Dems to Doherty: Why Is Romney ‘Fantastic’ Again?

Earlier today the Cicilline for Congress campaign released a new commercial, which features Republican congressional candidate Brendan Doherty telling supporters that Mitt Romney will be “fantastic for Rhode Island.” The 30-second spot asserts that Doherty is wrong about Mitt Romney and “wrong for Rhode Island.”

In response to the commercial Doherty told 630 WPRO: “Having been the Governor of the state of Massachusetts he understands the New England region very well and how we need to bring New England states in line with some of these other states that are doing better and one of the ways we need to start is infrastructure,” said Doherty.

“We were somewhat confused by Mr. Doherty’s response today, given the fact that there is virtually no mention of rebuilding America’s crumbling bridges, roads or schools in Mitt Romney’s 150-page jobs plan,” said Bill Fischer, spokesperson for the RI Democratic Party. “Mr. Romney has called the 2013 Republican budget proposal that reduces transportation spending by 25 percent over the next ten years a ‘bold and exciting effort.’ In contrast, Congressman Cicilline supported a Democratic alternative that maintained robust funding for important transportation priorities, including highways, transit systems and rail.”

In February of this year, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (a former Republican Congressman) called the Republican budget “the worst transportation bill I’ve seen during 35 years of public service.” It’s estimated the Republican plan would have cut more than $228 million in transportation funding for Rhode Island over five years.

“The fact is that the Republican agenda would have a devastating impact on our country’s infrastructure, slashing spending for schools, bridges and roads, while giving away massive tax breaks to the very richest Americans. Rhode Island voters should be deeply concerned about Doherty’s support for Romney’s infrastructure plan,” added Fischer.