Now he’s an “independent” running for general treasurer. But he began the 2014 campaign season as a Democrat running for governor. He was the first to announce, way back in November 2012 right after the last election. He soon realized that there was no way he would win the nomination for governor against Gina Raimondo and Angel Taveras (and later Clay Pell). So he switched to running for the Democratic nomination for general treasurer. But then he pulled the plug on that, too, when he realized he couldn’t beat Seth Magaziner and Frank Caprio.

That’s when he decided instead to go the independent route, though with the informal endorsement from the RI Republican Party.

But Almonte’s biggest problem and the cause of his vacillations is that he can’t keep his own story straight.

He claimed to be a Democrat, but he has repeatedly mouthed Republican positions such as mimicking Mitt Romney’s attack on the “47% of the public” whom Romney – and Almonte – consider to be deadbeats. He attacked Social Security and Medicare and even giving any consideration at all to raising taxes on the rich. It’s all on videotape that is linked here and here.

Almonte’s TV ads tout his credentials as an auditor, which I found to be pretty bold, given that Almonte – as Rhode Island’s Auditor General – failed to sound the alarm about our impending public pension crisis. The first warning from the Auditor General’s office about our pension problems came in the first audit report issued after Almonte resigned. We count on auditors to find problems like the one our pension funds faced, but Almonte blew it but now wants to claim credit for his experience as auditor.

At a recorded forum about a month ago, Almonte appeared on stage with his opponent Democrat Seth Magaziner. Seth very kindly gave Almonte an opportunity to recant, or at least revise, the remarks Almonte had made against the American middle-class, Medicare, Social Security and public pensions.

At first, it seemed as if Almonte was going to recant, saying that the remarks were actually written for him by the US Comptroller General who asked Ernie to take his place at a workshop and deliver the remarks. In an earlier meeting with the political action committee of one of the state’s labor unions, Almonte said that he was paid to make the remarks, as if that made it better.

In today’s video, you can see Almonte explain where the statement came from and see him say to Magaziner that he felt he couldn’t turn down the Comptroller General. Seth’s very droll answer was “I would have said NO.”

Rather than cut his losses, Almonte decided to ditch his good old boy persona to try to take Seth Magaziner to the wood shed. Almonte began lecturing him as if Seth was a school boy – “Listen to what I’m saying so you don’t get it wrong.” And Seth played right along, feeding him straight lines.

Almonte blew it again. He took the position that he doesn’t trust the government to invest people’s money, despite 80 years of successful administration. Seth said that Almonte’s attacks on Social Security were unwarranted, an “over-reaction,” and that “minor tweaks” (such as raising the current cap on the level of income is subject to Social Security – set too low and placing the burden on low-wage workers).

Almonte said that yes, “minor tweaks” could work – such as raising the retirement age. But fundamentally, he does not trust the government, even though he is running for a place in it. He calls this a “courageous conversations.”

Even though Almonte tried to gloss over his earlier remarks, he just couldn’t help himself but take a full header into the swamp. As much as he tried to pass the blame for the anti-Social Security remarks onto the Comptroller General, he ended up embracing privatizing Social Security. Period.

“I don’t trust the government to make the decisions.” Instead, he offered his “vision” of using a “financial literacy program” to teach the elderly how to cope with a new private system where they have to invest the money themselves “so people don’t have to rely on the government.” If that’s not a full-throated call for privatized Social Security, I don’t know what is.

Here’s the new video (you can also click here to see it):

Was Almonte asleep during 2008 – 2009 when those private retirement accounts – 401(k)s and IRAs – crashed and, in many cases, ended up being used to cover mortgage payments?

Actually, Almonte was asleep, because if you look at the reports he issued for the state’s pension funds for those two years (his last before he resigned to run for state office), you’ll see nary a hint of alarm. Click here and here to see what I’m talking about.

But worse than that, it was Almonte’s job in the years leading up to the market crash and Rhode Island’s subsequent pension crisis to point out that the state was failing to make the promised deposits into state workers’ pension funds even though those state workers consistently paid their fair share.

Where was RI Auditor General Almonte while all this happening? Well, then he was part of the government apparatus that he now doesn’t trust. With his record, and his recorded radical views on pensions, Social Security and the middle-class, he wants us to trust him to be General Treasurer?

The clock is ticking down rapidly to the September 9 primary where Democrats will have to choose between Seth Magaziner and Frank Caprio as the Democratic candidate for General Treasurer. Polling shows Seth’s public support has jetted ahead to take a 12 point lead over Frank Caprio in the final days. This is a huge shift from the 18 point lead Caprio held over Magaziner in June – a 30-point swing!

