Politics And Pasta Buddy’s Way

Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, the longest-serving mayor in Providence, Rhode Island history, is unique in a sea of political characters. Evicted from office in 1984 for torturing a Rhode Island contractor with a lit cigarette, ashtray and fireplace log, Cianci made a political comeback in 1991 reclaiming the mayoralty and engineering the city’s rebirth. In 2002, the Fairfield University alumnus was found guilty of corruption and was once again forced from office. One year later his friend Joe Ganim experienced the same fate as mayor of Bridgeport. Buddy and Joe did time together in the joint. No longer in public service, the raconteur still enjoys the good life peddling his new book. OIB friend John Marshall Lee shares his observations of Buddy’s book and how they apply to political life in Bridgeport.

I know some on OIB read books, real books, some of which are purchased in downtown Bridgeport at Rainy Day Fay’s shop. Please ask her to order Politics and Pasta by Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, Jr. with David Fisher. Contrary to a recent post on OIB, I think the conditions in Providence when Cianci, on the Republican ticket, won his first election and was faced with a Democratic City Council that made things difficult in terms of appointments, etc. is similar to Bridgeport today. I have not yet completed the book but I have excerpted quotes about politics that just might interest the Bridgeport political junkies who come to your site daily with attitude and advice:

• In those days political correctness meant taking care of the people who supported you.

• For more than four decades Providence had been run by the Democratic political machine without any real opposition; nothing happened without the permission—and participation—of the city council.

• I was going to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure, convince industry and people to return, and to get rid of the one business that was still booming in Rhode Island: political corruption.

• On the day I took office I knew as much about being mayor as I did about brain surgery. (Cianci received a Fairfield University undergraduate degree.)

• It has often been said that Rhode Island has a rich political history, which in fact is a nicer way of saying that in Rhode Island politicians got rich.

• I would guess at some point most people believe they could do a better job than their elected officials, but they don’t cross the line and run for office … certainly it can be an exciting and rewarding career, and truthfully, it also can be very lucrative.

• Jobs are the currency of politics, with the exception of currency, of course.

• Every campaign has to have a theme.

• The American people continually complain about the impact money has on government, but the reality is inescapable: raising money is required to run for any political office, and once you’re in office, those people who gave you the money to get there aren’t going away.

• Now I have my own political saying, “You can’t buy your enemies—but you can rent them!”

• Unfortunately, dreams don’t win elections. There is a political theory that the first candidate to go negative wins. Well, I don’t know about first, but it’s difficult to fight a campaign without dirtying your opponent.

• One thing I knew without having been taught was that you can’t let an allegation hang in the air without responding to it. You have to make certain your denial is included in every story reporting the accusation.

• When a politician says he or she is not afraid to answer questions and then doesn’t answer those questions, voters believe the politician is afraid to answer them.

• The beauty of a political campaign is that it is usually just long enough for the truth about a candidate to be revealed. If you know what you’re doing, you can fool a lot of the people a lot of the time, but the day-to-day grind of a campaign and the incessant attention make it difficult to fool enough voters.

• The Democrats on the city council, of “The Gong Show,” as I began referring to the council in honor of the TV show that celebrated a total lack of talent, considered me a temporary problem that they would have to live with for four years.

• There is no rule book for mayors. I had very little concept of how to use those powers that I did have. But I learned, and I had good teachers.

• Running a city is not a business, it’s an art. The only thing it has in common with a business is that it is all about money. … the amount of money you need to run a city will always be substantially more than whatever you have.

• The single most important aspect of my job was to deliver services to the voters … Every local election eventually comes down to quality of life.

Eighteen quotes scattered in the first 100 pages. See any parallels with our Bridgeport scene and that in Providence 35 years ago? See any political wisdom with which you disagree? Or wish to further develop to benefit the incumbent or one of the challengers?