Block throws support behind former rival Fung for governor
Just a couple weeks ago, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung won the Republican primary for governor with 55 percent of the vote, defeating his opponent Ken Block. But despite losing a heated primary that featured a negative advertising campaign against him, Block gave a “full-throated endorsement” to Fung during a news conference Monday at the Statehouse, the Providence Journal reported.
Block emphasized the need for a “strong party of opposition” to the Democrats going into the general election season, the Journal reported.
Block and Fung met Saturday in Warwick to discuss the endorsement casually, Block said. The Journal reported that Fung was “very grateful” for Block’s support.
“I welcome Ken and his supporters and ask for his help and support in the coming weeks, so that we can achieve our shared vision for a government that operates more efficiently, is responsive to all people in our great state of Rhode Island and, most of all, creates an environment in which businesses can grow and prosper and put more of our people back to work,” Fung said.
Memo reveals secret fund against Cianci
A confidential memo obtained by the news outlet GoLocalProv was sent to 29 people by Lorne Adrain, a former independent candidate for Providence mayor, asking for support for a 501(c)(4) fund of $1 million to help defeat independent candidate Buddy Cianci’s bid for mayor.
These funds do not disclose the names of donors and are widely used to circumvent campaign finance restrictions.
Jake Bissaillon, who managed City Council President Michael Solomon’s failed campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination, will coordinate the third-party attack against Cianci, Adrain told wpri.com.
Cianci released a statement Friday in response to the leaked memo. “In this country, our founding principle is that we are a democracy — not just subject to a handful of millionaires deciding what is best for the hard-working people who are the backbone of our city, our economy and our community,” Cianci said in his statement, GoLocalProv reported. The Cianci campaign’s statement denounced the efforts to form the 501(c)(4) fund, arguing that such money would be better spent on Providence schools rather than engaging in political attacks.
Cianci takes slim lead in mayoral race
With the general election for mayor of Providence less than six weeks away, independent Buddy Cianci heads the pack of candidates with an expected 38 percent of the vote, according to a Providence Journal/WPRI-12 poll conducted by Fleming and Associates of registered voters in the city. He has a 5.6-percentage-point lead over his Democratic opponent Jorge Elorza. Less than 6 percent of poll respondents indicated that they would vote for Republican nominee Daniel Harrop ’76 MD’79.
“We’re enthused,” Cianci, who previously served two stints as mayor before resigning each time due to felony convictions, told the Journal. “We’re extremely happy that we have a clear path to victory.”
While nearly 10 percent of voters said they didn’t know how they felt about Cianci, about 37 percent of people were uncertain about their feelings toward Elorza. Marisa O’Gara, Elorza’s campaign manager, said Elorza has momentum on his side, the Journal reported. “It seems like Mr. Cianci has been hovering around 38 percent since the day he announced,” she said.
Almost a quarter of people polled said they have not made up their mind about who they would vote for or refused to answer the question, the Journal reported.
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