Mayor outspending challenger Brien in re-election campaign
WOONSOCKET – Campaign finance records show Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt outspent challenger Albert G. Brien by a margin of 13-1 ahead of the non-binding primary in which she edged out Brien by about 8 percentage points earlier this month.
According to reports on file with the state Board of Elections, Baldelli-Hunt claimed $13,833 in campaign expenses since July 1, much of it for advertising, printing and mailers.
Baldelli-Hunt’s war chest swelled to a peak of $57,304 around the beginning of July – an unprecedented figure for a city mayor. As the campaign enters the homestretch, she still has an impressive sum on hand – $45,274, according to the most recent reports.
By comparison, Brien’s financial resources are prac- tically nil: The most up-todate reports he filed with the BOE indicate he had just $64. The figures were valid though Sept. 4, but both candidates are scheduled to file another round of campaign finance reports on Oct. 9.
Though eclipsed by the mayor financially, Brien said the gap doesn’t appear to have put him at a disadvantage so far – and he doesn’t expect it to hamper his ability to get his message out in the final weeks of the campaign.
A former state lawmaker and city councilman, Brien has repeatedly characterized his campaign as a grassroots effort that has gained momentum largely through word of mouth.
“This is a David and Goliath kind of thing financially,” Brien said. “The only thing we ever expected to do was keep pace.”
Baldelli-Hunt certainly isn’t apologizing for building a deep well of resources for the campaign to draw from. In this election – and earlier political contests – she’s tapped campaign resources for direct mail advertising, radio and print, but she declined to reveal much about her spending plans between now and the general election.
“At this point in the campaign, during the next six weeks left, however the campaign feels those funds should be allocated they will be allocated,” said the mayor.
Baldelli-Hunt says the most important information that can be gleaned from her campaign finance reports is that they’re accurate and that they demonstrate a high level of accountability in the operations of the campaign. The campaign, she said, places a “very, very high priority’” on “accuracy, transparency and meeting the letter of the law’” in financial reporting.
Brien hasn’t held a fundraiser yet,
but he said Councilwoman Denise Sierra is leading the first of two on Oct. 3 at the Pillsbury House bedand-breakfast on Prospect Street. The other will be a beer and dynamite event to be held at a time and place that have not yet been settled.
“With those two events we expect to bring in some money,” said Brien. “We fully expect we will be able to meet the budgeted items.”
According to the BOE filings, Brien spent a total of $1,460 on his campaign so far, using personal funds to pay for advertising at radio station WNRI and The Valley Breeze. The reports indicate that the only funds he’s raised so far are his own, including $400 described as a loan to his campaign.
A state lawmaker for roughly seven years before she became mayor in 2013, Baldelli-Hunt has had an ongoing fundraising operation for some time. The most recent round of financials filed by her campaign show comparatively few donations, many of them individual contributions less than $300.
Reports filed prior to July 1, however, shows a more consistent pattern
of donations, including many from city employees, appointees and contractors. They include contributions from Fire Chief Paul Shatraw, Public Works Director Steve D’Agostino, the law firm Adler Pollock & Sheehan and lawyer Charles Ruggerio, who was recently appointed to head up the city’s team of negotiators for collective bargaining talks with the Woonsocket Teachers Guild. He is also the son of Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, who also contributed to the mayor’s campaign.
In contrast to the mayor, Brien says he’d limit the amount of money he’d accept from city employees, and won’t take any from entities that do business with the city.
“I am not accepting any more than $100 from any individual, and we’re not going to take any money from any one who does business with the city of Woonsocket,” he said. “I just don’t think that’s right.”
Like Brien, Baldelli-Hunt’s most recent campaign finance report show that her largest campaign expenses are related to political advertising. Since July her campaign spent $2,727 with Regine Printing of Providence;
$4,179 with Signature Printing of East Providence; and $2,680 with The Valley Breeze.
Despite the wide disparity in campaign spending, Baldelli-Hunt and Brien finished the primary on Sept. 12 with a tally of 1,886-1,568, or 50.3 percent for the mayor and 41.8 percent for Brien. Because a third candidate, Albert Beauparlant, dropped out of the primary before his name could be removed from the ballot, Baldelli-Hunt and Brien both advance to the general election. Beauparlant took 7.8 percent of the vote in the primary, however.
Brien and Baldelli-Hunt squared off in a forum at Chan’s the week before the primary – a confrontation that may turn out to be the only live debate for the city’s highest elective office before the Nov. 6 general election. In her campaign, Baldelli-Hunt has been running on her record of restoring the city’s financial health and supporting education, while Brien is lobbing bombs about the mayor’s unwillingness to compromise and a lack of transparency.