Brendan Doherty demonstrating uncommon integrity
Aside from holding political persuasions that would – in my opinion – be bad for Rhode Island, Brendan Doherty may well be a good, honest guy. I don’t know as I haven’t met him. But I do know this, his campaign for Congress is not exhibiting “uncommon integrity” as the Republican often claims.
In fact, in his quest for a seat in Congress Doherty is engaging in the same exact type of half-truths and maybe even outright lies that he says his opponent David Cicilline did in the last election.
I’ve been banging this drum in relation to his lackluster Politifact record – which as of today counts as many lies as truths and also as many half-truths and mostly falses as mostly trues. Uncommon integrity is George Washington not being able to tell a lie, not Brendan Doherty lying as often as he tells the truth.
But it occurred to me again when I saw this Doherty attack ad that distorts Cicilline’s now famous “city is in excellent financial condition” whopper.
Doherty’s ad says Cicilline “mismanaged municipal finances” juxtaposed over the words “Budget Deficit of $109 million.” David Cicilline did not mismanage municipal finances to the tune of $109 million. What actually happened is Brendan Doherty’s political godfather Don Carcieri cut off state aid to cities, causing huge deficits in every urban area of Rhode Island, including the state capital. David Cicilline may have fudged the facts, but it was Don Carcieri who made it happen.
There’s no defending what David Cicilline said about Providence’s fiscal situation, and I don’t begrudge Brendan Doherty for using it to his political advantage. But running a campaign under the mantle of uncommon integrity comes with certain responsibilities, one of which is to display uncommon integrity. Doherty’s campaign has yet to do so … in fact, so far it’s been more like politics as usual.
Let’s not forget that Doherty tried to plant a spy in the Cicilline campaign.
Let’s not forget that:
David Cicilline raided the city’s rainy day found without council approval in violation of this city charter and put off the city auditor until after the election. That was before he lied to the electorate. Since then other revelations include David’s PEDP gave out noncollectable loans to at least one campaign worker and failed to report loan defaults in order to avoid having to reimburse the federal government from city coffers. But you’ll just blame Carceiri for David’s depravity. Attacking Doherty’s integrity to pump up Cicilline is beyond desperate.
“What actually happened is Brendan Doherty’s political godfather Don Carcieri cut off state aid to cities”
False. It was Democrat and Providence native Steven Costantino who did that. The Governor merely recommends and suggests and the General Assembly is the one who actually does the dirty work. If you believe the Governor has that much power then why did many of Chafee’s new taxes and initiatives die in the Assembly?
And why did the aid need to be cut? Because it was the General Assembly who has also over-promised benefits and couldn’t make ends meet.
If we’re going to make this argument, let’s at least be intellectually honest about it.
Oh and I love the reference to how Cicilline may have, eh, “fudged the facts” a little bit. That’s about the closest we’ll see to you calling him a liar, eh?
Say what you want about David Cicciline, but admit that the man is brilliant and that he understands real-world politics inside and out.
People are tired of trickle down rightwing radicalism disguised in the form of no-nonsense cops or military men.
Maybe good cops and soldiers are sick of the political right, too. Tired of being sent into hell.
This place is not Honduras yet, and all of the Vitalis and scheming in the world is not going to change that.
Expect Doherty to go for the spine, for the medulla oblongata.
Now, there’s a common sense insight.
“Say what you want about David Cicciline, but admit that the man is brilliant and that he understands real-world politics inside and out.”
Sorry lefty but David Cicilline’s track record shows no understanding of world politics. All that is demonstrated by his track record is how to win by deception. That isn’t exactly worldly.
I have nothing against Brendan, but he is not the right candidate for RI, he is not right for us. We need someone to stand up for Women-David has always done that. I trust David in Washington more than I trust Doherty.
Doherty=Ryan=Romney!
Seriously? You’re using the word “trust” and “Davd” in the same sentence? Are you Cicilline’s mother or something? How many times do you have to get crapped on until you realize that someone wants to crap on you?
By the way, I got this great bridge for sale. Any reasonable offer accepted.
Unfortunately, Cicilline backers are missing the larger picture when they forgive David Cicilline for his lies. He claims to be for the people but when confronted with a financial crisis as mayor of Providence, he chose to hide it from the people. Any decent mayor would have tried to attack the crisis but that may have stood in the way of his ascension to Congress. He sacrificed the well being of Providence and it’s taxpayers for his personal gain. If he abandoned his constituents once, why would you trust him not to do it again.
“He claims to be for the people but when confronted with a financial crisis as mayor of Providence, he chose to hide it from the people. Any decent mayor would have tried to attack the crisis…”
That’s simply false, and I suspect based on your knowledge of his administration that started with a single statement he made at the end of his term. Yes, here in Providence, houses were going into foreclosures in the neighborhoods, the city was renegotiating contracts with the unions and the nonprofits and losing millions in state aid, but we were fooled by that one comment presumably because we only listen to right-wing talk radio, who couldn’t have cared less about Providence’s fiscal condition until there was political hay to be made for a Republican candiate. Ah, baloney.
“the city was renegotiating contracts with the unions”
You mean selling out to the fire fighters to avoid the picket lines at his political events which they had done before. Remember, he was forced to resign from Hilary’s campaign for fear of picketing. Why would the mayor skirt the city council to raid the rainy day fund if he wasn’t trying to hide the crisis?
Actually I was thinking of the contract with Local 1033. It’s a bit hard to find this stuff now, but here’s an example from 2009…
“Mayor offers plan to close $17M deficit”
*** quote ***
In a news release that blamed the budget crisis on “the economic downturn and lack of sufficient funding from the state,” Cicilline’s office outlined a series of wage and benefit cuts that have been agreed to by the Laborers International Union of North America Local 1033, the largest union of city employees, and called on other unions to follow suit…
The revised budget also will use money from the city’s public safety severance and rainy day funds, Cicilline’s office said. In order to save money, the mayor said he has ordered non-union employees to take furlough days and increased their health insurance co-pays to 20 percent as well.
In a shot across the bow to other city unions, Cicilline declared that “if additional savings are not implemented immediately, the city will be incapable of meeting its financial obligations in four to six months.” He said he has “been involved in discussions for several weeks with our City unions and they, too, are aware of the stakes”…
But Cicilline did say, “Unless we implement these structural reforms in every contract, every liquid asset would be spent down, our bond rating would be severely downgraded and we would be unable to meet payroll.”
*** end quote ***
Oh, how could anyone have known with all that “excellent” news?!