NEW: Cicilline & Doherty Spar Over Campaign Contributions

NEW: Cicilline & Doherty Spar Over Campaign Contributions

With less than six weeks before the November election, Congressman David Cicilline and Republican challenger Brendan Doherty are in a war of words over campaign contributions.

This morning, the Cicilline campaign again attempted to tie Doherty to the national Republican Party by pointing out that he has received at least $63,000 from leadership PACs run by powerful Republicans including Eric Cantor and Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

"It's easy to see why Brendan Doherty wants to give the appearance of space between himself and the Washington Republicans whose proposals are well outside the mainstream here in Rhode Island," said Cicilline campaign manager Eric Hyers. "The truth is that Tea Party-backed Republicans in Congress are looking to Brendan Doherty to keep them in power and enable them to advance their extreme agenda that would hurt Rhode Island women, seniors, and middle class families."

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Later in the day, Doherty campaign manager Ian Prior fired back, accusing Cicilline of accepting campaign contributions from Providence Economic Development Partnership (PEDP) loan recipients. He also pointed to contributions from the owners of Capco Steel, which has struggled to repay a $4.6 million loan guarantee from the state.

“It is ludicrous for Cicilline to accuse Brendan of being influenced by campaign contributions...it’s just a wild, desperate charge with no evidence to support it,” Prior said. “Wasn’t it David Cicilline who, as Mayor, received thousands of dollars in donations from individuals who were employed by businesses that received loans from the City of Providence through the Providence Economic Development Partnership? As Chairman of the Partnership, it was Cicilline who played a key role in deciding who got loans for their businesses. These businesses later defaulted on $370,000 of taxpayer-supported loans from the City of Providence.”