Menard Attends Fundraiser for Baldelli-Hunt Oppoent

Recently I predicted that Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt won’t win her reelection campaign. One of the reasons I went out on this limb is the word on the street is that, among others, several sitting legislators aren’t interested in serving with her any more – including some pretty powerful ones.

That Rep. Rene Menard attended a fundraiser for Baldelli-Hunt’s primary challenger Mike Morin on Friday night might be one of the early signs of this dynamic playing out. Though Menard cautioned me not to read too much into it.

“I went as his friend,” Menard told me when I asked if he would be supporting Morin. The two served together on Woonsocket’s fire department for years. “The only race I am concerned with is my own.”

But he did draw an interesting distinction between real friends and political friends. “In politics, you make political friends and once you are no longer in politics they are no longer your friends. But Mike will be a friend long after either of us are involved in politics.”

Not sure if he considers Baldelli-Hunt a friend, or even a political acquaintance, but my guess would be he doesn’t.

Menard, who has a tough primary of his own against Cumberland Town Councilor Mia Ackerman, said he didn’t donate any money to Morin’s campaign.