Cranston Is RI’s Political Hotbed - Mattiello in Hot Seat, Brady Announces, Mayor's Race Heats Up

Cranston Is RI’s Political Hotbed - Mattiello in Hot Seat, Brady Announces, Mayor's Race Heats Up

Cranston politics are already taking front and center in Rhode Island this election year. 

In January, GoLocal wrote that Cranston looked to be the political hotbed of the year -- now it is official. 

The Mayor’s race is highly contested on both the Republican and Democratic sides, and the battle over the 15th House District is already heating up.

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This past weekend, Barbara Ann Fenton Fung dropped a campaign flyer in her race to unseat Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello.

The brochure features her bio and accolades on the front side and blistering charges against Mattiello on the backside — all sourcing Rhode Island media.

Mattiello is embroiled in a series of controversies.

In October, Britt, a top campaign consultant Mattiello, was indicted by a statewide jury on two counts — felony money laundering and a misdemeanor charge of making a prohibited campaign contribution.

Britt’s defense team has filed its list of witnesses for the upcoming trial of the campaign consultant, and the witness list is a who’s who of the Rhode Island political and media world. 

And, Mattiello’s closest aides including his Chief of Staff Leo Skenyon and Executive Director of the Joint Committee on Legislative Services Frank Montanaro have both appeared before a separate grand jury relating to the Rhode Island Convention Center and alleged threats made by Mattiello’s office in retaliation for the Convention Center disciplining James Demers — the head of security and close friend of Mattiello.

 

Mayor’s Race

The Cranston mayor's race features political heavyweights on both sides of the aisle. The Democratic primary pits former member of the City Council Maria Bucci against Councilman Steve Stycos. And, on the GOP side Council President Michael Farina is in a battle against fellow councilman Ken Hopkins.

Farina and Hopkins have been trading shots back-and-forth for weeks over Fung’s endorsement of Hopkins, the budget, and small business legislation.

Combined the four candidates have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The fundraising is led by Farina with $90,310 and followed by Stycos $60,024, Bucci $56,457, and Hopkins $20,580.

 

Brady Announces Run for Reelection

Councilman Edward Brady announced Monday he will be seeking re-election for Cranston City Council with hopes of continuing to "passionately represent" the residents of Ward 4 and the entire city of Cranston. 

“My focus has been to continue to listen, learn, and grow as we work together as a community in a bipartisan effort for and with the citizens of Cranston. I am a proud Cranstonian. I grew up in Cranston, I received a great education in Cranston, I bought my first home in Cranston, I opened my first business in Cranston, I plan to raise children in Cranston - and I will continue to invest my time, heart, energy and resources to the continued growth of the city of Cranston as I proudly serve our community. If re-elected, I promise I will continue to be honest in the performance of my duties as your councilman while putting “politics” aside and the people of Cranston first,” said Brady.

Brady owns a group of restaurants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 

Brady says his first ordinances as a councilperson was to co-sponsor a moratorium on solar farms to protect our open space. "Working directly with Mayor Allan Fung and his fellow council leadership, Councilman Brady advocated local solar investors to keep green energy savings and energy credits here in Cranston before selling them to competitive municipalities resulting in millions of dollars of potential savings for the Cranston taxpayers," said the Brady campaign.

"During our current Covid-19 pandemic, Councilman Brady led the effort with his restaurant group to feed over 10,000 meals to our first responders with the help of the generous Rhode Island community and to reopen many small businesses throughout the State of Rhode Island in this unprecedented time," according to the campaign. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Fenton Fung is NOT related to GoLocal CEO Josh Fenton.