Cranston Democratic Mayoral Candidate Bucci’s Husband Has Ties to Paolino and Mattiello
Monday, September 14, 2020
Cranston Mayoral candidate Maria Bucci has been running a campaign focused on transparency and inclusion, as a new school Democrat.
Her husband Agostino "Gus" Bucci, III has a long track record from early transgressions and multiple felonies to close ties to old school Democratic powerbrokers.
Bucci defeated Steve Stycos in the Democratic primary in a close race separated by just 170 votes. Bucci includes her family in her campaign material and her husband is active in her campaign.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHer campaign spokesperson Erich Haslehurst says, "Maria's campaign and successful business experience, paired with her years of public service, demonstrate her integrity and commitment to Cranston's success. Maria is committed to creating an open, welcoming and transparent City Hall."
"That includes creating a website where residents can easily conduct business with the City; hiring multilingual staff to increase accessibility and ease the navigation of city services for residents where English may not be their first language; and revitalizing Cranston’s Boards and Commissions to give residents the opportunity to provide input and inform the Council and Administration on policy and programs, which will hold everyone accountable," he added.
Bucci's Husband's Insider Ties
After Providence Mayor Joe Paolino lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1990 to Bruce Sundlun and before he left office, the soon-to-be-former Providence Mayor took care of dozens of political allies.
Bucci was given a permanent job with the Providence Water Supply Board as part of Paolino's many moves.
The Providence Journal wrote in 1991, “Some of the jobs or raises included a 26 percent jump in pay for Paolino's limo driver, union-protected jobs for his baby sitters, a $50,000-a-year job to Paolino's former brother-in-law, and dozens of other jobs or raises for those who worked on his staff or on his unsuccessful campaign for governor.” The cost of the promotions, raises and benefits cost the city millions.
The last-minute jobs by Paolino were widely criticized. According to the report, “City Councilman Josh Fenton, an independent from Ward 3, on the East Side, said he was appalled by Paolino's eleventh-hour jobs and pay increases. 'I just don't know how you can go to the people of Providence and tell them we need tax increases, tell them we have a lean budget and then do a thing like this. It's outrageous,' Fenton said.
[Then Mayor Vincent] Cianci called it a 'wholesale abandonment of fiduciary responsibility.' While he stopped short of saying that Paolino's job changes and new hires would be reversed, Cianci did say that his administration will take a hard look at each position to determine whether the city can afford the increased cost.”
A decade later, Bucci decided to run for himself for the House of Representatives against Peter Palumbo and came under scrutiny for pleading guilty to two felony charges.
"According to court records, Bucci first filed for expungement on July 2, about a week after he declared his candidacy. Under Rhode Island law, Bucci was first eligible to expunge this record on April 10 of this year. Bucci's opponent in the primary, endorsed candidate Peter G. Palumbo, yesterday publicly questioned Bucci's past, saying that a staff member found the court record after a computer search." wrote the Providence Journal in 2001. "Palumbo said that he felt strongly that the public had a right to know. Bucci, 31, yesterday said that he was "very, very young" when the offense occurred. 'Things happened in my life that I basically learned from,' he said. 'My main concern now is to run for office on the city's best behalf.'"
According to the Journal report, at about the same time Paolino was giving Bucci the fulltime position with WSB, Bucci got into a number of serious conflicts leading to guilty pleas -- which Bucci moved to expunge:
Bucci's court file outlines the Nov. 28, 1990, incident as follows: Bucci, who was 19 and lived in North Providence at the time, had driven to Providence to pick up a girlfriend who lived on Ellery Street. He got into an argument with a neighbor, Laura McCormick, over the use of McCormick's driveway on an adjoining street. McCormick said that she told Bucci to move his car and then crossed her driveway, walking in front of his black Mercury Cougar. McCormick told the police that at that moment, Bucci accelerated the car toward her and that she had to jump out of the way. She said that she was not injured. After an investigation, the Providence police charged Bucci with felony assault with a dangerous weapon the car and on April 9, 1991, Bucci pleaded no contest in Superior Court. He was sentenced to one year of probation.
Seven months later, he was deemed a probation violator after getting into a fight on Nov. 20, 1991, at the Rhode Island Billiards Club in North Providence. Sometime before 11:25 p.m., Bucci and a friend approached Scott Ahrendt, then 22, of Warwick, who was playing pool. Bucci spit on Ahrendt's face while the friend slapped Ahrendt and threatened to kill him, according to a police report in court records. While Ahrendt was pushed against a column, Bucci slapped him twice in the head. On Dec. 6, 1991, Bucci was presented to the Superior Court as a probation violator on the new charge of assault and battery from the billiards club fight. He did not contest being a violator. The court added 30 hours of community service and four months of counseling to his probation period. Court records show that Bucci completed 40 hours of community service at the Boys and Girls Club of Providence. Bucci is also asking the court today to expunge a separate 1990 case involving an assault with a dangerous weapon charge in Providence which was eventually dismissed.
State House Job With Mattiello
After his career with the Providence Water Supply Board, he was tapped for a position by Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello as a "Legislative Aide." That job pays $59,444.06 according to state records. GoLocal received no response from the Speaker's office when GoLocal asked what Bucci's duties were in the State House.
Bucci officially reports to the highly controversial Joint Committee on Legislative Services — a committee complete with a $45.6 million budget — that has never met, in the past decade according to House Minority Leader Blake Filippi.
“JCLS has not met since I was elected to the House,” says Filippi, who was elected in 2012.
All of the decisions over the State House hiring, firing and raises are made without public meetings, agendas, minutes or recorded votes.
Filippi says the structure needs review. “It (JCLS) needs to reform. It needs transparency,” said Filippi, who has served as the House Minority leader since 2019.
To add yet another twist, on Friday night, Maria Bucci refused to endorse Mattiello in his reelection bid for the House in District 15.
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