NEW: Mattiello Declares Victory in Cranston

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle

Mattiello claimed victory on Tuesday night, shortly after 8:30 P.M.

Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello declared victory in District 15 in Cranston Tuesday night, saying that with mail ballots he has the votes to prevail against Republican challenger Steve Frias.

“We’ll be up conservatively 300,” said Mattiello, referencing the mail ballots, to a crowd of over 100 supporters at the Oaklawn Grange in Cranston.

Addressing the attendees from the stage, Mattiello acknowledged his victory.

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“I’d rather go down building a better future than sit on my hands and take credit for someone else’s work,” said Mattiello. “We’re better, but we’re still not where we should be.”

Latest in Mattiello Run

First elected in November 2006 to Represent District 15 in Cranston, Mattiello served as the House Majority Leader from February 2010 until becoming Speaker in March 2014, after then-Speaker of the House Gordon Fox resigned after the unprecedented, historic raid on his State House office.

Mattiello, who was re-elected in January 2015 for a full two-year term, brought on seasoned political and PR operatives Patti Doyle and Jeff Britt to assist with his re-election effort that saw the Rhode Island GOP put nearly all its fire power behind National Republican Committeeman Steve Frias.

The Speaker of the House is inarguably the most powerful political position in the state — and Mattiello found himself at the center of both reform and controversy.

As GoLocal reported in October 2015:

Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello has been at the helm as arguably the most powerful post in the state since assuming the position in March 2014 — and continues to be front and center in some of the state’s biggest debates and controversies.

From the failed PawSox stadium deal, to the truck toll proposal, to the General Assembly investigation of 38 Studios — to more political issues concerning the use of legislative grants and being dubbed “Public Enemy Number One” by the RI GOP (on ethics) -- Mattiello is in turn controversial, outspoken, and most often the focal point of politics in RI.

“The current issues are what's driving this attention,” said veteran RI political pollster Vic Profughi. “First of all, the focus on [Mattiello] is due in part to the frustration on the part of good government groups and the GOP, because they can't get the modifications they'd like to see. They want openness, and the ethics commission to have more of a role to play. And given the weakness in terms of legal powers that the Governor has, he gets the brunt of the attention. Most of the speakers have tried to be more low-profile, whereas Mattiello’s personality makes him more quotable."

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The Speaker said that it is his accessible nature that consistently puts him in the public eye.
“I try to make myself accessible and work as hard as I can to address the important issues that affect the public. If the media reaches out to me, I take the opportunity to communicate with the people of our state," said Mattiello. “I may be the focal point on the bridge and road proposal because the Governor proposed it and the Senate passed it, which leaves only the House to take action. It was a very large proposal that I did not want to rush. We will move forward in a deliberate way to improve our infrastructure while protecting the financial interests of the state.

Advancing Ethics in State

In May, House and Senate leadership put forth legislation to restore the Rhode Island Ethics Commission oversight over the General Assembly with the support of the current and former heads of Common Cause to put before Rhode Island voters in November.

The legislation was introduced to eliminate legislative immunity from Ethics Commission oversight through a constitutional amendment — and following approval by the General Assembly, was placed on the ballot before voters.
“No elected official is above the law,” said Mattiello. “Some contend that legislative immunity yields a fuller debate, but that debate must be safeguarded against conflicts of interest and self-interest.

The state’s Ethics Code sets forth high standards and I believe all legislators should be held to those standards. If this bill passes, I will be asking all Rhode Islanders to support this constitutional amendment in November’s General Election.”

Related Slideshow: Winners and Losers - 2016 Election

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Winner

Joe Trillo and John DePetro

While most Republicans in Rhode Island were hiding in the bushes, Trillo (the former GOP lawmaker) and DePetro (the WPRO talk show host) were loyal advocates for Donald Trump from the beginning and through the rough spots.

Both could be big winners and could score slots with the administration -- want to go to the White House? You now know the rings you need to kiss.

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Winner

Donald Trump, President of the United States

The most unlikely candidate pulled off the biggest victory in Presidential history. The billionaire developer was underestimated which set forth much of his success during the primaries and in the election. The next four years will never be dull.

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Winner

General Michael Flynn

The Rhode Island native and URI grad will have a major roll in the Trump Administration and America's foreign policy. As top GOP consultant Ian Prior wrote in GoLocal in July about Flynn when he was on the VP shortlist:

Of course, there are any number of national security experts that can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton, but Flynn is unique. He is a registered Democrat that was appointed by President Obama in 2012 to serve as Director of the DIA. Even more importantly, he resigned two years later over what he believed to be a misguided approach by the administration as it concerned ISIS.

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Loser

Nellie Gorbea, Secretary of State

This year's election was one of the the most mismanaged in modern Rhode Island history. First, the Chief-of Staff of the Secretary of State's office gets into a battle with talk show host John DePetro on social media. The action seemed inappropriate at best for the head of the office administering the election.

Then, the state's Presidential election hit a number of rough spots with faulty equipment and a failed repair and triage system that lead to long lines and frustration in a number of communities across the state.

The job of Secretary of State has three major components:

1) Take care of the State's achieves

2) Maintain a database of businesses

3) Run the state's elections

She needs to assure voters that she understands the problems and correct the mistakes.

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Loser

Brandon Bell, GOP Chair

Both Democratic Congressional candidates won big. The GOP had a net loss in the legislature.

Bell went all in on taking out Speaker Nick Mattiello -- a pro-business legislator, instead of recruiting a large number of competitive candidates. If Mattiello delivers of paper ballots like his campaign claims - Bell will have wildly miscalculated at every level and will have left the GOP a weaker party.

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Losers

Cicilline and Langevin

A Trump win greatly increases the likelihood that Rhode Island will lose a Congressional seat in the next federal redistricting. Rhode Island will be more like Vermont and Delaware -- two Senators and just one House member. This will mean a big loss for Rhode Island's clout in D.C.

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Winner

Allan Fung, Republican Mayor of Cranston

Fung had just the kind of night he wanted to have. He ran up big numbers against Democrat Mike Sepe and put parkinggate in his proverbial rear window.

The margin of victory is impressive -- Fung ran up 68% of the vote and has established himself as one of the top Republicans in Rhode Island.

Now, the personable Fung is the GOP frontrunner to challenge Raimondo as it does not look like she is going to Washington, D.C. now.

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Loser

RI's Broken Technology Infrastructure

No money, no car, and no vote.

Lets see if we got this right. You have to wait in line to vote in some locations for as much as two hours because not enough scanners were deployed. Some days you can't register your car because the Hewlett-Packard system is not deployed and the state is now suing the company. And, tens of thousands of folks most in need have not been able to get their most critical benefits (or the from benefits) because the UHIP technology was flawed despite hundreds of millions being spent.

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Winner

Speaker of the House, Nick Mattiello

If Mattiello does hold on to his House seat, he will be a stronger Speaker than ever before. He has added more Democrats to his majority and was the architect to many of the Democrats victories.

The simmering stress between Mattiello and Raimondo will turn into a vibrant boil over during the next two years. Raimondo was no help to Mattiello or House members -- they had to clean up for her truck tolls and absorb her unwillingness to release 38 Studios documents.

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Loser

Gina Raimondo, Governor

Raimondo's options and national political network just took a major blow. No longer can Raimondo jump to the Clinton Administration to avoid a difficult reelection. Moreover, national Democratic connections are now in Siberia as the Presidency, the House and the Senate are all in Republican hands.