David Cicilline

David Cicilline
Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 6, 2003
Preceded by	John J. Lombardi
Member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from the 4th district
In office January 1995 – January 2003
Born	December 15, 1961 (1961-48-15) (age 47) Providence, Rhode Island
Political party	Democratic
Residence	Providence, Rhode Island
Alma mater	Brown University (AB) Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.)
Website	cicilline.com

David N. Cicilline (born 1961), an American Democratic politician, is the current Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. He is the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital.^[1]

Early life and career

Cicilline was born July 15, 1961 in Providence to a Jewish mother, Sabra, and Italian American father, John F. "Jack" Cicilline. ^[2][3] His father is a prominent attorney in Providence who defended local Mafia figures in the 1970s and 1980s and was an aide to Mayor Joseph A. Doorley.^[2]

He was raised in Providence before moving to Narragansett. At high school, he served as president of his graduating class before heading to Brown University, where he established a branch of the College Democrats with his classmate, John F. Kennedy Jr. He took a degree in political science, graduating magna cum laude in 1983. He then went to Georgetown University Law Center where he earned a J.D., remaining in Washington, D.C. for a while to work for the Public Defender Service.

David Cicilline worked as a lawyer before being elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1995, representing the 4th district on Providence's East Side. He served a total of four terms in the legislature, during which time he came out as a gay man.

As mayor

Cicilline was elected in a landslide in November 2002 with 84% of the vote, following the downfall of controversial mayor Vincent Cianci and the aftermath of Operation Plunder Dome.^[4] He succeeded acting mayor John J. Lombardi, who served out Cianci's term and decided not to run in the following election.^[5]

Cicilline's administration has been focused on the residential neighborhoods of Providence as well as the "Renaissance" areas of downtown and Federal Hill that thrived under Cianci, and has continued the promotion of the city via the tax breaks given to artists and movie productions. As a former state legislator, he was able to deal with the animosity with state government that existed under Cianci.

Providence has experienced a significant drop in crime, attributed by some to community policing. As of 2007, Providence had its lowest crime rate in 30 years, contrary to national trends. The city has eliminated 14% of management positions, dropped to 17th in the state for per-capita tax and received an "A" bond rating from all three major bond-rating agencies.^[6]

In 2006, Cicilline won an easy reelection with 83% of the vote.^[6] Brown University's survey in September 2007 found that 64 percent of state residents approved of the job Cicilline was doing in Providence. By February 2008, that number had dropped to 51 percent. And in September 2008, his popularity fell to 46 percent..^[7]

He is 2008 President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors.

In May, 2009, Cicilline gained national headlines after proposing a $150 per semester Head Tax on each of the 25,000 college students attending four universities in the city. The tax was an effort to close $6 to $8 million, of a reported $17 million dollar city budget shortfall. The associated press reported that if enacted, it would become the first-in-the-nation tax on students simply for being enrolled and attending college within the city limits.^[8]

Issues

Mayor Cicilline is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,^[9] a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Mayor Cicilline has expressed concern for the Providence metropolitan area's carbon footprint and is seeking to implement a streetcar/light rail-type system for the city. The mayor also focuses efforts on fighting poverty, for example, by creating relationships between people and their banks. In response to the housing crisis, he passed a vacant and abandoned property penalty to provide economic disincentive for banks to hold properties for extended periods of time, and also proposed the city take out a bond to buy many foreclosed properties.^[10]

Cicilline is a strong proponent of after school programs as a means of improving opportunities for children^[11]. He has been recognized for his efforts to establish youth programming and to strengthen ties between schools, businesses, and the local government in order to expand access to after school. In response to this issue, city officials worked with Rhode Island’s Education Partnership to form PASA, the Providence After School Alliance^[11]. Cicille also serves on the board of the national nonprofit Afterschool Alliance, an organization that works to promote and to support after school programming for all children^[12].

During the Democratic primaries, Ciciline supported Hillary Clinton. In August, he attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver. While there he stated in an interview he supported Barack Obama, saying "There is a real sense of hope and optimism about what we're about to do and about a chance in leadership in this country."^[13]

Cicilline has been a strong proponent of the outlawing of prostitution in Rhode Island^[14] (prostitution was outlawed in 2009, between 1980 and 2009 prostitution was legal). He has personally testified in Superior court to stop the opening of "spas" in Providence, and has also appeared in the 2009 documentary Happy Endings?, a film that follows the lives of the women in the Asian massage parlors in the center of the debate to re-criminalize prostitution.^{[14][15] [16]} He has lobbied for a prostitution law not only to arrest the women and the Johns, but also to fine the landlords that allowed for this activity on their premises.^[17] On September 2, 2009, Cicilline submitted to the City Council leadership an ordinance to ban indoor prostitution in the city, imposing a $500 fine and a potential 30-day prison sentence on violators.^[18]