It’s pretty easy to understand why this surge happened. One factor was the decision by the third contender, Ernie Almonte, to run not as a Democrat, but rather as an independent with the Republican Party’s tacit endorsement. That was probably a wise move for Almonte, after video emerged showing him promoting right-wing views on issues like Social Security, Medicare and tax cuts for the rich.

It looks like Magaziner picked up all of Almonte’s supporters and then some. Frank Caprio is stuck with his core constituency of very conservative Democrats and party regulars loyal to his father, Judge Frank Caprio.

David Caprio

It also didn’t help that his brother David, a former Narragansett/South Kingstown state Representative, to be revealed as a player and partner with Rep. Peter Palumbo in a sleazy deal to get the state’s big beach concession contract. In what looks like blatant bid-rigging, David Caprio filed the second best bid behind Rep. Palumbo to run the concessions at state beaches.

Once Palumbo won the bid, he withdrew, so the state awarded the contract to David Caprio. Then, Caprio hires Palumbo to actually perform the contract, but at a loss of $250,000 to the taxpayers. The State Police are investigating and the state Ethics Commission is going after Rep. Palumbo because, as a state legislator, he is forbidden from bidding for, or carrying out, state contracts. David Caprio, for his part, resigned as Democratic State Party Chair. He has apparently not resigned from the RI Judiciary Disciplinary Board where he oversees the conduct of all Rhode Island lawyers, including his father and his brother Frank.

As a Democratic State Committee member over the past several election cycles, I saw David Caprio’s only achievement as state party chair was to grease the wheels and whip the vote to get the state party regulars to endorse his brother Frank.

Other than that, David Caprio was practically invisible. Statements by Republicans, no matter how outrageous, remained unanswered. Former state party chair Ed Pacheco had us spoiled – he never let the GOP get away with attacks without a fast and furious response.

The excuse given for David Caprio’s very rare appearances was that he was too busy doing party fund-raising. At least that was the excuse when party members would ask why they never saw him around. However, the campaign finance reports filed by the state party show that Caprio raised virtually no money. The party’s primary sources of funds were contributions of $3500 from most of the candidates for state office. The party reports show that even with a depleted staff, they were running close to the bone.

This unseemliness was enough to shake the faith of even the most loyal party regulars, questioning where the Caprio family was leading them this time.

No resume, no second chance

Lacking any message other than ‘give me another chance,’ Frank Caprio has rolled out negative TV ads challenging Seth Magaziner’s résumé. Caprio’s attacks twisted the facts beyond recognition, as Magaziner’s former boss made clear, Caprio’s attacks on Seth’s résumé only make you want to take another look at Frank Caprio’s own résumé:

• When Frank Caprio served as General Treasurer from 2006-2010, he failed to take action to prevent the underfunding of public workers’ pension funds.
• As a candidate for Governor in 2010, Caprio pretended he had nothing to do with the pension crisis and instead blamed public workers and ran on the position that he would slash their pension benefits.
• In 2010, Caprio actually had private talks with the Republicans about running for Governor as a Republican but, after beating Patrick Lynch, he went on to run one of the worst Democratic campaigns in Rhode Island history.
• It was so bad that, when hearing that President Obama would not endorse him, he publicly said the President could take his endorsement and “shove it.”
• After coming in third in the 2010 Governor’s race, he dropped his Democratic Party membership and in 2012, rooted for Mitt Romney to defeat President Obama.
• When Caprio decided to run again for his old seat as Treasurer, he first discussed running as a Republican with the GOP State Party chair, just as he did in 2010.
• Finally, he decided to run as a Democrat after his brother David was installed as the new state Party Chair.

Accepting the state party convention’s endorsement, Frank Caprio’s acceptance speech can be easily summed up as ‘I won’t screw up as much as I did last time.’

Seth Magaziner

After all that, you would think that Rhode Island Democrats would support a yellow dog rather than Caprio, provided the yellow dog had an untarnished reputation. Fortunately for RI Democratic voters, they already have an alternative with great qualifications and an unblemished reputation in Seth Magaziner.

Here’s a short list of reasons why Seth is the clear choice:

• Life-long Democrat
• Backed by state and national democrats such as Bill Clinton, Deval Patrick, Patrick Kennedy, Liz Roberts, 13 Democratic city and town committees, RI Progressive Democrats, organized labor, RI-NOW and a host of others.
• Activist investor who has proven he can beat the market while also standing up to big-banks to lower fees and fight predatory financial practices like systemic foreclosure.
• Only candidate in the race who testified at the state and federal level about the dangers of predatory financial services such as payday lending and pawn shop check cashing.
• In addition, Seth has published a detailed plan  to make the Treasurer’s office an economic engine, including launching an RI green bank and (this is one of my favorites) investing more of the Treasury’s dollars locally.

