Cianci among 10 candidates filing papers to run for Providence mayor

June 26--PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.'s maybe-not-such-a-surprise candidacy, along with the entry of other unexpected candidates, Wednesday jumbled what was already a crowded field in the 2014 mayoral election.

Heading into the three-day candidate declaration period that began Monday, five Democrats and one Republican had announced their intentions to run to succeed Angel Taveras, who is running for governor. When the canvassers' deadline passed at 4 p.m. Wednesday, six Democrats had filed, three independents and the one Republican.

And even that could change, because all the declared candidates still must file completed nomination petitions with the signatures of at least 500 registered city voters.

Talk-radio host Cianci, seven years out of federal prison and 12 years out of office, waited until 3:32 p.m. to get his papers in, delivered by a supporter while Cianci continued with his program on WPRO-AM. But he wasn't the last to file. That honor went to Lorne Adrain, former chairman of the state Board of Governors for Higher Education.

But Adrain, who had previously been running for the Democratic nomination, decided to bypass the party primary and instead filed as an independent, guaranteeing him a place on the November ballot.

Cianci, 73, the city's longest-serving mayor, is also running once again as an independent.

In a prepared statement, Adrain said Cianci's decision didn't affect his choice to run as an independent. He said he came to feel the Democratic primary was "unlikely to produce the bold changes that our city needs."

Three candidates had not publicly declared themselves before joining the field. Dominique Gregoire and Reinaldo L. Catone filed as Democrats, and Jeffrey E. Lemire, like Cianci and Adrain, filed as an independent.

If all the candidates are certified in July as a result of filing nomination petitions, the Democratic ballot for the Sept. 9 primary will include businessmen Catone and Gregoire, former city Housing Court Judge Jorge O. Elorza, campaign manager-turned-candidate Brett P. Smiley, City Council President Michael A. Solomon, and activist Christopher F. Young.

Daniel S. Harrop III, a psychiatrist, is the lone Republican.The November ballot could have five candidates for mayor -- the Democratic nominee, three independents and Harrop.

Though several of the candidates have held appointed positions in city and state government -- Elorza as judge, Smiley chaired the Providence Water Supply Board, Gregoire was state housing director under Gov. Edward DiPrete -- Solomon, as City Council president, and Cianci, who served as mayor for 21 years over two stretches, are the only ones who have been elected to public office.

Cianci's run as an independent on a ballot that will have a Democrat, a Republican and possibly two other independents puts him in a position that served him well in his last comeback in 1990. In that race, he ran as an independent against Democrat Andrew Annaldo and Republican Fred Lippitt and he won the split with only 35 percent of the vote.

If all the candidates file their nominating petitions with the names of at least 500 registered voters, the lineup for the 2014 mayor's race looks like this:

Among the Democrats:

Reinaldo L. Catone, 70, a former radio host and insurance agent who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in Ward 9 in 2011. He also declared for mayor in 2006, but didn't file the required nominating petitions and didn't appear on the ballot.

Dominique Gregoire, 65, a former town planner in France, was DiPrete's director of housing in the early 1990s. He worked for the Providence Plan and as a mortgage broker in the area for 15 years.

Elorza, 37, has degrees in accounting and law as well as a three-year stint as a judge in the city's Housing Court. His tenure there was marked by his efforts to fine multinational banks that made housing loans in the city for not appearing as ordered in his court to explain their policies on foreclosed properties.

Smiley, 34, was Mayor Angel Taveras' choice to run the Providence Water Supply Board from 2011-13. He managed Charles Fogarty's close loss to Republican Gov. Donald L. Carcieri in Carcieri's bid for a second term in 2006. He also worked for David Cicilline's mayoral and congressional campaigns and Taveras' mayoral campaign.

Solomon, 57, has been active in city politics for decades. The son of former state General Treasurer Anthony Solomon, he has reported raising, by far, more political donations than any other candidate in the race. He has been touting his support for Taveras' policies and is trying to position himself as the best choice to continue them.

Young, 44, may not have a record of serving in office, but he has, by far, the most extensive one of running for it. In the last 14 years, he has run unsuccessfully, and more than once, for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, the state House of Representatives and Senate and Providence mayor. When the law allowed, there were years he simultaneously ran for state House and Senate seats.

Harrop, 60, the Republican, also has been an unsuccessful candidate in the past, losing two races for mayor and two state House campaigns. He was his party's finance chairman and was a state Rand Paul delegate to the national convention in 2012.

The independent will include, obviously, Cianci. In announcing his new run on his show at 3:45 p.m., Cianci, ending weeks of speculation of what he would do, said he wanted the race to be about the future, not the past. Part of that may be because Cianci's past is problematic. After winning as a Republican in 1975, he had to leave office in 1984 after receiving a five-year suspended sentence for assaulting his ex-wife's lover.

He won the job back in 1990, only to have that run cut short in 2002 when he was convicted on a federal racketeering charge and was sentenced to 64 months in federal prison.

He became eligible in 2012 to seek the office again after the expiration of a period following the completion of his parole.

Adrain, 60, is a managing partner with Ballentine Partners LLC of Waltham, Mass. He chaired the Board of Governors for Higher Education in the Chafee administration and has been a member of the board of the Rhode Island Foundation and Big Picture Learning, which was part of the effort to organize The MET alternative high school.

The third independent is Jeffrey E. Lemire, 47, a contractor.

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