ICE controversy with Governor Carcieri

On June 8, 2008, Marco Riz, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who had been arrested twice the previous year while under a deportation order, was charged in the robbery and rape of a 30-year-old woman.^[19] A federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent criticized the Providence Police Department for not checking Riz's immigration status when they arrested him prior.^[20] Governor of Rhode Island, Donald Carcieri blamed Cicilline for the Department's failure. Prior, Carcieri had signed an executive order requiring all state officials to work with ICE on arrests or hirings of illegal immigrants. When Carcieri asked the same of local agents, Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman refused. Cicilline responded that it has been the policy of the Police Department to work with ICE and its database for all arrests, that the policy was followed when Riz was arrested, and that ICE failed to act.^[20]

On July 8, 2008, governor of Rhode Island, Donald Carcieri claimed that Cicilline was not upholding his oath of office by failing to report illegal immigrants, suggesting the U.S. Attorney investigate the mayor.^[21] Mayor Cicilline responded by accusing Carcieri of "playing politics", eight days later writing an op-ed in the Providence Journal stating that the city always has and will continue to report all arrests to immigration authorities, and that the focus is therefore inappropriate.^[22] Carcieri is term-limited and is prevented from running for a third term in 2010.

Firefighters' union contract

Since 2003, Cicilline has been engaged in a dispute with the Providence Firefighters labor union (Local 799). In a July 2002 email Cicilline sent to the members of Local 799, he indicated that he hoped to resolve their pending contract dispute with the city within 30 days of taking office. In August, Cicilline said in an interview that promising the resolution of contract negotiations was impossible because of the unpredictability of the other negotiating partner.^[23] The city and the union have been in arbitration in every contract year since 2002, with Cicilline appealing one arbitration decision to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. The appeal was rejected.^[24]

In 2004, Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards canceled a fundraising appearance in Providence in support of the Local 799.^[25] In 2007, Hillary Clinton asked Cicilline, a Clinton supporter, not to attend a Clinton rally because of threats by the union to picket the appearance.^[26][27]

Both the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) have censured Cicilline for his role in the issue.^[28][29]

In 2009, due to the union's picket, the Obama administration canceled Joe Biden's appearance at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Providence in the interests of remaining neutral in the conflict.^[30]

Tax Office Controversy

John M. Cicilline, brother of Mayor Cicilline, is currently serving time in Federal Prison. In June 2008, John M. Cicilline pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements for his role in the courthouse corruption scheme. Federal prosecutors indicted John Cicilline, disbarred attorney Joseph Bevilacqua Jr. and two assistants in January 2007. According to court documents, the two attorneys spun a complicated scheme to win leniency in a drug trafficking case.^[31]

Before reporting to prison, John M. Cicilline gave the city of Providence a $75,000 check for taxes owed by a client, but asked that the check not be cashed and only held as collateral. Two of the mayor’s top aides told the city tax collector Robert Ceprano, not to cash a check sent by the mayor’s brother, a lawyer, on behalf of a delinquent taxpayer because it would bounce. In four instances, the tax collector says, aides pressured him to perform tax favors for the mayor’s friends and/or campaign contributors. The mayor says the taxpayers got relief because they or the city made a tax mistake — not because they are friends or contributors. Amid the controversy the tax collector Robert Ceprano was fired ^[32]

On May 10, 2009 Robert Ceprano filed a lawsuit against the City of Providence alleging conspiracy, corruption, libel and wrongful termination. The suit accuses John M. Cicilline, the mayor’s imprisoned brother, of attempting to defraud the City of Providence by writing a bad check for $75,000 on behalf of a delinquent taxpayer. Furthermore, it alleges, the mayor and his aides “willfully conspired … to conceal John Cicilline’s illegal activities.” Ceprano also charges that he was fired not for poor job performance, but because he resisted the mayor’s efforts to perform tax favors for political friends and supporters. Lawyers for Ceprano are asking for 10 million dollars.^[33]

Political future

Cicilline with John Ratzenberger at the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival

A vocal critic of current governor Donald Carcieri^[34], Mayor Cicilline was considering a run for governor in 2010, but announced in March 2009 that he would run for another term as mayor instead.^[35]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: David Cicilline

• Official profile on City of Providence website
• Campaign website
• CityMayors profile
• Broder, David S. (June 8, 2006). "A Reformer In Rhode Island". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060702114.html. Retrieved 2007-06-29. "Something remarkable is happening here. A city long renowned for the rackets and graft is being cleaned up by a reform-minded mayor." 
• "New Day" Campaign ad, accessed December 1, 2006