Congressman David Cicilline and his Republican challenger Cormick Lynch win the prize for the most spirited debate of the 2014 election cycle.
Twice did NBC 10 News Conference host Bill Rappleye ask Congressman David Cicilline and Republican challenger Cormick Lynch not to touch each other during the shouting match, as well as one phrase (“BS”) perhaps not suitable for children (it airs at 11:30 Sunday morning).
And, oh yeah, one unicorn reference.
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
“People are sick to death of the Democrat and Republican BS.” said Lynch. Which is certainly true, but this was his response to Cicilline talking about raising the minimum wage, bringing manufacturing jobs back to Rhode Island and the United States, rebuilding roads and bridges and lowering the cost of higher education.
When asked, pretty directly, why he is opposed to raising the minimum wage, Lynch began, “It’s not the liberals aren’t intelligent….” but eventually got around to indicating Rhode Island should model its economy after North Dakota rather than raise the minimum wage. He stressed working with the state leaders to lower the corporate tax. “We need to attract businesses here.”
Cicilline: “Raising the minimum wage is going to help lead to job growth because what happens, Bill, is that when people have more money in their pocket who are minimum wage earners they spend that money.”
Lynch: “Congressman what color was the unicorn you rode in on? And what planet did it take you here from. There’s no customers coming into anyone’s business in Rhode Island. That’s why we are in the state we are in.”
All that, just in the first segment. Here’s the second:
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
I think it’s fair to label Lynch a hawk. “I think it’s not politically correct to say, stop trying to democratize countries and kill the enemy. These guys gotta go. I wouldn’t rule boots on the ground out. If you need someone to board a flight and go over there, I’d be more than happy to go over there myself.”
Based on the way he debates, ISIS should be afraid.
Rob Paquin and I discuss here:
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As a candidate for Congress, I am concerned with the way marijuana has been used to incarcerate and detain people from mostly low income and minority backgrounds. While I support federal regulation of marijuana, I can settle for what is known as the Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act.
Congressman David Cicilline’s ambivalence on marijuana regulation is concerning. In 2012, Congressman Cicilline supported regulation of marijuana “so long as you have those kind of protections [similar to alcohol], you should treat it the same.” However, in a recent interview with Tim White on Newsmakers (12:20), Congressman Cicilline said he is “very conflicted” and is “still studying this.” Congressman Cicilline seems either incredibly inconsistent or breathtakingly insincere about regulating marijuana at the federal level.
Our beliefs and laws are incrementally progressing, but not far enough. My former White House employer, President Barack Obama, acknowledged marijuana is “no more dangerous than alcohol.” Attorney General Eric Holder stated the focus will be on the criminal element of marijuana – though that is hard to define. Despite all of this and its regulation in both Washington and Colorado, marijuana is still a controlled substance. At the federal level, someone can be prosecuted even if it is regulated in the respective state. I want to revise this policy, but not if Republicans get there way.
The Republicans could undermine this in two ways: first, a Republican president enforce more stringent marijuana prohibition again and second, the Republicans in Congress could pass the Enforce the Law Act. This act would give Congress the power to sue the President to enforce marijuana prohibition. We need to work together to fight for reasonable laws.
The cost of federal marijuana prohibition is high. The US has approximately 2.3 million people behind bars or 25% of the world’s prisoners. These prisoners cost taxpayers at the federal, state, and local level $68 billion annually. This is just the quantifiable cost.
While solving little or nothing, marijuana prohibition rips families apart, destroys individuals’ lives, and causes perennial suffering. According to FBI statistics, of all arrests involving drug abuse violations, roughly 43.3% are people who are arrested for mere possession. Yet, even with these arrests, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 34% of teens say it is easier to obtain marijuana than alcohol or tobacco.
While I still favor federal decriminalization and even regulation, I support what is known as the Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act as a reasonable middle ground. The Respect States’ and Citizens Rights Act does not decriminalize marijuana per se. Instead, it provides states with the legislative leeway to develop their own laws to regulate marijuana so long as state government regulation does ensue. It predominantly becomes a state issue instead of a federal issue. Congressman Cicilline should be implored to cosponsor and promote this very reasonable piece of legislation or be held accountable on September 9th 2014.
I support the Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act because for far too long, people have been thrown in jail for infractions that hurt few and cause limited, if any, collateral damage to society at large. From my stand point, this incremental act does not go far enough, but as they say, ‘perfect is the enemy of good enough.’
]]>I was surprised how candid he was about the negativity in Brendan Doherty’s campaign.
In this one he talks about the casino referendum, the clean water and open space bonds (which he didn’t really want to talk about!) and whether or not he supported any Democrats this election year.
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Intergrity. Really? INTEGRITY.
Mr. Doherty’s latest attack ad on television towards Congressman David Cicilline is loaded with insinuation, negative innuendo, a bit of or no truth at all. Remember, Mr. Doherty approved this divisive negative ad.
