Editorial

Rhode Island People’s PAC: What’s with this guy Steven Cianci?

Providence City Council incumbents are bad enough with their personal agendas, backroom deals and fake community inclusion processes, but for a new candidate to be shady right from the jump? What’s he hiding and what’s he afraid of? It’s alarming to us to hear about a candidate running on a platform of new ideas and community when his behavior seems

Rhode Island News: Rhode Island People’s PAC: What’s with this guy Steven Cianci?

September 2, 2018, 11:06 am

By RI Peoples PAC

Providence City Council incumbents are bad enough with their personal agendas, backroom deals and fake community inclusion processes, but for a new candidate to be shady right from the jump?

What’s he hiding and what’s he afraid of?

It’s alarming to us to hear about a candidate running on a platform of new ideas and community when his behavior seems to match the arrogant and unaccountable political action we are all too familiar with.

Everyone promises to be able to do more to fix the sidewalks and make the city more affordable, but these things aren’t accomplished with a magic wand. There are important nuances of policy that need to be discussed in order to understand how these things will get done and we haven’t heard anything from candidate for Providence City Council Ward 5 Steven Cianci about how he will do the things he promises.

In fact, twice now he has confirmed his attendance at important community conversations alongside other candidates to answer the difficult questions facing the city and both times he didn’t bother to show up. It is especially disappointing that he couldn’t be bothered to attend the forum on the affordable housing crisis, as the displacement of the working class families of this city is a problem of epic proportions and one that needs to be dealt with deliberately and immediately.

It’s also concerning that a first time candidate would be over 30 days late with his required financial disclosures to the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. We need new ideas for leadership based in community and transparency.

So, the questions are clear Mr Cianci: What are you hiding and what are you afraid of?

We can’t continue to elect people who claim to be supporting their communities, but can’t even be bothered to show up to answer the questions of those communities.