Let’s Take a Look at 2022 Campaign Political Blunders (to Date)
GoLocalProv Political Team
Let’s Take a Look at 2022 Campaign Political Blunders (to Date)
Let’s take a look at 2022 campaign political blunders in Rhode Island.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWith a little more than three weeks to go until primary day, it is highly unlikely that this is the final list.
While this election cycle has had few personal attack ads — this political season may be best defined by self-inflicted political slip-ups. And, there have been some doozies.
There may be a number of losing candidates who fell due to their own misjudgments.
GoLocal has broken down some of the biggest blunders to date, but rest assured the spinmeisters, consultants, and over-messaged candidates still have time to insert their proverbial foot, or even feet, squarely in their mouths.
Let’s take a look.
Let’s Take a Look at 2022 Campaign Political Blunders (to Date)
Where Do You Live, Exactly?
Seth Magaziner and his family live in the first congressional district. He owns a home on Catalpa Street on Providence's East Side.
But, he is running for Congress in the second congressional district.
After criticism and a GoLocal story, he rented an apartment in Cranston in the second congressional district, but still owns a home in the first congressional district.
Confused?
McCarthyism
Allan Fung has twice chosen to pal around with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy -- the Trump apologist and likely to be the next Speaker of the House.
While Fung needs independents and Democrats to vote for him in November, he is giving opponents all the photos they want.
Stadium Silliness
Dan McKee is all in on the Pawtucket soccer stadium. Overall, Rhode Islanders appear to oppose the project, but Rhode Island residents have a rich history of opposing projects that they later support.
Rhode Islanders did not approve funding for the Providence Civic Center [Providence residents ended up footing the bill]. More than 70% opposed the expansion of the airport in the 1990s. And, on and on…
The difference may be that this developer, Brett Johnson of Fortuitous Partners, has a checkered background, and there are many questions swirling about his ability to fund the project.
Time will tell if this is an "I told you so for McKee" or a blunder that makes 38 Studios look like the minor leagues.
The Well-Connected Denier
In an effort to swipe at Helena Foulkes's family and wealth, Nellie Gorbea launched a TV commercial with the most ridiculous claim.
Gorbea claimed, “I don’t come from a well-connected family.”
Her parents, however, are an influential, powerful couple in Puerto Rico. Her father is an energy company executive and served on the board of a leading bank. He was the subject of a major lawsuit by the U.S. federal government as part of that bank's failure.
Gorbea’s father was a donor to the campaigns of George W. Bush in 2000 and the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004, donating a total of $3,000 to the Bush campaigns.
He made those donations when he was President of Lord Electric Company, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
He has given tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations — from Alaska to Rhode Island, including donations to Republican Alaskan Congressman Don Young [who died in March of 2022] and to former Rhode Island Democratic Governor Gian Raimondo.
Gorbea's claim was untruthful and that was just one of the problems with the ad.
$800,000 in Unanswered Questions
When Seth Magaziner first run for General Treasurer in 2014, he loaned himself $800,000.
Starting in 2014, the media and his opponents began to ask where he got the $800,000 as he had minimal work experience.
During the course of the past eight years, Magaziner has refused to answer the question, given a range of answers, and yet has never told Rhode Islanders who gave him the money.
His campaign still owes him $700,000.
Taxing Small Businesses
Gorbea, in that same infamous first commercial, has also proposed raising taxes -- including on small businesses.
In any year, proposing raising taxes is a dangerous political premise, but in a year with nearly a billion dollar surplus, the proposal seemed pandering and silly.
Helena Foulkes jumped on the blunder.
“The truth is that the 'Nellie Tax' will affect thousands of businesses, including small businesses in our state — businesses like Big Blue Bug Solutions, Iggy’s, Chelo’s, Gregg’s and Del’s,” Foulkes said in a statement.
Foulkes (and CVS) Profiteering on Opioid Crisis
To know Helena Foulkes is to know that she is one of the smartest data-driven corporate executives in the United States.
Her explanation that as head of pharmacy and then as president, it took her eight years to find out the opioid sales were exploding is a bridge too far.
The explanation is a blunder and it is an insult to the families devastated by the opioid crisis.
Ethics Commission's Financial Disclosure Fumble - Cannabis Business and East Timor
A GoLocal editorial wrote the following:
James Diossa, the affable former Mayor of Central Falls, has had trouble completing the Rhode Island Ethics Commission’s annual Financial Disclosure Statement correctly.
The failure to properly disclose interests in a medical marijuana company and to properly disclose more than two dozen trips while serving as mayor raise concerns about transparency and competency.
His responses to questions about these failures also raise questions about his judgment.
Diossa is now running for the office of General Treasurer. One of the most critical roles of that office is to manage $10 billion of the very vulnerable state retirees' pension fund -- which is only about 60% funded and has suffered losses in the past year - as have most pension funds.
A story two weeks ago by GoLocal unveiled that Diossa failed to disclose that he served on the board of a company that was an applicant for one of the state’s compassion center licenses.
Diossa not only failed to disclose his interest, but his response showed his lack of understanding of the disclosure requirement and basic facts.