I was also recently subjected to a robot-call – a female spewing half-truths and innuendo in a very snide tone of voice – that, though it was generated by the National Republican Campaign Committee in support of Brendan Doherty, required his approval for publication. The call was disgusting.
So I ask you, integrity? Mr. Doherty has run a spiteful, negative campaign. Where is his integrity?
I am not surprised that there would be animosity between a retired state police colonel and an attorney whose job it was to provide representation to those accused of alleged criminal activity. Criminal attorneys tend to represent those accused of committing crimes as prosecutors tend to pursue convictions of those crimes. It is the job of these attorneys to do just that – represent one side or the other. This is a fundamental process of fair representation; a tenet of the freedoms granted by our
Constitution. An attorney representing the accused is not guilty of his client’s crimes. Mr. Doherty’s campaign has repeatedly alluded to just that. It is wrong and unbecoming of an individual touting his integrity. Mr. Doherty knows better.
And, to infer that Congressman Cicilline did more than state, though erroneously, that the City of Providence was in good financial state – to raise the aura of corruption without a basis to do so – is pure theater and utterly irresponsible.
Though I have tried to learn more about Mr. Doherty, his negative campaign has taught me only one thing. Integrity is one thing Mr. Doherty can use more of.
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Congressman David Cicilline made some mistakes as Mayor of Providence. He made some enemies and he also made some friends. Many will say that a vote for David will be only to prevent the loss of a Democratic seat in the House of Representatives to a Republican. Fair enough. However, to Congressman Cicilline’s credit, he has voted in favor of jobs and the preservation of Medicare and Medicaid as we know it. He has legal experience, mayoral experience and US Congressional experience.
Brendan Doherty, on the other hand, has experience in political ads that bear almost no resemblance to the truth, contradicting his campaign slogan of “uncommon integrity.” He has also allied himself with Mitt Romney and the GOP platform. This includes an infrastructure bill that has been described by Transportation Secretary, Ray La Hood (a former republican) as the worst he’s seen in thirty years of public service. Doherty’s description of Romney as “fantastic” within a week or so of the viral disclosure of Mitt’s infamous 47% diatribe burned his bridges with many of the Democrats for Doherty.
My endorsement goes to David Cicilline.
]]>I’m glad the Rhode Island Democratic party is finally coming together to renounce the incredibly negative campaigning the Republicans have been resorting to. Let’s hope the media picks up on this story.
In my biased opinion, it’s the biggest meta-narrative of the local campaign this year, but I think it has a lot of merit for my brothers and sisters in the unbiased side of the industry as well.
Today at 1pm at Slater Mill all the Democratic heavyweights in the state – Sheldon, Jack Reed, Cicilline, Elizabeth Roberts, Gina Raimondo, Mayor Taveras and Ed Pacheco, among others (Langevin will be taping the WJAR debate) to call upon their Republican counterparts to stop slinging mud and start talking about issues.
It seems like every day either Brendan Doherty, Barry Hinckley or their operatives release a new dirty and misleading advertisement. Hinckley was just given a Pants on Fire by Politifact today for an untrue ad. Doherty’s ads make a pants on fire rating seem like a gold star though. They have literally been among the most atrocious I’ve ever seen. AP writer Michelle Smith does a nice job of summing up the ad here. She writes:
House Republicans are airing a TV ad in Rhode Island linking freshman Democratic Rep. David Cicilline to a child molester and a murderer he defended when he was a lawyer two decades ago.
A Doherty spokesman told Ian Donnis of RIPR earlier in the week that the campaign decided to go negative because Cicilline did first. Tim White chided Doherty when he offered this same flawed logic during a WPRI debate, saying, “you’re basically saying he started it.”
I think it’s laughable that Brendan Doherty calls himself a man of uncommon integrity and then runs this kind of dirty campaign. There’s no reason unbiased political reporters shouldn’t be calling out a candidate for such an obvious contradiction.
This kind of gutter campaigning isn’t good for anybody and Republicans should be held accountable for resorting to such dirty tactics. But, I suppose if they had a message that would resonate with Rhode Islanders, they’d be ringing that bell instead.
]]>Yes, the polls show a tighter race than ever. And sure conventional wisdom has it that undecideds this late in the game tend to break for the challenger. Add to that the fact that David Cicilline’s detractors continue to throw almost every accusation in the book at him. But the progressive incumbent still has one big advantage with less than a week to go before the election.
At least he isn’t a Republican.
University of Wisconsin political science professor Tom Holbrook postulates in this post that the reason Mitt Romney isn’t faring better despite what he sees as favorable political and economic conditions for taking on an incumbent is because the Republican brand is so badly damaged.
One thing that may be benefiting Obama could have little to do with the standard indicators of national conditions and may have even less to do with either of the candidates or their campaigns. Simply put, I think a case can be made that the Republican brand name is acting as a drag on Mitt Romney’s candidacy.
Is this what’s keeping a president with tepid approval numbers and a still-sluggish economy afloat? If so, would there be any payoff for Obama to run not just against Mitt Romney but also against the Republican Party in the closing days of the campaign?
