Cranston Mayoral Candidate Ferri Names Warwick Resident to Co-Chair Campaign Finances

Cranston Mayoral Candidate Ferri Names Warwick Resident to Co-Chair Campaign Finances

On Saturday morning, Democratic candidate for Mayor of Cranston Robert Ferri named some high-flying politicos to direct his campaign.

According to the Ferri press release, “Meredith Curren and Don Sweitzer are the campaign’s Finance Co-Chairs.”

Curren is a former Gina Raimondo staffer and Sweitzer is a former gaming executive and top Democratic Party operative.

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Sweitzer has been a virtual money machine for Democrats for decades. In Rhode Island, he and his wife Sheri have donated more than $160,000.

And the two Sweitzers have donated hundreds of thousands more for top Democrats nationally.

When asked about Sweitzer’s non-Cranston residency, Ferri’s press person, Michael Beauregard, refused to respond to multiple emails. One of the questions that the Ferri team refused to answer is why would a Cranston mayoral candidate not select a Cranston resident;

Ferri, a member of the Cranston City Council, switched from being a Republican to being a Democrat in 2022.

While you may see Sweitzer with top Democrats, you are unlikely to see him at T’s on Park Avenue as Sweitzer, according to campaign finance documents he lives in Warwick Neck and has a home in Florida.

Switzer announced his retirement in 2018, and he served as chairman of IGT Global Solutions Corporation, the state’s lottery contractor.

Earlier in his career, he was political director of the Democratic National Committee during the first term of former U.S. President Bill Clinton. He was also a trusted advisor to elected representatives, including Senators Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, and Howard M. Metzenbaum, D-Ohio.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ferri is now a Democrat. He switched from being a Republican in 2022.