Russell Moore: Fung’s Fight
Monday, November 11, 2013
There seems to be this notion that it’s inevitable that Cranston Mayor Allan Fung will capture the Republican nomination in next year’s gubernatorial election among the Rhode Island political pundit class. They’re wrong.
The fact of the matter is that Fung should be ready for the fight of his life. He now finds himself in what will become a hotly contested and very competitive primary battle against Ken Block—who previously founded the Moderate Party and garnered almost 7 percent of the vote in the 2010 gubernatorial election despite having very little name recognition at that time. Block has only seen his popularity grow since then.
Part of the reason the interesting Republican Primary has been thus far overlooked is the fact that the Democratic Primary will be very interesting given all the big names (Raimondo, Taveras, Pell) and dynamics in play (money, feminism, labor).
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Further, I can understand why some people believe Fung will cruise to victory next September. He is the Mayor of Cranston and has the name recognition that comes with that fact. Fung has the support of former Republican Governor’s Donald Carcieri and Lincoln Almond—and other
Republican pezzonovantes. That suggests he’s a shoe in to receive the GOP endorsement.
Can Fung keep up?
But here’s the thing—rank and file Republicans, the type that vote in primary elections, don’t like their party’s leadership. The average Rhode Island Republican finds the party leadership to be ineffective, incompetent and bumbling.
Keep in mind the fact that Rhode Island Republicans have a history of electing non-endorsed candidates. Both Carcieri and Almond were non-endorsed candidates when they captured their respective Republican nominations before cruising to victory in their respective first elections—ditto for former Congressman Ron Machtley.
Block is undoubtedly an intelligent, fiscally conservative guy who knows how to discuss the issues facing Rhode Island. And he’s assembling a tier-1 campaign team. Block has more than $545,000 in his campaign coffers –and that’s just the tip of the iceberg as I’m being told the Block camp plans on ramping up their fundraising. Fung, who has already been fundraising aggressively, has about $336,000 in his war chest.
Money woes
Let’s face it—Fung is not a superstar fundraiser, nor is he a wealthy man. He’ll be soundly outspent when Block’s onslaught begins. Love or hate that fact—but it’s a recipe for disaster in politics.
Then there are Fung’s self-inflicted wounds.
They include Fung’s lackluster announcement last Monday. The highlight, if there was one, was his pledge to create 20,000 jobs—a pledge straight out of the Carcieri handbook. That’s almost the tyranny of low expectations. Even if we created that many new jobs under the Fung administration—we’d still be lower than our peak employment in 2007.
Is Fung a D in R’s clothing?
Correct me if I’m wrong (and I’m sure some of my loyal readers will think I am), but isn’t the Republican position that government doesn’t create jobs? I’ve always known Republicans to be of the mind that government needs to get out of the way and let the private sector work its miracles.
Fung’s 20,000 jobs pledge sounds more like something I’d expect to hear from a Democratic nominee. The point here is that I’m not sure the Republican electorate is going to appreciate such a hollow, meaningless pledge like that.
And is Fung really going to go around promising to freeze tuitions at the state colleges? Even if Fung had the power to do such a thing—and he doesn’t—he would need to explain to Rhode Islanders how he’ll achieve that admittedly noble goal. Would he raise taxes to support the colleges? Would he freeze pay for professors and their support staff? Don’t expect Fung to tell us anytime soon how he would accomplish such a plan because doing so would alienate some of the people who he wants support from.
If those are Fung's best ideas he may have been better served to just propose building an aquarium and be done with it.
Fung loves Democrats
Then there’s the fact that Fung has donated to a plethora of Democrats—including Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, Congressman David Cicilline, House Speaker Gordon Fox, and former Senate President William Irons—just to name a few. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for bipartisanship but I think the average Republican Primary voter is not going to agree with me or look too kindly on that.
House Minority Leader Brian Newberry, on his facebook page, attempted to defend Fung by saying something like ‘he was a lobbyist and had to play the game’. If that’s all that Fung and his supporters can come up with, Fung is going to be in for a rough go of it.
Expect Block to tout the fact that while Fung was going around playing games, Block was trying to form a new political party to address Rhode Island’s problems. That’s an interesting comparison that will hurt Fung.
Further, Fung never found an opportunity to donate money to candidates like John Loughlin or Brendan Doherty when they took on Cicilline for Congress.
Also expect Rhode Island Republicans to notice, especially when they’re reminded, that Block has been far more aggressive over the last few years in leading the charge on conservative causes like eliminating the master lever, ethics reform, and not paying the 38 studios bonds when Fung has been mostly silent on those issues.
Fung the tax-hiker
Last, but not least, Fung raised taxes by almost 30 percent over the course of his tenure in Cranston thus far. That’s troubling for Fung because he’ll almost assuredly campaign on a platform of refusing to raise state taxes.
How does he reconcile that with the fact that he’s a tax hiker?
None of this is to say that Block is a lock. But it certainly does indicate that there will be not one, but two contentious primaries next year.
Say what you want about Rhode Island—and you can say plenty. But there’s really no better place for a political junkie.
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 Fung Has to Answer When Running for Gov of RI
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