Providence mayoral candidate Buddy Cianci is walking back an earlier assertion that he won’t take campaign contributions from city employees. Rival candidate Jorge Elorza is calling on Cianci to return about $18,000 in donations from city employees.
This is Cianci speaking during a September 17 debate, sounding unequivocal. While criticizing the amount of openness at City Hall, he rejected the idea of accepting city employees’ campaign contributions.
"There’s been no transparency and by the way, I haven’t taken a dime from any city worker nor do I intend to."
A Providence Journal reporter says Cianci separately conveyed the same message to her. But Cianci now denies pledging to reject contributions from city employees. He calls his comment “an offhand remark at a heated forum.”
Cianci says what he meant to say was that if he wins election as mayor, he’ll not accept contributions from city employees. Elorza calls the about-face a clear sign that Cianci, convicted of racketeering conspiracy in 2002, has not changed.
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