Lincoln Chafee - Independent Candidate for Rhode Island Governor

Media: September 2010 Archives

Caprio gets RI gov cash from firm with family ties

September 30, 2010

Boston.com
By Eric Tucker

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio has accepted roughly $50,000 in political contributions from lawyers at a Boston law firm that was referred dozens of clients from a deadly Rhode Island nightclub fire by the law firm of Caprio's family.

At least 20 lawyers with Cooley Manion Jones, which is making millions of dollars from its involvement in the case, have contributed to Caprio between 2005 and 2010. Several attorneys have annually donated $1,000, the maximum allowed under state law. One partner says he's hosted fundraisers for Caprio and expects to continue to do so, and wives of several of the lawyers have also contributed the maximum amount.

The contributions were made in the years after Caprio & Caprio referred the clients to Cooley Manion Jones, which has an office in the Caprios' building. The firm is one of the primary ones handling lawsuits from from the February 2003 fire at The Station nightclub, and the clients referred by the Caprio firm are just a portion of the more than 300 people who sued.

Lawyers at both firms said there was nothing improper about either the referrals or the political contributions, saying they reflected a long-standing personal and professional relationship and that the referrals were in no way contingent on financial support for Caprio's candidacy. Caprio said he saw no reason to return the money.

"There's no quid pro quo. There never was. There never would be. There's no way," said Patrick Jones, the firm's lead lawyer in the nightclub fire cases. Jones says he's hosted fundraisers for Caprio, and state campaign finance records show he's personally given $5,000 to Caprio since 2005.

Lawyers routinely contribute to candidates they support, but what's striking in this case is the breadth of participation -- all partners listed on the website gave money -- the size of contributions and the firm's minimal record of involvement in local elections.

Though the firm's lawyers have supported Democratic members of Rhode Island's congressional delegation in federal races, only about a half dozen other candidates in statewide and local elections have received money from Cooley Manion Jones attorneys -- and one is Caprio's brother David, a former state representative, according to state records.

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UPDATE: Chafee seeks resignation of Caprio Sr. from college board

Projo.com
By Katherine Gregg

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee is calling for the resignation of his chief rival's father, Providence Municipal Court Judge Frank Caprio, from his post as chairman of the state board that runs the two state colleges and the University of Rhode Island.

The elder Caprio chairs the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education.

Chafee who is running head to head with Caprio's son -- Frank T. Caprio, the state treasurer -- in the race for governor, pegged his resignation demand to the latest in a series of stories about the elder Caprio's role in providing state college jobs to the wife of a former legislator who hosted a fundraiser for his son this past summer, and a well-known boxer who describes him as an old family friend from Federal Hill.

Chafee also based his call on a provision in the state's code of judicial conduct that, in his view, prohibits judges from sitting on state boards such as the one he chairs.

Asked Thursday where he stood, Chafee issued a statement calling for Judge Caprio's resignation from the Board of Governors based on two alleged violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

"We believe that Judge Caprio has violated the Code of Judicial Conduct in at least two ways," said Chafee spokesman Mike Trainor.

"Judge Caprio has also exerted an undue influence on the appointment process for positions within our higher education system,'' he said. "He has advanced private interests using the prestige of his office. He has acknowledged doing this for 'countless people.' He is also serving on a board of a public education institution other than a law school. Both of these violate the canons of judicial conduct.''

"We are asking Judge Caprio to resign from the board of governors,'' he said. "If Judge Caprio chooses not to resign because of these violations, a complaint with the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline will be filed asking that he be removed from his judicial post. ...The campaign believes that Judge Caprio cannot legally serve in both capacities.''

There was no response from Judge Caprio, or from the Board of Governors to inquiries about the chairman's position and how much, if anything, it pays in salary or benefits.

But candidate Caprio issued this statement: "This is a scurrilous, desperate, and baseless attack against my father who has dedicated his life to helping people and serving the people of Rhode Island. I love my father.''

Continue reading "UPDATE: Chafee seeks resignation of Caprio Sr. from college board"

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Lincoln Chafee on The Rhode Show

September 29, 2010

The Rhode Show

Getting to know the candidates on a personal level

(FOX Providence) - In our new series 'Coffee with the Candidates,' we want to help you get to know the candidates running for office in the upcoming elections on a personal level.

Independent candidate for Governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee joined the Rhode Show to show off his softer side.

Click here to watch the video.

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Phillipe and Jorge endorse Lincoln Chafee

September 25, 2010

Providence Phoenix
By Phillipe and Jorge

[Excerpt]

UNDER THE RADAR
Finally, we must yet again extol the virtues of Linc Chafee. Unlike carny barker John Robitaille and political shape-shifter-with-a-male-Electra-complex Frank Caprio, Linc is the real item. He’s not afraid to take stands on issues, he is thoughtful and intelligent, and he works hard. And for those yahoos who claim he “never had a job in his life,” let us see you shoe racehorses in Canada for a few years, boyo.

