Mattiello Hires Political Operative Britt as Consultant
Friday, April 08, 2016
Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello has hired veteran campaign operative Jeff Britt as a political consultant.
Mattiello, who was first elected to represent District 15 in Cranston in 2006, served as House Majority Leader from 2010 until first elected speaker of the House in March 2014.
About Britt
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBritt had been a consultant to then-Speaker of the House Gordon Fox before publicly spitting with the now-jailed Fox over his handling of 38 Studios, to back challenger Mark Binder for the seat in 2012.
Britt has since served as an operative for Republican Ken Block after he left the Moderate Party to challenge Cranston Mayor Allan Fung in the 2014 gubernatorial race.
"We're not talking about races right now, but more the macro stuff, how to handle issues," said Britt of his conversations with the Speaker. "Not that we won't talk about it."
Britt also spoke Thursday to leaving the Republican party, and aligning himself with Mattiello.
"Look, I was a Republican for the long time. I left in December because the direction of the party made me uncomfortable. The tenor and the language right now was not the party I was a member of," said Britt. "The Speaker is probably the most open, accessible Speaker we've had since I've been doing this. He might not have all the answers, but he's always willing to speak with you. He's certainly more fiscally conservative than the past Speaker. I look forward to working with him."
Read: GoLocal's Russ Moore on "Jeff Britt vs. The Establishment" from 2014
Wrote Moore:
[Britt] burst on to the political scene back in 2002 when former House Speaker John Harwood ran into a scandal with reference to some (never proven) allegations regarding his female staffers, Britt decided to manage a campaign against the Pawtucket Democrat. The candidate Bruce Bayuk, Britt's stepfather, decided to run his campaign after the filing deadline, and therefore couldn't get his name on the ballot.
No matter. They pressed forward. They ran a no holds barred campaign and took their reform message to the streets of Pawtucket. And when election day came along, despite Bayuk's name not making the ballot and running as an independent, the result was simply too close to call. It wasn't until more than a week later that Harwood was actually declared the victor in the race.
But the damage was long done. Given the closeness of a race that, in all other circumstances, should have been a slam dunk for Harwood, but he emerged a wounded, sitting duck. Fellow legislators decided the time had come for a new House Speaker, and Bill Murphy, instead of Harwood as elected.
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