Elorza Campaign: Answer the Question, Mr. Cianci

The Elorza Campaign is calling on Vincent A. Cianci to finally explain what he is ‘sorry’ about, the day after Mr. Cianci once again sugarcoated his conviction for presiding over City Hall as a criminal enterprise in the mayoral election’s final televised debate.

Mr. Cianci’s campaign knows that a majority of Providence’s voters consider his two felony convictions and record of public corruption a serious concern that should disqualify him from returning to the Mayor’s Office. This is why the campaign is using Mr. Cianci’s latest TV ad to vaguely apologize for “mistakes in my life that I’m sorry for.”

The Elorza Campaign is calling on Vincent A. Cianci to finally explain what he is ‘sorry’ about, the day after Mr. Cianci once again sugarcoated his conviction for presiding over City Hall as a criminal enterprise in the mayoral election’s final televised debate.

Mr. Cianci’s campaign knows that a majority of Providence’s voters consider his two felony convictions and record of public corruption a serious concern that should disqualify him from returning to the Mayor’s Office. This is why the campaign is using Mr. Cianci’s latest TV ad to vaguely apologize for “mistakes in my life that I’m sorry for.”

But when Mr. Cianci was pressed at yesterday’s NBC10 debate by Rhode Island Public Radio reporter Ian Donnis specifically what he’s sorry for, Cianci’s response made clear he is not remorseful in any way.

Donnis: Are you truly remorseful and what were the mistakes?

Cianci: I’ve made mistakes, yes I did. I was convicted of a charge. I was convicted of one charge of a conspiracy to commit a crime that I was found not guilty of. That was years ago.

Elorza campaign manager Marisa O’Gara said: “Answer the question, Mr. Cianci. Since you’ve decided to say the word ‘sorry’ just days before the election, the voters of Providence deserve to know exactly what it is you feel remorse over. The last time you came back from a felony conviction that forced you from office, you made the same kind of apology noises, and then the minute you got into office, you initiated a criminal enterprise.”

O’Gara pointed out that Cianci made similar overtures of contrition in his comeback campaign in 1990, just before he entered City Hall and ran it as a criminal enterprise. As Mike Stanton writes in The Prince of Providence: “Over and over again, a humble and self-deprecating Cianci sought voters’ forgiveness. ‘Yes, I have sinned,’ he said, ‘But let' he who is without sin cast the first stone.’” (page 203)

As former United States District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres made clear when sentencing Mr. Cianci to prison, Cianci “presided over an administration that is rife with corruption at all levels'' and ''engaged in an egregious breach of public trust by engaging to operate the city that Buddy Cianci was supposed to serve as a criminal enterprise to line his own pockets.''

“The plain fact is Mr. Cianci was convicted of leading a conspiracy from 1991 to 1999, involving systematic and widespread corruption including cash bribes, illegal campaign contributions, bid rigging, and inflated government contracts all designed to personally benefit him and increase his political power and all paid for by Providence residents in the form of higher taxes,” said O’Gara.

When Mr. Cianci was mayor, it was common practice at City Hall to pressure city employees to donate and raise money for the Mayor, under the threat of losing their jobs.

Once again, Mr. Cianci is saying he is a changed man as he seeks the office from which he’s been twice removed for felony convictions. He said in a public forum he wouldn’t accept contributions from city employees, but he was doing it all along. In fact, since his initial collection of about $18,000 worth of donations from city employees came to light, Mr. Cianci has collected an additional $6,349 from 42 more city employees.

“It’s important with Mr. Cianci to pay attention to what he does, not what he says,” O’Gara said. “The question for voters is, do we want to move forward with rules that prevent unethical behavior or do we want to go backward to Mr. Cianci’s culture of corruption? Providence’s voters want honest leadership for a new direction. Jorge Elorza will provide the leadership Providence needs to move forward, not back to the corrupt days of the past.”

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