GoLocalProv Endorsement: Second Congressional District
Editorial
GoLocalProv Endorsement: Second Congressional District
While the two candidates are starkly different, the outcome of this race will probably have no role in which party will run the U.S. House next year.
Republicans will almost certainly win control of the chamber, and having a member of the majority party, even a freshman, has value to Rhode Island.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHere's our assessment:
Allan Fung
Fung was a rock-solid mayor of Cranston, and by all accounts, a decent person and a Rhode Island-focused politician.
We wish that he would be more direct on such issues as the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump and his supporters, as well as abortion rights. In any event, he has made it clear that he doesn’t support another run for the presidency by Trump, and he believes that Rhode Island law regarding reproductive rights should stand.
Fung, a Chinese-American, would be Rhode Island’s first racial-minority member to serve in Congress, which would inspire many in this very multicultural state.
Meanwhile, among Fung’s refreshing qualities are his reputation as a self-starter and his promise to work with Democrats to find solutions. The Rhode Island Congressional delegation has plenty of liberals, it is acceptable to have a moderate.
Seth Magaziner
Magaziner is a technocrat Democrat — the son of politically connected parents.
As general treasurer, he has done a better-than-reasonable job managing the state’s pension fund, which has outperformed the majority of peer public-pension funds across America.
But two things in Magaziner’s tenure in public office disturb us; one is significantly more important than the other.
The first followed a GoLocal investigation that uncovered that Ira Magaziner — the father of Seth — had a significant relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Ira Magaziner was one of the names in the convicted pedophile’s “little black book” and according to flight logs, Ira Magaziner flew on numerous flights with Epstein.
GoLocal reached out repeatedly to the senior Magaziner, and never to Seth, for comment.
However, GoLocal received a statement on the Magaziner-Epstein link from a member of Seth’s office. The use of a taxpayer-funded public employee to respond to GoLocal’s questions to Ira Magaziner was perverse.
GoLocal asked legitimate questions of wealthy business consultant and Democratic policy guru Ira Magaziner, the then-head of the Clinton Health Access Initiative. (Bill Clinton also had connections with Epstein.) He, Ira Magaziner, could choose to answer or not. For his son to insert himself into this matter was bizarre and an abuse of his public office for his family’s protection.
And then Seth Magaziner’s office, seemingly in revenge, removed GoLocal from its news-media-distribution list for public information relating to state business.
This behavior, while immature and unprofessional, should not, by itself, disqualify him from higher office.
What should, however, is his repeated refusal for more than eight years to disclose the source of $800,000 that he loaned his campaign in his first run for the treasurer job.
He has admitted that the money was not his but has repeatedly refused to directly answer questions about the money, instead simply saying that his family happens to be rich.
It’s possible that funding may have been from a third party with an interest in the activities in the treasurer’s office, and the source of the funds may have profited as a result.
Further, this financing may have been illegal. The lack of disclosure is simply is not acceptable, and should disqualify Seth Magaziner from public office.
In any event, critical to decision-making in this endorsement is that there is an easy pull cord.
If Fung is elected and goes hard right once in office and supports a MAGA agenda, then just two years later, in a presidential election year, Rhode Islanders could dump Fung for a Democratic challenger, hopefully, one who has a higher moral standard and is more transparent than Magaziner. Voter turnouts are higher in presidential-election years than in mid-terms – a fact that tends to help Democrats more than Republicans in the former.
For Fung to survive in the Blue district, he must serve his constituents in the legacy of successful Rhode Island Republicans, most famously the late U.S. Senator John Chafee: relatively rigorous on fiscal matters and moderate on social issues.
If Fung wins, and he turns hard right, he will be "one and done."
There are a host of potentially strong Democratic challengers far better than Magaziner who are possible challengers in 2024, including Nellie Gorbea, Helena Foulkes, and others.
So we endorse Allan Fung but warn, again, that this is a two-year endorsement and urge Fung not to fall into the Kevin McCarthy/MAGA version of the Republican Party and to be laser-focused on the interests of Rhode Islanders.
We believe Fung could be the critical bridge between Republicans and Democrats, it is critical to our democracy.