I'm writing to explain my endorsement of Seth Yurdin for the Ward 1 City Council seat. I'm not the only one who holds great hope for Seth as a councilman; he's also been endorsed by Brown's Dining Services workers' union, Clean Water Action, Democracy for America, the Providence Phoenix, countless neighborhood activists and progressive State Representative Paul Moura, who has represented most residents of Ward 1 since 1984.
I've spent four years on the City Council. I've been advocating, with a core of progressives, for the environment, good jobs, affordable housing, civil rights and civil liberties. For that work to continue - for the sake of those causes that the countless students I've worked with care about most - it's imperative that we elect an effective, earnest advocate like Seth to the council.
For several decades, and until four years ago, the Ward 1 seat was one of the most conservative in the city, even though the bulk of Brown and RISD students, and untold other progressives, lived there. I ran in 2002 because I was passionate about two issues that had been debated before the City Council: the living wage ordinance and a civilian review board to mediate disputes between police and civilians. Both measures simply needed a nudge in the right direction in order to be achieved and my predecessor was the most adamant opponent of each of them. He was backed by a conservative ward committee, of which he's now a member. (Providence's ward committees are a vestige of old New England machine politics, built to entrench power and secure patronage. Ward 1's ward committee represents a small group of people - not all or most of the old neighborhood, and certainly not most Herald readers.)
With support from Providence's progressive movement, Brown students and others throughout the neighborhood - old and new - I won a four-way race. I was the first person to beat the machine, leading members of the ward committee to request that the secretary of state ban college students from voting in Rhode Island.
Seth, now 38 years old, has been active in progressive politics for his whole adult life. He was an organizer for Howard Dean in New Hampshire. He runs Rhode Island's chapter of Democracy for America. As a lawyer, Seth has done pro bono work for low-income clients in housing court, students who were being prosecuted for online file-sharing and the Florida Democratic Party during the 2004 election. He managed a Mississippi shelter for the Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina and has volunteered in public schools, teaching children about the legal system.
He's passionate about issues that really matter: schools, poverty, taxes, housing and the environment. And he's effective - even over the course of his campaign, he and his supporters have played integral roles as advocates for the neighborhood, winning fights to keep the local library open and to expand RIPTA service.
Seth has worn out his shoes walking door-to-door for five months now. He's built a genuine grassroots network that includes people from every corner of the neighborhood, countless students among them. He's brought people together, shunning the machine politics of the past.
Sadly, as much as there's plenty of reason to vote for Seth in the Council race, there's reason to vote against the cynical politics of his opponent.
As The Herald reported Thursday, Ethan Ris '05 has teamed up with the machine that used to run Ward 1 and its candidate for State Representative in District 2, Richard Pacheco. He and Ris have held several joint events and even share their headquarters. This month's East Side Monthly has Pacheco answering a question about education by stating, "It sickens me that dumb kids are graduating." When asked about the environment by a recent Brown grad at Polichick.com, he answered, "I'm not really a tree kind of guy." These are his precious few public policy statements: Pacheco has no platform or Web site, and currently owes the Board of Elections over $1,200 for delinquent campaign finance reports.
That Ris - who purports to be an advocate for education, sustainability and good government - is teaming up with Pacheco, typifies the political expediency of his 18-month campaign.
Ris has repeated false claims of endorsements, lied about me and now Seth and accepted money and assistance from the conservative ward machine and the conservative wing of the GOP, no questions asked. Since 2000, his many corporate lobbyist donors have given more than a quarter-million dollars to federal Republicans, including some of the worst, like President George W. Bush and former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ris took the money even as he claimed poverty and "limited connections" while applying for the endorsement of Democracy For America. Soliciting support in his high school alumni magazine, he claimed he was running against an incumbent Republican. Get real, Ethan. Brown students and all of Ward 1 deserve better. And Providence needs better.
I hope that many Herald readers have had the chance to meet Seth over the week that school's been back in session. It's clear to most who've worked with him or spoken with him on the campaign trail that he cares deeply about his community - and though it might embarrass him, I couldn't be happier to write that he's got a bleeding heart and a drive to continue the vital work of the neighborhood.
Please join me in voting for Seth Yurdin. In doing so, we have a chance to support a proven, passionate progressive and to reject the cynicism that pervades the politics of our time.
Outgoing Ward 1 City Councilman David Segal is running in the Democratic primary to represent District 2 in the State House of Representatives against Richard Pacheco.
