Mattiello again fighting for his political future in Cranston district

CRANSTON -- House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello was fighting for his political life in his home district in Western Cranston heading into Tuesday's election.

The race pitted Democrat Mattiello against the mayor's wife, Republican Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, in a year when:

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Two powerful unions, the Laborers and the SEIU, worked against him. One-time allies in the antiabortion movement endorsed his opponent, and the criminal trial of former political aide Jeff Britt put his 2016 reelection campaign's messy and potentially illegal tactics on display.

But Mattiello spokeswoman Patti Doyle told The Journal on Tuesday morning: "We’re looking forward to a great day and a successful outcome this evening.

More: Political Scene: Exhibits, testimony shed light on Mattiello's inner circle

The stakes are huge and they extend well beyond Mattiello headquarters on Oaklawn Avenue in Cranston.

A speaker controls the fate of scores of bills – from the $10-billion state budget to long-stalled gun-control measures – and some of Mattiello's politically ambitious and more progressive colleagues are already queued up for a leadership bid if he loses – and, perhaps, even if he wins.

More: Mattiello, Fenton-Fung spar in final debate

There have been near-misses. Write-in candidate Bruce L. Bayuk came within 124 votes of toppling Speaker John B. Harwood in 2002.

But it has been more than a century since a sitting House speaker lost an election in his home district.

In 1906, Speaker Arthur W. Dennis, a Republican, lost to Democrat Timothy J. Myers, according to State Librarian Megan Hamlin-Black.

"The main issue in the 1906 election was the 'bossism' of Charles Brayton, the Republican National Committeeman, and the state's top corporate lobbyist,'' according to Mattiello's two-time challenger, Steven Frias, a serious student of Rhode Island history.

"Rhode Island Democrats attacked Brayton, as the boss of a corrupt political machine, and campaigned in favor of government reforms."

More: Political Scene: RI 2020 election -- what to watch for as the results come in

In more recent years, Democrats have had overwhelming majorities in both the 75-member House and the 38-member Senate, and the GOP has cast itself as the party of reformers.

It appears that Democrats also outnumber registered Republicans in the early mail-ballot voting in House District 15.

As of Friday, 24% of the 11,073 registered voters in the district had requested regular or "emergency" mail ballots.

The numbers: 45% percent of those 2,702 potential mail ballot voters were requested by Democrats (1,222), only 17% by Republicans (450).

The 1,030 unaffiliated voters, 38%, who requested mail ballots could swing either way in a largely suburban district in Western Cranston that went for Donald Trump in 2016.

Mattiello won that year, but just by 85 votes.

Rhode Island's political pundits are split on whether a hypothetical shift away from Trump to the Democrat at the top of the ticket, former Vice President Joe Biden, would help Mattiello.

Brown University political science professor Wendy Schiller makes this prediction: "I think Mattiello does keep his seat, but by a more narrow margin than one would expect.

"The forces working for him include his position as speaker ... and his emphasis in 2020 on his powers to deliver for his constituents. That is a strong argument based on what he has already delivered but also what he might protect in the coming year when fiscal pressures to cut the budget will be tremendous.

"The forces working against him are the Jeff Britt trial ... the reminder of campaign finance allegations, and the fact that Republican voters in his district, as well as Democrats who might support Trump, will want to see a Republican win big in Rhode Island in a year when the Democrats are going to do very well otherwise."

State GOP Chairwoman Sue Cienki believes "Mattiello vs Fenton-Fung will be a close race but based upon what we are seeing [from phone-bank responses] we believe Fenton-Fung will be the winner."

Asked if she has any concern that a more liberal Democrat might replace Mattiello as speaker, Cienki said:

"The speaker has been damaged by the Britt trial and the abdication of the [General Assembly's] power to the governor during COVID-19. He is weakened and we do not believe he will remain as speaker even if he wins."

In the event of a leadership fight, "the GOP has an opportunity if any candidate wants their support to ask'' for the reinstatement of rules "that have disappeared and made the speaker too powerful,'' she said..

She wagered the progressives would join the GOP in a rules-change fight, giving both a better chance of changing the way business is conducted at the Rhode Island State House.

Mattiello campaigned on his tax-cutting record, his "A'' rating from the National Rifle Association, the financial advantages he secured for Cranston from his perch as speaker and his role as a "firewall against bad ideas."

His main argument for reelection: "If you reelect Nick Mattiello, he’ll preside at the podium as speaker of the House, with enormous influence to deliver for Cranston. If you elect Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, she will take a back-row seat, with zero ability to deliver for Cranston."

Former Journal editorial writer Ed Achorn recently called the relatively conservative Mattiello "a voice of sanity and reason" against the "half-baked ideas of ideologues on the left & the right."

Gov. Gina Raimondo hailed his "instrumental" role in "ensuring Rhode Island was a leader in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping Rhode Islanders safe, providing the necessary funding in the supplemental budget, and looking out for small businesses."

First-time candidate Fenton-Fung's pitch to House District 15 voters to elect her in Mattiello's place:

Mattiello "betrayed'' his allies in the state's antiabortion wing by allowing Rhode Island's new abortion-rights law to come to a vote last year; appointed corrupt lawmakers to leadership positions (think: former House Finance Chairman Raymond Gallison) and begged credulity when he testified, in court, that he had no knowledge of Britt's allegedly illegal role in arranging and financing an ostensibly "independent" mailer in 2016.

Her closing argument: "New blood is good."

Added his past opponent, Frias: "His 2016 campaign may cost him the 2020 election."

Arms of the Laborers Union of North America contributed $3,600 to Fenton-Fung, while snubbing Mattiello.

The Laborers have blamed Mattiello for the loss, to more generous Worcester, of a stadium-building deal with the Pawtucket Red Sox. LIUNA also figured in the controversy surrounding Mattiello's much-criticized call for an audit, without required approval from his fellow legislative leaders, of the secretive Rhode Island Convention Center that employs many Laborers' union members at undisclosed salaries.

SEIU 1199 launched a frontal attack on Mattiello for backing a study before calling for a vote on a minimum-staffing mandate at nursing homes the union is demanding.

By the end of last week, the SEIU-affiliated "New England Health Care Union in Rhode Island" had spent at least $35,662 to defeat Mattiello.

That included radio ads, phone banks, door-to-door canvassing, texts and Facebook posts accusing him of having "sold out nursing home residents" in exchange for $38,000 in campaign dollars from the nursing home industry.

The tally included every donation over the last two years from lawyers at Adler Pollock & Sheehan, which has a client in the nursing home industry. Beyond that, the union pointed to the $33,000-plus that the nursing home advocacy group, known as the Rhode Island Health Care Association, spent to support him.

"He doesn't care about our car tax or Rhode Island seniors. No matter who else you vote for, don't reward Mattiello for his constant lies,'' said a recent text to voters in District 15.

This was the response from Doyle, the Mattiello spokeswoman: "First and foremost, the speaker supports these frontline workers and understands that they are underpaid.

"However, a State House hearing on the matter revealed the very real possibility that nursing homes would potentially close with passage of this [staffing] legislation.

"For that reason, the speaker and the House of Representatives agreed to form a commission to thoughtfully and comprehensively study the matter, including a highly detailed analysis on how other states handle this issue. "

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Mattiello again fighting for his political future in Cranston district

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