Don Roach: Cicilline & Gemma Make the Case for Doherty

Don Roach: Cicilline & Gemma Make the Case for Doherty

Anthony Gemma. David Cicilline. The two Democratic primary opponents don’t have much in common except for the fact that neither one deserves to be our next Representative from the first Congressional District. Yes, I know one of them must win the primary on September 11th and one of them will face off against Brendan Doherty in November, but Gemma and Cicilline have both failed to do enough to earn our votes much less trust or faith that they will be able to represent our interests in Congress. Last night, they squared off in their first debate and does either candidate inspire?

Gemma – Nice Zeal, Flawed Candidate

Let’s start with Gemma. The 2010 candidate has made as many political missteps, from flip-flopping on his pro-life stance, his Facebook and Twitter debacles, the recent defections of his field director, and this past week’s dismissal of a volunteer who likened Cicilline to Jerry Sandusky. For those of you living under a rock the past year, Jerry Sandusky is the former Penn State assistant coach who was recently convicted of several counts of child molestation. Likening Cicilline to Sandusky is wrong and baseless on a number of levels. We’ll get to why Cicilline should not get your vote in the primary or the general election but Gemma’s campaign appears to be one full of zeal but lacking discipline.

When Gemma announced his initial run back in 2010, he said:

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As a taxpayer and as a constituent, I personally have been disengaged with the government because I don’t think that they are doing the right things that they could be doing. They are not, for instance, using 21st century technology the way they can be. What was intended in the Constitution ... by your government representing the people can be done in a much quicker fashion now. Think about Facebook it has 225 million people. You can get immediate impact, an immediate feedback from constituents to help you decide how you should vote on a particular issue.

It’s fine to chuckle at the Facebook reference given Gemma’s Facebook issues, but it seemed to me that Gemma was a regular constituent who wanted to make a difference and engage a constituency, like himself, who was ‘disengaged’ with the process. That’s a lofty and worthy pursuit, but Gemma’s execution has been as successful as Red Sox Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, & Josh Beckett prior to their trade to the Dodgers. In other words, not successful at all. Over the past two years, I’ve lost more and more faith that Gemma has the right answers and the right approach for the 1st District.

Last week Gemma was supposed to shock the world with voter fraud allegations against Cicilline. I believed that if he had credible evidence against Cicilline that it obviously would be a campaign game changer. Yet, the evidence he presented seemed more accusation than actual evidence against the former mayor. Now, if we’re talking about Cicilline aficionados then I can certainly believe that there may have been some liberties taken. Nonetheless, the way in which Gemma handled the situation doesn’t seem to serve Rhode Islanders but it seemed as though Gemma was trying to save his campaign with a little ‘gotcha!’ politics.

Rhode Island deserves better.

Cicilline – No chance to fool Rhode Islanders twice

I’m not going to spend much time talking about why Cicilline is not a good fit as a congressman. I’ve talked about the reasons before such as not being completely forthright about Providence’s finances, not taking responsibility for the situation until well after the 2010 election, and the fact he insults our intelligence by trying to persuade us to believe that his actions in Providence have nothing to do with whether or not we should elect him to congress.

Ralphie May is coming to the Comedy Connection this weekend, but David Cicilline might rival him as a comedian since he’s trying to make light of his actions in Providence hoping we’ll all forget. Folks, we’re idiots if we forget what Cicilline did in Providence, idiots, and get what we deserve if we elect him.

That’s all the bandwidth I’d like to waste on Cicilline for today.

Doherty – The best choice, the only choice

There’s one person in this race who stands above the rest, Brendan Doherty, and it’s not even close. The former Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police has always had immediate credibility via his service as an officer. Further is positions are relatively moderate for a Republican and thus he’s not one of these out of the box Republicans that have difficulty winning in this state. Also, early on he demonstrated an ability to fundraise and I’m guessing that’s what ultimately forced out John Loughlin from the race despite the fact that Loughlin came awfully close to defeating Cicilline in 2010.

Indeed, what’s the worst candidate for Cicilline and best candidate for Rhode Island in 2012? Answer – a moderate Republican with built-in respect and ability to raise funds. The other thing Doherty has been able to do thus far, is stay out of the fracas between Gemma and Cicilline. The only concern for Doherty are a couple of public appearances where he didn’t appear as statesman-like (read: polished) as you’d expect from a Congressman. Hopefully, over the last several months Doherty and his team have worked on this area.

Even with that minor flaw, Doherty present Rhode Islanders with the only choice come November. Gemma has too many inconsistencies and a streak that leans towards sensationalism while Cicilline’s slick politician act can’t cover up his horrific deeds in Providence. So regardless who Democrats choose on primary day, the best and only choice is Brendan Doherty.