Analysis: Gemma misses target in raucous debate with Cicilline
August 28th, 2012 at 10:56 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
David Cicilline and Anthony Gemma agree on almost everything – except whether Cicilline is a liar.
Over the course of WPRI 12′s raucous 90-minute debate on Tuesday night, Gemma couldn’t point to a single one of the 1,697 votes Cicilline has cast in Congress where he would have voted the other way – going so far as to tell voters the two Democrats are “very similar” and would vote the same way on nearly every aspect of federal policy.
Gemma later came up with two policies on which he disagrees with Cicilline, neither of which is likely to win him many votes – he wants to end Saturday mail delivery and eliminate the Bush tax cuts for households who earn between $100,000 and $250,000. That allowed Cicilline to pledge fealty to just about every Democratic position under the sun.
It was that kind of night for Gemma, who repeatedly stumbled when the discussion veered away from questions about Cicilline’s honesty and integrity. And even then, he failed to press his advantage on what WPRI 12 pollster Joe Fleming says is Cicilline’s Achilles heel – his misleading comments about Providence’s finances in 2010.
Instead, Gemma has bet his entire campaign – and a six-figure chunk of his own wealth – on convincing 1st Congressional District voters that Cicilline, a familiar face on the local scene for at least a decade, is personally committing voter fraud by, among other things, paying campaign workers under the table.
While Gemma’s $40,000 private investigation has turned up oddities in Providence’s voting records, it hasn’t provided a smoking gun that directly implicates Cicilline and validates the two-time candidate’s astonishing accusations. Now Gemma has just two weeks to overcome a 12-point deficit with an electorate that already picked Cicilline once.
Gemma’s strategy is all the more strange because Cicilline remains surprisingly exposed on the Providence question – something Brendan Doherty’s campaign must be heartened to see. Pressed by The Providence Journal’s Ed Achorn on what adjective he’d use instead of “excellent” to describe the city’s finances in 2010, Cicilline dodged, weaved – and never answered. The same thing happened on grading Governor Chafee.
This campaign is very personal, and the tension between the two candidates was palpable. (The AP’s David Klepper reports they didn’t shake hands before or after.) The wall of sound hitting the two candidates on stage – cheers, boos, catcalls, heckles – made it hard to hear each other and the questions, let alone stay focused. Cicilline made slightly more of an effort to be cordial – asked to say something nice about the other candidate, Cicilline praised Gemma’s breast cancer fundraising; Gemma smirked and complimented Cicilline’s tie.
Cicilline was, as ever, quick on his feet and knowledgeable on policy minutiae, jumping on a fairly arcane question about Fannie and Freddie’s chief regulator while working to deflect those he didn’t want to answer. His relentless hammering of Democratic talking points (“millionaires and billionaires!” “Big Oil!”) probably plays well with primary voters – it’s unclear if it will be as effective with the less partisan general electorate.
Toward the end of the debate, Gemma brought up a genuinely interesting and unexpected proposal that was unfortunately drowned out by Cicilline supporters’ heckles, suggesting homeowners who get behind on their mortgages should be given the right to rent their homes for a few years and then buy them back once their finances stabilize. Cicilline mocked him, which was unfair – the leading liberal economist Dean Baker, for example, agrees with Gemma.
But that was a rare moment of policy clarity for Gemma, who is focused like a laser beam on his lonely crusade to pin Cicilline for voter fraud. Joe Fleming said after the debate he didn’t think the spectacle would win Gemma significant new support, which is what he needed to do. The question is whether Brendan Doherty can do a better job landing his punches this fall.
Ted Nesi ( tnesi@wpri.com ) covers politics and the economy for WPRI.com and writes the Nesi’s Notes blog. Follow him on Twitter: @tednesi
This post has been updated with minor revisions.
Tags: 1st Congressional District, anthony gemma, david cicilline, debates, democrats
Nesi's Notes covers politics and the economy in and around Rhode Island for WPRI.com. (Twitter: 
Too bad neither one of these buffoons has an interest in the children of the state of Rhode Island. Neither one will support school vouchers. Rhode Island public schools are an embarrassment to education. If Rhode Islanders ever want to be a respected state this is one issue that could really change peoples perception of the state.
It was inappropriate to include Ed Achorn on the panel – he is a commentator, not a journalist, and was doing the bidding of his Texas based corporate owners that will endorse Doherty. But even the Journal’s corporate masters in Dallas must understand that Gemma proved himself to be “all hat and no cattle.”
Jake, the quote is,”Big hat and no cattle.” In 2010 the Projo supported Cicciline. They never reported Cicciline’s actions during the election season that year about Cicciline hiding the city audits.
You have to get to Texas more often – “all hat and no cattle” is the common reference.
