RI State Police Investigating Anonymous Political Mailer, GoLocal Unveils Who Sent It

RI State Police Investigating Anonymous Political Mailer, GoLocal Unveils Who Sent It

GoLocal has learned that Rhode Island State Police are investigating anonymous political mailers that may have flipped one of the most hotly contested State House races in November.

And, GoLocal has confirmed that at least one of the mailers was sent by former Rhode Island Democratic Congressional candidate Matt Fecteau. He lost to David Cicilline in the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District in 2014 by a margin of 63% to 37%.

In late October of 2020, just two weeks before the highly contested race between former Republican State Representative Anthony Giarrusso and the woman who defeated him in District 30 (East Greenwich, West Greenwich) in 2018, sitting Democratic State Representative Justine Caldwell, a series of mailers were sent to voters in East Greenwich.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

The mailers were attack ads made to look like they came from Giarrusso maligning Caldwell.

Giarrusso said at the time when -- when he disavowed any connection to the mailer -- that the "negative, untruthful, personal and anonymous attacks that have characterized current election campaigns are having a detrimental impact on politics, government and even personal relationships, and must be condemned by every candidate and voter.”

In 2020, Caldwell defeated Giarrusso by 390 votes -- good for 52% of the vote versus his nearly 48%.

When she defeated him in 2018, it was by 169 votes, in a race that had over 7,200 votes cast. 

Former Congressional Candidate Sent Mailer

“I sent out only one mailer and was told after the fact there should have been a disclaimer on it. For that I am disappointed in myself," said Fecteau. "Things have been quite hectic for me due to other commitments and apologize to all parties involved. I screwed up in short and it will not happen again."

When asked if the Caldwell campaign was aware of it, Fecteau told GoLocal, “I think so.” 

Fecteau said he was not paid by Caldwell for the mailer, “It has no links to either campaign and none of the campaigns knew about it. I was just me exercising my rights. I said so already. I mean, the story is basically: I didn’t put my address on a mailer.”

State law requires political mailers to disclose who paid for the mailer. 

Giarrusso on Wednesday said he had not spoken with Fecteau in "years" -- and certainly not about any mailer. 

"I think this mailer was hurtful on both sides," said Giarrusso. "It hurt [Caldwell] for people to say, well, I don’t want her to be in lockstep with the problem, if the [House] leadership is part of the problem."

"And then it hurt [me] that people would say I’d stoop so low to do this -- it’s a turnoff. I always said stick to the issues. I spent my money on what makes me different from her. I was 100% honest and paid for any communications from my campaign," said Giarrusso. 

"I think there should be ramifications. Whatever the law is, it would be punishable by what the law states," he added.

Caldwell did not respond to request for comment at the time of publication.

 Editor's Note: Fecteau was a guest MINDSETTER™ to GoLocal up until 2018