The ProJo arrived today with the largest headline I've seen since probably the Iraq war began. What was so important? Buddy Cianci won't be getting out of jail just yet! The Mayor's appeal was denied, so Providence will continue on without its most colorful character of the last quarter century. What's a Rhode Islander, to whom wacky politics is seemingly as necessary as air, to do? Why, turn their attention to RI's third largest city, Cranston! Our cast of characters: Media Whore Mayor Steve Laffey, Republican Challenger Garry Reilly, Ape-man Lloyd Morse, and the Crossing Guards. Sounds like a sitcom, no? So a while back I wrote about how the Public Service Unions were attempting to flood the Republican primary election with Democrats to vote against Mayor Laffey (oh, by the way, if you want to vote in the any RI primary, you have 3 days to get registered and unaffiliated, call your board of canvassers). Em and I watched a debate between Laffey and his challenger, Garry Reilly. It was pretty sad, actually. Reilly's contention is that Laffey is embarrassing the GOP and being rather unproductive with his proclivity to go to court with all sorts of city employees. This is a perfectly reasonable position, but politically Reilly just can't compete. The mayor is very media savvy and charismatic to boot. Reilly should probably just adopt "If you hate Laffey, vote for me" as his campaign slogan and take his chances. It would probably make for a closer race. What's even more fun, though, is that the winner in September's primary will go on to face Independent candidate Lloyd Morse. Mr. Morse threw his hat into the ring after a run in with the mayor over a sign placed in Morse's backyard overlooking a busy street. Well, it wasn't exactly a sign, it was more like a giant inflatable gorilla holding a sign. When told he couldn't advertise from his back yard, he acquiesced and took the sign down. The gorilla stayed, and was eventually joined by an inflatable Godzilla, after Laffey got on his case.
You'll go Ape!
Now Morse is running for mayor with the slogan "You'll go Ape over my ideas!" So while Buddy remains in New Jersey, at least there's no dearth of political entertainment here in the Biggest Little.

Cranston Mayoral Circus

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