Here is a “news flash”. Neither of these candidates ever exhibits any interest in rethinking their premises. It’s all the same class warfare envy…. more politics/government …. more federal government intervention. Both of them should get a life… out of our faces, out of our pockets, and off our backs. If they can’t ever bring themselves to reconsider what their outlooks have yielded, then indeed, the electorate can and should encourage them to try some other line of work. Meanwhile, it matters little what Rhode Island does politically. I know that idea is difficult for some, but time, population, and economic activity have left this state little better than a fifth rate backwater subdivision.
I concur. What I do like about this fight is that it MAY break the one party rule in Rhode Island that has ruined the state for the last 70 years. As I said, it MAY break the one party rule. We can’t have miracles.
[...] Related: Analysis: Gemma misses target in raucous debate with Cicilline (Aug. 28) Tags: 1st Congressional District, anthony gemma, campaign 2012, david cicilline, [...]
The candidate who most benefits from this debate is Doherty. Overall, the candidates were asked excellent questions and were given adequate time to respond (or not, in some instances). However, the major drawback was the noise from the crowd which was a definite distraction for the participants and the television viewers. There were enough fireworks on the stage without help from the audience.
These guys can say what ever they want. Politicians always tell you what you want to hear. When there elected it’s always a different story. I feel that if there ever was an honest group of elected officials in RI, and they focused on grass root plans that directly benifit the residence, we will come out of our slump. These people are so bent on blaming someone and having a good time. So many of our politicians have been busted for DUI and getting high. It’s so pathetic. We can do better!
I was embarassed to be a Rhode Islander. I hope other states did not see this show. Never once did I hear anyone tell the crowd to stop the Cheers & Boo’s.
The audience looked like homeless people brought in to fill seats. The persons asking the questions were more like interegators and interruppted the candicates while they were speaking their replies.
Channel 12 seemed to have a bisas or a disrepect for both canidates.
I was hoping for something positive out of Mr. Gemma as I was leaning towards voting for him, but now I cannot find him creditible to vote for.
What ever happened to respect and civility
The audenice was mainnly made up of Democratic political hacks which means many are public sector employees and public schools teachers.
@joe R,
My name is going to be on the ballot in November as an Independent candidate for Congress for Rhode Island’s First District.
Instead of trying to hold fundraisers and campaign via “sound-bite advertising,” I have chosen instead to introduce myself to people by writing a series of articles for publication throughout the remainder of the election season; one piece was published in the Providence Journal on August 21, 2012, and I am trying to work with the website rifuture.org to have the rest of them published on a regular basis (perhaps weekly) between now and the election. Also, I do have a few things on the schedule:
Saturday, September 1, 2012: I will be a guest for a full one-hour interview that will run from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on the internet radio station WBOB. The link is: http://www.990wbob.com/shows.html
Friday, September 7, 2012: I will be a participant in a candidate’s debate that is being sponsored by the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee. The event is being held from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the Auditorium of the CCRI Liston Campus in Providence
Thursday, November 1, 2012: I am scheduled to be participate in the candidate’s debate that is being sponsored by the League of Women Voters of R.I. The debate will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and will be televised live on WLNE 6, and also simulcast on Rhode Island Public Radio.
In addition, I have established a standalone website at http://www.davidvogelforcongress.com, and a candidate’s page at facebook ay which everyone is encouraged to engage with me in dialogue. The address at facebook is: http://www.facebook.com/VogelForCongress
Looking forward to hearing from you.
David Vogel
@joe R,
My name is going to be on the ballot in November as an Independent candidate for Congress for Rhode Island’s First District.
Instead of trying to hold fundraisers and campaign via “sound-bite advertising,” I have chosen instead to introduce myself to people by writing a series of articles for publication throughout the remainder of the election season; one piece was published in the Providence Journal on August 21, 2012, and I am trying to work with the website rifuture.org to have the rest of them published on a regular basis (perhaps weekly) between now and the election. Also, I do have a few things on the schedule:
Saturday, September 1, 2012: I will be a guest for a full one-hour interview that will run from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on the internet radio station WBOB. The program may be found at 990wbob.com/shows.html
Friday, September 7, 2012: I will be a participant in a candidate’s debate that is being sponsored by the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee. The event is being held from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the Auditorium of the CCRI Liston Campus in Providence
Thursday, November 1, 2012: I am scheduled to be participate in the candidate’s debate that is being sponsored by the League of Women Voters of R.I. The debate will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and will be televised live on WLNE 6, and also simulcast on Rhode Island Public Radio.
In addition, I have established a standalone website at davidvogelforcongress.com, and a candidate’s page at facebook ay which everyone is encouraged to engage with me in dialogue. The address at facebook is: facebook.com/VogelForCongress
Looking forward to hearing from you.
David Vogel