Is There a Growing Rift in the Rhode Island Republican Party?

Is There a Growing Rift in the Rhode Island Republican Party?

While former Democratic State Representative Karen MacBeth last week jumped to the GOP and announced her run for Congress (and former Democratic Cranston Councilman Michael Farina made the move to the Republican side as well), former Republican General Assembly candidate Anthony Spiratos — who had declared he was running against Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed this election before bowing out — made a number of pointed statements in social media about his decision to leave the GOP and join the Libertarian Party of Rhode Island.

And other Republicans weighed on his move — and reasons for doing so. 

“Everything you spoke about is one of the reasons we decided to strike out on our own,” wrote Republican Mark Dosdourian to Spiratos following his comments this past week.  Dosdourian along with Republicans Michael Napolitano and Stephen DiNuccio are consulting for a number of candidates for General Assembly races this year through their firm Precision Political Consulting. While they ran the RI GOP candidate training program in 2014, they were not hired back by the party in 2016. 

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“It’s been an eye-opening experience about what is wrong with the RI GOP and how a couple of bad apples can spoil the cart when no one speaks up and has the backbone to take them out of their positions,” said Spiratos following his defection in a Facebook post, which was shared with GoLocal. 

GOP Chair Brandon Bell said that he had “no hard feelings” towards Spiratos in his official departure from the party. 

“I would never speak negatively about Anthony. He's a good man, and I wish him the best,” said Bell. “I just don't believe the third party option is viable, and we've seen that to be true. In terms of his joining the Libertarian Party -- look, we have a strong Liberty Caucus.  I don’t shun the Libertarian party, the Green Party, the Cool Moose Party -- but good luck running as a third party.”

Libertarian Party Chair Pat Ford welcomed Spiratos' move, however. 

"We're thrilled to have Anthony join Rhode Island's Party of Freedom," said Ford. "His demonstrated leadership will be invaluable in spreading our gospel of limited government and personal freedom, particularly on Aquidneck Island, where he is an integral part of the community."

Public Clashes

Spiratos said that he would still consider supporting certain Republican candidates moving forward. 

“I support the rank and file GOP and a lot of the candidates, a lot are personal friends. However I went to my first event for the Libertarian Party last week and I had a lot of fun and I could feel the energy,” said Spiratos. “I’ve always had Libertarian leanings; I’ve always liked the energy.”

Spiratos said the lack of support from the Newport Republican City Committee — as well as lack of meetings — were one reason he opted to bow out. 

“When I ran in 2002 and lost a close race, the city party as fantastic,” said Spiratos. “The wanted to run candidates and they backed them, and not just with money.  That was not the case this time around."

Precision Consulting’s Dosdourian, who has served as both the Cumberland Republican Town Committee Chair and President of the RI GOP Chairman's Caucus, said following the move by Spiratos that he as well had some “fundamental differences” with the state Republican party. 

“There's been a shift in how we're being treated, I can't say it's by one person -- it's just a general feeling that we are no longer valued,” said Dosdourian. “You can't see it's one issue, it's basically that we're not wanted anymore, and our opinions weren't valued. We did do the training in the 2014 election. We had [Representative Sherry] Roberts, [Representative Bobby] Nardolillo, [Representative] Justin Price, [Senator] Mark Gee, and Sharon Gamba, who didn't win.  Mike Napolitano worked for [Independent Representative] Blake Filippi, I worked in Delmonico's against Marcello.  I've had some folks say some things to me, about my supporting Block.  Look, my only concern is to get my candidates elected.”  

In 2014, Dosdourian and Napolitano had supported Moderate Party founder turned Republican Ken Block, who lost the highly contested -- and often bitter -- GOP Gubernatorial primary to Cranston Mayor Allan Fung. Dosdourian said that the firm has currently has two Republicans and seven Independents on its roster to run for General Assembly seats in 2016. 

“So we're doing well,” said Dosdourian. “The [state party] has their own candidate training class, they have variety of people coming in. We really were hoping we could be part of the training, I mentioned it.  Their impression is we're in competition with the party, which is not the case. We just want to find candidates to train.  We tell them to go to the RI GOP, they've got the phone banking resources, meanwhile I feel that the party is looking at us like the competition.”

"Training Methods" In Question?

Bell said that that the party would welcome all Republicans for consideration, and acknowledged that there was room for “independent” candidates, versus third party ones. 

“In 2016 you don't run away from the word 'Republican," said Bell. "There are certainly areas where right-leaning individuals-- like a Blake Filippi, or in Providence, decide to run as Independents as opposed to Republican. I get it. Filippi caucuses with the Republicans.  And Ed O’Neill in the Senate, an Independent, is a Trump supporter, and a great guy.”

Bell said his issues with Precision is over money.

“Look, they’re a private entity, they charge money, and I wish them well,” said Bell. “We think candidates shouldn’t need to use their money for training.  So how [Precision] decides to fit in the party is the way they choose to fit in.”

Spiratos said he would not be running for a seat in 2016 since making the switch — but added he hasn’t ruled it out in the future.

Editor's Note: Dosdourian, Napolitano, and DiNuccio had been on the RI GOP Education Committee in 2014 when trainings were conducted.