And if you want to read more about Seth and what he plans to do on behalf of the people of Rhode Island, click here.

The Rhode Island Democratic State Convention will take place on Sunday, June 22. My wife Cathy and I are both State Committee members so both of us will be there and voting for the candidates our town committee, the Charlestown Democrats, have endorsed.

For General Treasurer, we like Seth Magaziner because he has a record of success as an investor and fresh ideas for how to get Rhode Island’s economy growing again. Plus, we think he’s a helluva guy. South County residents can find that out for themselves this Saturday when he comes to the Charlestown Gallery for a fund-raiser party being hosted by friends and supporters. Please bring your checkbook.

As if all of Seth’s positive qualities weren’t enough, Cathy and I would still be voting for him at the State Convention because he is, in our opinion, the only actual Democrat among the three candidates running for the state party endorsement.

His two opponents are former General Treasurer and failed candidate for Governor Frank Caprio and former RI Auditor General Ernie Almonte. Neither Caprio nor Almonte are real Democrats, and I don’t simply mean they aren’t our particular brand of Democrat, which is the progressive variety. Nor are they qualified to be General Treasurer.

Frank Caprio

Frank Caprio, you may recall, ran for Governor in 2010 and came in third because he ran one of the most awful campaigns in Rhode Island history. His biggest headlines came when he told the President of the United States to take his endorsement and “shove it.” Right after his crushing defeat, Caprio actually disaffiliated from the Democratic Party.

Frank Caprio’s term as General Treasurer (2006-2010) was blissful on the surface despite the national economic crash that wrecked the Rhode Island economy and trashed its public pension funds. He kept reassuring us there was no cause for alarm and that he was juggling the state’s portfolio to keep our pension funds solvent. What he failed to do was insist, as was his job, that the General Assembly keep its promises to deposit money in the pension funds as they were required to do.

Caprio only discovered that the pension funds were in trouble as he was leaving office and gearing up for his run for Governor. He then took a sharp turn to the right and used public workers as the scapegoats. He even openly shopped himself to the Republican Party in 2009 before deciding to run for Governor as a Democrat

Though he easily won the party endorsement and primary, the Caprio campaign came off the rails. Caprio couldn’t figure out whether he needed to go further to the right to counter the Republican John Robitaille and Moderate Party Ken Block, or try to tack left to counter then-independent Lincoln Chafee who had gathered support from most of the traditional Democratic base.

For all practical purposes, the end came for Caprio’s campaign when he got into a fight with President Obama over Obama’s reluctance to endorse him over his long-time friend Lincoln Chafee. Caprio actually told the President to “take his endorsement and shove it.

In 2012, apparently after stewing about his defeat for two years, Caprio disaffiliated from the Democratic Party, changing his voter registration to “unaffiliated.” In May 2013, after either deciding or being talked into it, Caprio announced his bid to run for another term as General Treasurer. However, it took until October for Caprio to say he would be doing so as a Democrat.

However, I would like to actual see his current voter registration card, just to be sure.

Since declaring for his old job, Caprio has been spinning some revisionist history about what a great job he did last time and is trying to find the right non-specific ways to address the on-going issues of public worker pensions and the 38 Studios deal, issues he failed to address in 2010.

Caprio did such a lousy job as General Treasurer that current Treasurer Gina Raimondo noted on her website that Caprio left more 900 victims owed compensation from the state’s Crime Victim’s Compensation Fund hanging.

He’s also trying to paint himself as a regular guy and now spins a yarn about how he grew up in modest circumstances on the outskirts of Federal Hill, twisting his actual history as a son of privilege and wealth due to his famous father Judge Caprio. In this video when asked about income inequality Caprio says, “When it comes to opportunity and equality, my feeling and my experience is that in our society there are no limitations and there is no reason for anybody to feel as though they are being held back.”

As a state committee member, I’ve been getting swamped with letters and e-mails from Caprio, but frankly, after reading all his stuff, I don’t know what he stands for, other than wanting a chance to redeem himself through a return to the Treasurer’s office. To that, I say “shove it.”

Ernie Almonte

The other fake Democrat running for General Treasurer is former Rhode Island Auditor Ernie Almonte. He was the first to declare his candidacy, deciding in 2012 to run for Governor but later changed his mind and switched to General Treasurer when he realized he would get crushed in the primary if he ran for Governor. I doubt he’ll do any better for General Treasurer. He’s one of the nicest people in the race, a pleasure to talk to. He prides himself on his honesty and integrity.

