Elorza Stiffs Former Top Staffer Smiley and Endorses Cuervo for Mayor of Providence Instead
GoLocalProv News Team
Elorza Stiffs Former Top Staffer Smiley and Endorses Cuervo for Mayor of Providence Instead
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza is not endorsing Brett Smiley for Mayor of Providence.
Smiley dropped out of the mayoral race nearly eight years ago when he first ran for the office to endorse Elorza — and quickly was appointed Chief Operating Officer for the city once Elorza was elected.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTInstead, Elorza declared on Wednesday that his preferred candidate in the 2022 race is Smiley's opponent, Gonzalo Cuervo.
Smiley has been advertising that he is the candidate with the most experience due to his time with Elorza and former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, but Elorza is not rewarding Smiley’s loyalty.
“I sat down and I spoke with all [of the candidates]…I’ve got to admit, I felt good about the state of our city,” said Elorza, when asked by GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle if Smiley had asked for his endorsement.
While Elorza refused to answer the question — he offered the following.
“I felt that each one of [the candidates] has really, really important qualities. Gonzalo just really stands out…particularly for his broad perspective. Providence is such a different city from one neighborhood to the next…you’ve got to have that ability, and that capacity, quote-unquote, to speak different languages and connect with different people and Gonzalo is that person,” said Elorza.
As GoLocal reported in August 2014, “Elorza/Smiley Deny Back Room Deal in Mayoral Shake Up:”
The formal announcement was made today that Brett Smiley is dropping out of the Democratic primary for Providence Mayor and throwing his support behind Democrat Jorge Elorza, but the candidates dodged questions about whether a back room deal had been struck or what an Elorza/Smiley "dual ticket" would look like.
“What we have agreed to is that neither of us want to see our city go backwards and the handshake that we put on the deal was that Buddy Cianci and Mike Solomon cannot be elected mayor because it would bring our city backwards,” said Smiley.
“Brett and I had a discussion and the conversation entailed how we are going to win in September and how we are going to win in November. I look forward to working with Brett and I look forward to having his advice and his council,” said Elorza.
Elorza was non-committal when asked about the role Smiley would play in the campaign and whether he would consider their candidacy going forward a “dual ticket.”
Smiley then became a top staffer in the Elorza administration before serving under Raimondo.