Certainly this has been Cicilline’s strategy all along – and why not; us Rhode Islanders don’t generally like Republicans.
If this dynamic is playing out in the Ocean State as Holbrook says it is nationally, then it would likely be reflected in the “wafer thin lead” Cicilline still enjoys … but it might mean that remaining 8 percent of undecideds might break for the Democrat – or the non-Republican – rather than the challenger, as might more typically be the case.
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While the wind is honking early this semi-stormy morning, the significant weather from Hurricane Sandy will be the when the moon tide high hits later tonight. The full moon high tide typically causes a little flooding all over the Ocean State; couple that with the wall of water a hurricane pushes along and we’ve got cause for concern for our coastal areas…
…In the meantime, enjoy the breeze and if you can make it down to see the surf, I’ll see you at the beach!
There are, at least, two local progressive news blogs here in Rhode Island covering communities that could get whacked by Sandy … here’s how Progressive Charlestown and Portsmouth’s HardDeadlines are covering the storm.
You’ve got to wonder how the prolonged storm will affect the last week before the election … Will Obama have opportunity to look presidential? Will Mitt Romney say something to again prove how out-of-touch with real people he is, or will the media just focus on that he would cut funding for disaster relief efforts? If Sandy hits the city hard and avoids the more rural portions of the district, does that give Brendan Doherty an advantage, or a disadvantage?
One way Sandy will affect campaign: the debate today between David Cicilline and Brendan Doherty has been cancelled … the ProJo Political Scene team has a debate schedule here for the rest of the week.
If you’re already looking forward to post-campaign politics: Scott MacKay details how the real political drama will come in January, when a dramatic federal deficit reduction tool kicks in right when the Bush tax cuts expire … if you think the Frankenstorm has been over-hyped, wait till the political writers start focusing on that one!
If you look at the polls swing states, particularly Ohio (in other words the states that actually decide the presidency), Obama still has a pretty cozy advantage.
Did you think Romney 47 percent comment was the biggest blunder of the 2012 election season … this list of the 10 biggest gaffs of the campaign ranks it third: check out which two edged it out here.
Talk about paving paradise to put in a parking lot … here’s a for, well, a parking lot.
Today in 1929: Black Tuesday. The stock market crashes as thousands of investors lose billions of dollars … my question: where did it go?
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The Providence Journal may have endorsed Brendan Doherty but Bill Clinton endorsed David Cicilline … and, really, who’s endorsement would you rather have?
Kidding aside, the ProJo lays out a pretty honest assessment of the Cicilline/Doherty race with its editorial this morning. They call Cicilline a good mayor who was dishonest at the tail end to climb the political ladder. This is true. I give Cicilline no free pass for lying about the city’s fiscal situation, but don’t think it’s a sin worth throwing him out of office for. He’s a strong progressive voice for Rhode Island in Congress.
Brendan Doherty, according to the ProJo, is still learning politics but seems like a good, honorable guy. This is true too. If this were class president or homecoming king, I might just toss my support behind Doherty. But being that it’s politics, I’ll go with the guy who knows politics.
Not to mention … listen again to what Bill Clinton says about David Cicilline and you’ll see why he’s is the right choice for Rhode Island:
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David Cicilline said Brendan Doherty would side with conservative House Republicans if elected to Congress and effectively do damage to social security and Medicare, while Doherty said he would be his own man who would work to protect social security and Medicare.
Can both be true? Cicilline may have made such a point at the WPRI debate at PPAC Tuesday night when he said because Doherty supports the very conservative House Republican leaders how he would vote is less important than who he would vote for.
By the time it comes to voting, Cicilline said, the damage would already have been done. “They don’t need him at that point. He already put them in power.”
Another area where the two candidates disagreed: Cicilline said he would improve the local and national economy by investing in the manufacturing sector; Doherty said he would do so by drilling for more oil.
Seriously, in his appeal to Rhode Island voters, Doherty actually recycled the old Sarah Palin logic of “drill baby drill.”
Cicilline, on the other hand, said high wages in China and rising costs for transportation are making manufacturing a more viable option for growth again. Since we can bring more manufacturing jobs than oil drilling jobs to Rhode Island, the advantage on this one has to go to the incumbent.
A highlight was when moderator Tim White asked Doherty is he took exception to Cicilline’s previous career as a criminal defense attorney. Doherty said it only became a campaign issue because the Cicilline campaign took him to task for not supporting the Violence Against Women Act, to which White said, “You’re basically saying he started it.”
He started it is not indicative of uncommon integrity. Just sayin.
Another interesting moment was when neither candidate would endorse the landmark pension reform bill the General Assembly passed during a special session last year.
“Pension reform is best done by negotiations,” said Ciciline. “People made life decisions based on those commitments.”
Doherty added, “I wish it was done fairer and more equitable. We know we needed pension reform. I wish they put a little bit more effort into it.”
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