It’s too bad he has made such a big deal about that because there’s ample evidence that he’s lying. The worst evidence of Almonte’s deception is this video of him speaking at a seminar to other accountants in October 2012.

It occured near the end of the Romney challenge to President Obama and Romney’s campaign was floundering because of his gaffes, such as claiming that half of all Americans pay no taxes. Romney’s famous 47% claim was a lie because even if people are too poor to pay federal income tax, they still pay Social Security, Medicare, excise taxes and state and local taxes. Romney’s false claim contributed to his resounding defeat in the 2012 election.

In the video, Ernie Almonte spins out almost exactly the same line as Mitt Romney and doesn’t stop there. He calls for drastic cuts to Medicare and Social Security to cut budget deficits and poo-poos even the thought of raising taxes on the wealthy.

At the time of this videoed presentation, Almonte was a declared candidate for Rhode Island Governor. As a Democrat. Yet, he sounds like Mitt Romney with a Rhode Island accent.

This isn’t the only problem with Almonte. As long-time state Auditor General, it was his job to watch the books and count the money to make sure it was all there. One of his most important functions was monitoring the health of the public pension funds.

I read his audit reports for 2007 through 2010 when he resigned. In not one of these reports does Almonte sound the alarm about the state of public pension funds. He blandly notes the market losses the funds took during the recession but said it could have been worse. The first time the Auditor General sounded the alarm was in the first audit report issued after he left.

I asked Almonte to explain this and he told me that, well, he did testify to say there were problems when he went before some General Assembly committees. Period.

When Almonte met with Charlestown Democrats, he also flunked another key test. He was asked if he had any experience investing large sums of other people’s money, which is one of the main things the General Treasurer must do. He paused for a long time and had no answer other than to say he sat on a couple of boards of groups that had money.

There are other primary races to watch, especially the Governor’s race. But there is special significance to the General Treasurer’s race where only one candidate, Seth Magaziner, is a real Democrat we can trust to do right by the people of Rhode Island.

They hugged, Almonte gave her a campaign bumper sticker and she put it on her Ford Mustang, which already had a “Don’t Tread On Me” tea party bumper sticker on it.

But there’s more…

In 2006, he was even briefly a member of the Republican party. He told me he registered to vote in the primary, specifically to vote against then-Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, who was challenging Linc Chafee’s senate seat.

“I saw firsthand that he wasn’t for the citizens, he was for himself,” Almonte said of Laffey, who has since relocated to Colorado to pursue a political career there.

Fair enough. But then there are the things he says – they sometimes sound like the words of a conservative, too. Take this video of him speaking to a group of accountants and actuaries in 2012. Eerily similar to Mitt Romney’s 47-percent comment, Almonte sounds shocked when he says 50 percent of America doesn’t pay taxes (I think he meant income taxes). He also says some people “want something for nothing” and that he doesn’t think making $250,000 a year means your rich.

When I asked Almonte about the video, he said his comments were taken out of context and that the video was spliced together to make him appear more conservative than he is. He said he was giving a speech prepared by the auditor general, for whom he was filling in.

He said he does not believe every American should be taxed on their income, and suggested those who earn less than $30,000 should be exempt. And he said he does not think poor people necessarily want something for nothing. “It’s not a broad brush but there are some elements,” he said, recalling a story of an accountant who wanted to collect unemployment benefits before returning to work.

He also stepped back slightly from saying people aren’t rich who earn $250,000 a year, but not too much.

“I think they are well off,” he told me. “I can’t say I think they are rich because I don’t know what they spend.”

The whole package – hugging Conley, voting Republican, saying poor people want something for nothing, essentially welfare-queening an out-of-work accountant in defense of such comments, it makes me wonder how committed to core Democratic values Almonte is, or if he’s like so many conservative Rhode Islanders who run as a Democrat because it’s the easiest path to victory.

“I don’t put myself in a hole of being a conservative,” he told me. “I’m fiscally responsible.”

So I asked him if he would consider running as a Republican or an independent.

“I won’t run as a Republican, and I’m running as a Democrat,” he said.

Sounds like he’s leaving himself some wiggle room to run as an independent, I told him.

“The chances of me running as an independent are about as close to me running as a Republican,” he said. “I never like to say never, but there is probably no chance.”

Then he added, “Wait, can I say that another way? I’m running as a Democrat and I won’t run as a Republican or independent.”