THAT’S WHAT HE SAID, LOCAL DIVISION
This beauty courtesy of the September 21 edition of The Urinal. The story focused on bully-boy greaser Vinny “Family Man” Mesolella’s wife landing a job at CCRI after Frank Caprio, Sr., chairman of the Board of Governors for Higher Education, forwarded her resume to the school’s president.

Caprio Sr. also happens to be the heavily controlling dad of Little Rhody’s General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, the Democratic candidate for governor. The younger Caprio is an old pal of Vinny, who along with his now-employed-at-CCRI (Sur-prahz, sur-prahz, Gomer!) wife, held a fundraiser for Frankie on August 25 that brought in $30,000 for the treasurer’s campaign.

The quote: “There’s no connection between her pursuing a job opportunity and their consistent support the past four years,” said Caprio the younger, as his nose grew six inches.

Click here for original article.

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Armfuls of Wiener Rolls, Mouthfuls of Coffee Milk and Outstretched Palms

NYTimes.com
By Dan Barry

NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I.

Will you do the right thing?

Not so long ago, that question came looking for one of the regular, hard-working Joes of Rhode Island. In a recent federal indictment alleging audacious public corruption in the small town of North Providence, he is described only as the owner of “Business B,” which in turn is described only as a “hot dog restaurant.” Wieners, actually, but no matter.

The question finally tracked down this owner of Business B — also known as Greg Stevens — caught him by surprise, and challenged his very essence. Depending on how “right” was being defined at the moment, the fates wanted to know: Would he do the right thing?

Mr. Stevens, nearly 50, has been around. He and his sister, Stephanie, run three small restaurants with the deliciously complex name of Olneyville New York System — though, to Mr. Stevens, the name stands for family honor, tradition and decades of serving wieners “all the way,” with meat sauce, diced onions and celery salt. Only $1.80 apiece.

His forebears were Greek immigrants who opened a small sandwich shop in Brooklyn, then moved, one after another, to Providence, to sell distinct, delectable wieners. In 1946, his side of the family opened a restaurant in the Olneyville section, giving name to their product. Olneyville, by way of New York.

The restaurant became a singular Rhode Island place, where everyone gets along: the bookies, the cops, the college kids, the workers from the remnants of the neighborhood’s mills and factories. Where, for some reason, a wiener always goes best with a glass of coffee milk. Where customers ignore health-conscious additions to the menu. Where the cooks array a dozen steamed rolls “on the arm” — literally — and fill them to order; it is a form of culinary performance art designed to set a health inspector’s heart aflutter.

This is Mr. Stevens’s wondrous world.

In 2007, the family opened another restaurant, their third, in North Providence, a close-knit town of 32,000 people with a reputation for farcical local politics and occasional corruption. Mr. Stevens knew of its reputation, and waited for the moment when he would be tested.

That doesn’t happen anymore, his sister said.

Oh yes it does, he said.

Continue reading "Armfuls of Wiener Rolls, Mouthfuls of Coffee Milk and Outstretched Palms"

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R.I. governor candidate Chafee attacks opponent Caprio on staffing, pension plans

September 24, 2010

Projo.com
By Katherine Gregg

PROVIDENCE — Independent candidate for governor Lincoln D. Chafee hit his Democratic opponent Frank T. Caprio’s performance as state treasurer on two fronts Thursday — for rehiring the niece of a predecessor who had been fired for “inappropriate behavior” and for allegedly failing to take “proactive steps” to head off a crisis in municipal pensions.

As state treasurer, Caprio chairs the state retirement board, and Chafee hammered both themes at a sidewalk news conference outside the retirement board’s Fountain Street office.

He fired his first round of criticism at Caprio’s rehiring of Marion Solomon, a niece of former General Treasurer Anthony Solomon, “who had been fired with cause for inappropriate behavior in 2005.”

In response, the Caprio campaign said the treasurer turned the labor dispute “that he inherited” into an opportunity “to negotiate reforms in his office that have achieved an annual budget savings,” and that “poses a stark contrast with Mr. Chafee’s practice of raising taxes to cater to their demands.”

It was not immediately clear how the “reorganization” plan he announced in the June 2007 news release that his campaign produced on Thursday was directly related to the rehiring of Solomon, although it mentions that “as part of the reorganization,” the union had agreed to withdraw its pending lawsuit for Solomon’s reinstatement in return for her return to work without back pay.

Chafee suggested that old-fashioned cronyism was at work in Caprio’s decision to rehire Solomon soon after he took office in 2007, despite the contrary recommendation of a state arbitrator. Her uncle, the former state treasurer, has contributed $2,125 to Caprio since September 2007.

Continue reading "R.I. governor candidate Chafee attacks opponent Caprio on staffing, pension plans"

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Linc Chafee is a tested leader of unquestioned integrity and a strong independent voice. As Governor, he will work hard to create new jobs, rebuild our economy, solve our chronic budget problems, end corruption, and forge a new way forward for Rhode Island.

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