Russell Moore: Christie, Taveras and Fung—Politicians Gone Wild
Monday, January 13, 2014
According to Russell Moore, there are two ways to deal with Mayor Taveras—you can play ball, or not. Kneel at his alter, or suffer the consequences.
Because as New Jersey Governor Christ Christie, Providence Mayor Angel Tavearas, and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung have demonstrated, when politicians don’t get their way, the innocents will be collateral damage.
It doesn’t matter if you were sitting in hours and hours of extra traffic on the way through New York City last September, or an underprivileged child in inner city Providence who couldn’t cool off on a sweltering summer day, or someone who was just minding their own business in Cranston trying to get by and got a parking ticket—those with the least culpability pay the heftiest price when egomaniacal politicians go nuts.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhile New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is taking some serious heat nationally, let our hearts not be troubled Rhode Island, we take a backseat to nowhere when it comes to political scandals. Anyone paying attention to what’s been going on in Providence or Cranston understands this fact.
The political world was shocked like the hotel manager in Casablanca last week when emails uncovered by New Jersey's The Record showed that top staffers to Chris Christie admitted to intentionally causing massive traffic jams on The George Washington Bridge to enact revenge on the Fort Lee mayor who declined to endorse their boss. A politician taking vengeful action against a rival? The horror! I’d like to welcome everyone to Rhode Island.
How they think
What made the New Jersey scandal so eye opening was the audacity of the comments made by Christie top aides. The statements made by his top staffers were nothing short of myopic, arrogant, and to put it bluntly, disgusting. “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” wrote his now former Deputy Chief of Staff. In a separate message referring to the fact that children would be stuck in the ensuing traffic on school buses, David Wildstein, who headed up the Port Authority, replied "they are the children of Buono voters," referring to Barbara Buono, Christie's Democratic opponent in the New Jersey election last year in which he prevailed easily.
Give them two points for honesty—it’s how these people actually think.
Cartoonish language aside, Rhode Islanders unfortunately shouldn’t find the situation surprising given what’s gone on in Providence and Cranston lately. Just like Christie in New Jersey, Rhode Island mayors Angel Taveras and Allan Fung have found themselves entangled in scandals thanks to mismanagement—at best. Both men want to be our next Governor, just for the record.
Give Taveras and Fung credit on one point—at least their subordinates weren’t stupid enough to record their actions digitally in emails or otherwise where they would be stored for all posterity. But while the Taveras and Fung administrations have retained plausible deniability, it’s pretty clear that their actions were every bit as vindictive and petty as Christie’s gang of henchman.
Taveras’s heavy-handed tactics
Like Christie, Taveras ran for office in 2010 as an outsider and on a platform of reform. While that kind of rhetoric might have been useful in getting himself elected mayor, his time in office has resembled the days of Boss Tweed more than some progressive reformer.
Earlier this spring, the Providence city council passed a budget by a razor-thin margin. The budget raised property taxes while simultaneously raising the pay of the mayor’s top staffers. It was a good thing for city hall insiders, but for taxpayers….well, not so much. Given those facts, it wasn’t an easy budget for city council members to support.
A Tale of Two Councilmen
There are two ways to deal with Mayor Taveras—you can play ball, or not. Kneel at his alter, or suffer the consequences. City councilman John Igliozzi figured this out rather quickly. Up until last budget season, Igiozzi had been, by and large, a critic of the Taveras administration.
But curiously, Igliozzi supported the budget. The situation became clearer a few weeks later when Igliozzi’s brother David was appointed a municipal judge.
Not everyone on the council had opportunism in mind. Providence Councilman Davian Sanchez just said no. Sanchez claims he was told, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn’t vote for the budget, the Davey Lopes pool, located in his ward, would be closed.
Pool Politics
The rest is history. Sanchez voted against the budget and the pool was closed. The message from the Taveras administration was direct. Go along to get along and you’ll be rewarded. Go your own way, and there will be consequences.
This wasn’t some isolated incident either. Just last week Golocalprov reported that an official at the Rhode Island Urban League was told by the Taveras administration that they saw no reason to help out the struggling agency due to the fact that the agency has a councilman on its board of directors who voted against the Taveras budget last year.
Parking ticket-gate
Taveras’ good friend and former Classical classmate Allan Fung hasn’t exactly been the poster boy for good government either. Given that he’s been long supported by Cranston’s Police Union, Fung gave his supporters a sweetheart deal. When the deal died at the city council, a message was sent: do what Fung wants…or else.
The contract gave the police union raises of a whopping 11.25 percent over three years. It would have cost Cranston’s already over-taxed residents a cool $1 million per year. Given those facts the Democrats on the council said “no thank you” to be super generous with their constituent’s money.
Wash, rinse, repeat
It’s a pretty cool concept (if you’re not a taxpayer). The union supports the politician’s campaign. When the politician is elected, he then uses the public treasury to payback the union for its support in the form of a generous contract. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Except when you get too greedy, the city council might get in the way.
Almost immediately after, police officers went on a ticket writing spree throughout the wards of two of the council members who said no. (Two of the council members who voted no were at large members.) It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that this was retribution.
Bungled, waffling response
To say Fung’s response to the situation was milquetoast would be quite the understatement. At first he was confident in allowing an internal investigation to take place. As if the allowing the officers to investigate their own union brothers avoided the appearance of impropriety. He also refused to dismiss the tickets.
But last week, after pressure from the city council as well as the RI Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Fung caved to pressure and announced that he was allowing the state police to take over the investigation. Referencing “new allegations” He also placed police Chief Marco Palombo on paid leave while the state police investigate.
It remains to be seen what Fung’s involvement was in the ticket scandal. Did he order the tickets to be written, or was it merely a case of police officers who felt comfortable going rogue? At the very least, Fung has fostered a culture in Cranston where police officers felt comfortable doing what they did.
How can the mayor of Cranston be objective and a proper boss to the police union when they’re the people, in no small part, who catapulted him into office? If it doesn’t sound like a conflict of interest, I’m not sure what would.
Innocent Bystanders
In all three recent instances of scandals, there’s a common denominator. It’s the innocent people who suffer when politicians go to war. The message is loud and clear—give the powers that be, the strong, if you will, what they desire, and you’ll be fine. Fail to do so and there will be consequences not only for you, but for your constituents.
And we wonder sometimes why people are disgusted by politics?
A native Rhode Islander, Russell J. Moore is a graduate of Providence College and St. Raphael Academy. He worked as a news reporter for 7 years (2004-2010), 5 of which with The Warwick Beacon, focusing on government. He continues to keep a close eye on the inner workings of Rhode Islands state and local governments.
Related Slideshow: 10 Questions Taveras Has to Answer When Running for Gov of RI
Related Articles
- Russell Moore: Fung’s Fight
- Russ Moore: Raimondo vs. Taveras = Clinton vs. Obama in RI
- Russell Moore: Raimondo vs. Taveras vs. Pell?
- Russell Moore: Taveras’s Gamble
- Russell Moore: Taveras’ Tumultuous Week
