Guest MINDSETTER™ Jennifer Brien: What if Buddy Loses?
Sunday, November 02, 2014
So what happens if Buddy Cianci loses the election and heads back home to the lucrative talk radio chair he's lobbied verbal bombs from for the past five years since his release from the gated community?
Will he be the doggie who can bark but can't bite?
Since Cianci's return after four and a half years in federal prison where he served time on a RICO charge as a result of Operation Plunderdome then another half decade on the radio, the mystique of "will Buddy run again" has always been the possibility hanging over the city of Providence like the Sword of Damocles. Well, now the elephant's no longer in the room. The mystery looms no longer. We know it was Col. Mustard in the dining room with a lead pipe (sorry, the game of Clue has no fireplace log.)
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCianci had to go into this race knowing his harshest critics, with the Providence Journal leading the way, would relentlessly attack him over his two felony convictions. What he might not have considered strongly enough was the ammunition he provided these critics since his return from a 4 and a half year stint in a federal prison. In his book POLITICS AND PASTA he admitted using his public power for personal reasons. He admitted that he got used to raising taxes and used jobs as currency to get the support he needed. Those statements are committed to text and cannot be pulled back.
While I do believe everyone deserves a second chance, (third) and I consider Buddy an effective leader who can get things done, one must ask, "Is this merely a carnival ride or does this man deeply care about the city of Providence and it's citizens?" By the way, carnival rides are fun, so long as you stay away from the chili cheese fries.
Hester Pryann's "A" was her scarlet letter. Buddy's could be a an "L," as in loser, and that means the emperor has no clothes. Losing this Providence mayoral race virtually defangs Buddy as a talk show host watchdog over the city of Providence because the "what if " has been removed from the equation permanently. He's now left with little more than the same old tired cliched stories he's used time again to get a few chuckles at a rotary club or to sell a book or a jar of marinara sauce. He's risked and could potentially lose, a lot, with this one last run at power and glory.
Don't get me wrong, I do like Buddy and his marinara sauce, I just wish Buddy would have sat THIS one out.
Brien is a veteran radio talk show host, and currently is with News Radio 920 WHJJ.
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