Cicilline Won’t Take Pledge on Campaign Finance Reform
Friday, September 03, 2010
Cicilline is not listed as one of the signatories online and an official with MoveOn.org confirmed he had not signed it. Campaign manager Eric Hyers said Cicilline has been referring to something else and backs even stricter campaign finance reform measures than MoveOn.org
The candidates who sign the MoveOn.org pledge agree to support the Fair Elections Now Act, the overturning of Citizens United—the Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to spend unlimited funds in elections, and banning those in government service from becoming lobbyists for five years, and vice versa.
Cicilline Challenged During Debate
During the ABC 6 debate, David Segal, who has signed the pledge, challenged Cicilline on the issue—until he stated that he had signed the pledge.
“Will you sign the pledge that MoveOn has put forth that asks candidates to assert that they will support the Fair Elections Now Act and reform the Citizens United?” Segal asked.
Cicilline responded, “I've already done that.”
“You’ve already signed the pledge?” Segal said
“Yes,” Cicilline replied.
Hyers said Cicilline was not actually referring to the MoveOn.org pledge. “David was referring to his support for the Fair Elections Now Act, not the MoveOn.org pledge,” Hyers said. “We believe strongly there needs to be a lifetime ban on members of Congress serving as lobbyists whereas the pledge allows them to be a lobbyist after a six-year period.”
The Segal campaign, on the other hand, didn’t think there had been any miscommunication at all.
“Tuesday at the debate, David Segal asked David Cicilline a direct yes-no question: will he sign the Move On pledge? David Segal was referring to a pledge that Move On is circulating nationwide, one that asks candidates for Congress to pledge to support the Fair Elections Now Act and to work to undo the Citizens United decision, two steps towards election reform that would start to reign in the overwhelming power corporations have over our government,” said Segal campaign manager Rachel Miller. “Last night on television, David Cicilline asserted that he already signed the pledge. We have since find out that Cicilline lied.”
Miller added: “Cicilline clearly understands that Rhode Island voters care deeply about the connections between money and politics, yet he was willing to lie about signing a simple pledge. This leads me to ask, if Cicilline is willing to lie about a pledge why should Rhode Islanders believe he's telling the truth when he says he will work to enact electoral reform?”
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Comments:
R. Parsons
6:19am on Friday, September 03, 2010
Mr. Segal says that David Cicilline lied.
I say that Mr. Segal declares the obvious with an air of discovery.
David Cicilline is being bought and paid for by some of the worst people on the planet. Simultaneously, he tells us that money is the root of all evil in Congress.
When has David Cicilline NOT lied about the swath of destruction that he has visited upon Providence? Not since the unnamed hurricane of 1938 has Rhode Island's capital city been as devastated as it is today, after seven years of Cicilline rule.
There's no "M.D." after my name, but when, during the last debate, David Cicilline put on his smug smile and said IN DIRECT RESPONSE TO A SPECFIC QUESTION REGARDING THE MoveOn.ORG PLEDGE that HE SIGNED IT, he was evincing the classic signs of sociopathy.
David Cicilline is psychologically incapable of telling the truth.
There's an old joke: Two politicians are having an argument until one says, "You're lying!" And the other says, "Granted, but hear me out."
David Cicilline does nothing but lie and ask us to hear him out.
We've heard you out, David Cicilline. And you will hear us say "thanks, but no thanks" on Primary Election Day.
And that's the truth.
R. Parsons
6:23am on Friday, September 03, 2010
_______________________________
May I propose a caption contest for the photo of David "What, Me Lie?" Cicilline that accompanies this article?
I'll go first:
"The going price for a congressman is ten grand, but I'll take five."