Turns out I was right
when I said there’s only one true Democrat running for General Treasurer
 |
| Caprio rooted for Mitt Romney to beat President Obama in 2012 |
A
couple of weeks ago, I pissed some people off by declaring in Rhode
Island’s Future and Progressive
Charlestown that, among the three contenders for the Democratic Party’s
endorsement for General Treasurer, only one – Seth Magaziner – was really and truly a
Democrat.
I
declared the other two – Frank T. Caprio and Ernie Almonte – to be impostors
who, at best, deserved to be called DINOs (“Democrats in Name Only).
I
noted that both men failed the state by taking no effective action to stop the
state public pension crisis before it reached the critical point. Both men -
Caprio as General Treasurer and Almonte as Auditor General - not only could
have acted, but had the duty to do so.
I
also catalogued the words and deeds of Caprio and Almonte that betrayed core
Democratic principles and, in some instances, were dishonorable.
On
June 22, for no good reason, the Democratic State Convention delegates voted
overwhelmingly to endorse Frank Caprio.
The
Convention majority seemed ready to overlook his terrible 2010 campaign, capped
by Caprio telling President Barack Obama to “take his endorsement and
shove it.”
As
this tweet shows, Caprio remained angry at the President two years later, and
seemed to want President Obama to lose his 2012 bid for re-election. I wonder
if Caprio voted for Romney instead of the President.
There
was willingness to ignore Caprio’s
2012 disaffiliation from the party and long delay in deciding to run for
redemption as a Democrat. Those delegates seemed ready to ignore just about
everything other than the orders they received from the Party leadership.
Caprio
himself admitted during his acceptance speech at the Convention that he did
indeed screw up royally in the 2010 election and promised not to let the Party
down again. It was all about him and his quest for validation. All very nice if
being a bad campaigner was Caprio’s only offense.
But,
as the days went by, we learned that not only did Caprio actively
consider running as a Republican in 2010 before finally deciding to run as
a conservative Democrat, but that he did it again in 2014!
He
actually met
with Republican Party leadership to discuss running on the Republican ticket in
2014 as well. Only later, months after
declaring his intention to run, he re-affiliated as a Democrat and publicly
said he was running as a Democrat. This was after his brother David became the pick
to become new state Democratic Chair, providing Frank Caprio with a path of
least resistance and the inside track to the perception of institutional
forgiveness.
What kind of
Democrat does this?
And what kind of Democrats can ignore all these facts and back a guy like Frank
Caprio for such an important job as General Treasurer.
Ernie
Almonte, erstwhile Democratic contender for General Treasurer, isn’t any better
than Caprio.
I
called out Almonte for his failure
to sound the alarm on the state pension system when he was Auditor General
and I noted the terrible things Almonte said in 2012 right after he declared
his intention to run for Governor in 2014.
He was caught on video parroting Mitt
Romney’s anti-working people screed and calling for broad cuts in Social
Security and Medicare while preserving tax breaks for the rich.
It
turns out that Ernie Almonte was also being approached by the Republican Party
to run on their ticket for General Treasurer in 2014 while he was campaigning
for the Party’s endorsement.
GOP
State Chair Mark Smiley said the party even went so far as to hold a slot
for Almonte right up until the declaration deadline for candidates. He said
that the Republicans were a much better fit for Almonte. This may be the first
time Smiley and I are agreed on a political question.
When
declaration day came, Almonte
filed his Declaration as neither a Republican nor a Democrat and will
instead run as an independent.
 |
| Tea Party Queen Doreen Costa has already called Almonte her pick |
Though
there is no candidate officially representing the GOP, but I think either
Caprio or Almonte still fit that bill. Indeed, Almonte attended the GOP state
committee meeting and, while not formally endorsed, Chairman
Mark Smiley has said that Almonte is their candidate in the race and has
the backing of GOP party leadership.
Almonte
has already won the approval of famed Tea Party Republican Representative
Doreen Costa.
If
Caprio does manage to convince Democrat voters in the September primary to pick
him over the true Democrat Seth Magaziner, that would set up a November battle
between him and “independent” Republican-except-in-name Ernie Almonte that
could look alarmingly like 2010.
Actually, a Caprio-Almonte battle in
November could be even worse because then we would have two candidates who are
all about ambition and their own reinvented, phony identities. They are devoid of real ideas or
principles. They are all about denying their pasts and painting themselves as “nice
guys” who understand and care about working families, all evidence to the
contrary.
But there’s an alternative, and
that’s Seth
Magaziner.
Here’s a short list of reasons why Seth is the clear choice:
- Life-long Democrat
- Backing of state and national democrats such as Bill Clinton, Deval Patrick, Patrick Kennedy, Liz Roberts, TEN democratic city and town committees, the majority of labor unions to endorse thus far, RI-NOW.
- Activist investor who has proven he can beat the market while also standing up to big-banks to lower fees and fight predatory financial practices like systemic foreclosure.
- Only candidate in the race to have testified at the State and Federal level about the dangers of predatory financial services such as Payday lending and pawn shop check cashing.