Cicilline & Gemma Battle in Second Debate
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Pushing accusations of rampant voter fraud to the side, Democratic Congressional candidate Anthony Gemma focused on incumbent Congressman David Cicilline’s his handling Providence’s finances over the course of his eight-year tenure as Mayor during an hour-long debate on WPRO Tuesday evening.
The second debate between the two candidates ahead of next Tuesday’s primary was more subdued than a fiery debate that took place at Rhode Island College last week, but the two still found time to take potshots at one another, with Gemma imploring Cicilline to expand on his record as Mayor of Providence and Cicilline jabbing Gemma for contributing to the campaign of Republican Governor Don Carcieri and for flip-flopping on his stance on abortion.
The two Democrats have taken similar positions on most federal issues (Medicare, nuclear weapons in Iran, school vouchers, women’s rights, voter ID laws and growing the economy through manufacturing), but Gemma has argued that Cicilline misled voters during his 2010 run for Congress and that he does not deserve to be re-elected.
Gemma pressed Cicillne to explain why he prevented former internal auditor James Lombardi from accessing information about the city’s finances in 2010 (Cicilline denies these claims) and argued that the Congressman’s Make it in America Block grant is similar to the Providence Economic Development Partnership (PEDP), which has come under fire in recent months.
When Cicilline was asked how he would characterize the city’s finance at the end of his time as Mayor, he said “improved but threatened.”
Cicilline placed part of the blame on the city’s troubles on former Mayor Buddy Cianci, who was sentenced to federal prison shortly before Cicilline was elected Mayor in 2002. Cicilline argues he improved the city’s finances, restored confidence in government and reduced crime, but he also said more than $40 million in cuts in state aid hurt the city.
The two each took turns taking the Republican Party to task on women’s rights, but while Cicilline again said he would vote for Gemma if he were to lose next Tuesday, Gemma said he would not vote for Cicilline. According to a WPRI poll released last week, more than 50 percent of Gemma’s supporters will side with Republican candidate Brendan Doherty if Cicilline wins the primary.
Gemma spoke very little about the voter fraud accusations he leveled at the Congressman two weeks ago during a news conference. Gemma has claimed Cicilline and his aides have orchestrated an extensive voter fraud scheme dating back to 2002, a charge Cicilline has denied.
The two Democrats will be joined by Democrat Chris Young during Thursday’s Channel 10 debate.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dmcgowan@golocalprov.com. Follow him on Twitter: @danmcgowan.
Comments:
robert phellps
6:31am on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
well add in Chris Young & its officially a 3 ring circus!!
David Allen
8:09am on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Cicilline continues to lie about the state of the City during his term as Mayor. His latest excuse is, "I inherited a mess...and i made it better..." The truth is, he did no such thing. He simply drained reserves, borrowed from rainy-day funds and sank the City even further into a financial abyss. Somehow, all his pet projects were funded, friends were loaned money and brother's debts were forgiven. Providence was his private bartering chip, in exchange for re-election. He used the City to feed his ego.
Today, he continues to LIE about all of it.
Cicilline is a LIAR and should not be rewarded with atrip back to Congress.
Todd B
8:57am on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Obama is campaigning on the "it's Bush's fault" platform. Cicilline is now campaigning on the "it's Cianci's fault platform"--even though back in 2010, Cicilline was telling everyone about Providence's great finances. Geez.
David Allen
9:47am on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
http://www.golocalprov.com/news/cicilline-pension/
Cicilline lied last night. He said he never stood in the way of the auditors or blocked access to documents or records. A lie.
anthony sionni
11:05am on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Lets vote for Gemma tuesday and send cicilline out the door!!!!!
Blais Hazelwood
1:23pm on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Gemma could've pulled this off, if only he didn't wait till the end of the race to bring up the city of Providence. That should've been the only thing he was talking about from day 1. When he announced his run he said it was a two person race, Himself and Doherty. WOW WAS HE WRONG! When he announced it should've been all in on what Chickachini did wrong to the city of Providence. Had he gone that way he would've been correct about the two person race. Now, not so much. He blew it again.
Steven Silva
2:18pm on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
David Chickenchini makes me embarrassed to be a member of the Rhode Island LGBTQ community. The support for him is absolutely sickening. They'd rather look the other way than stand up to all his lies and cover-ups. It's all about voting in the gay candidate, and nothing else matters.
open your_eyes
4:05pm on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Anthony Sionni-You should be the last person saying anything about anything. You were all over the papers for making homophopic, wreckless comments about Cicilline. Didn't Gemma tell you to go BYE BYE? The only person sent out the door was you. Part-time bullies like yourself, have no place in politics.
anthony sionni
4:24pm on Wednesday, September 05, 2012
open your eyes, lol ,thats your opinion and dont believe everything you hear or read lol
Charles Drago
12:49pm on Friday, September 07, 2012
For David Cicilline, it's suddenly all academic:
QUESTION: Why should Matt Jerzyk and Chris Bizzaco join Cirque du Soleil?
ANSWER: Because they're flipping. Like acrobats on crystal meth.
To an audience of U.S. government employees.
John Locke
5:08pm on Saturday, September 08, 2012
Great second debate by Gemma! Substance and talking about trust. I think people will end up trusting Gemma over Cicillini.