mind coverage of the race, he said, but would like to hear more about the plans of the candidates as opposed to rehashing the Plunder Dome Trial.
And more than one Democratic source said Paquin’s concern is valid from a Republican perspective. Those sources say they expect Cianci Mania to benefit down ticket Democrats, who will have less trouble fending off upstart Republican challenges thanks to the all the attention being directed at the Mayor’s race in Providence and less on their own race.
In fairness, Cianci Mania doesn't stop with the Providence Journal. Talk radio, where political die-hards live and breathe, has focused on the Providence Mayor’s race to an even larger extent than the race for Governor. And alternative media, blogs and social media, are also dialed into the Mayor’s race in Providence more than anything else.
Maureen Moakley, a political science professor at The University of Rhode Island, said that she expects Cianci Mania to cool down throughout the month of October. She said it was natural for Cianci to become the focus after the primary, as he had been relatively quiet throughout the summer, and that the mania would run its course. She think, and hopes the state’s attention will turn towards major issues facing the state, such as budgets, job creation, and education.
“As we get closer to the election in November, I expect the media to take a step back and begin to refocus their attention on the statewide races,” said Moakley.
It’s an open question as to whether that will ring true throughout the next month, and without doubt, it would benefit Rhode Islanders if Moakley is right. But readers will be wise to not hold their breath waiting for that to happen.
Related Slideshow: Rhode Island’s History of Political Corruption
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