The arrest last week of three Providence, RI cops -- including Sgt. Stephen T. Gonsalves who is the former driver for Mayor David Cicilline and the husband of his executive assistant -- may have an impact on the mayor's run for Patrick Kennedy's old House seat as reported by Michelle R. Smith for The Associated Press:
Mayor David Cicilline claims he has cleaned up Providence after the corruption of his predecessor, but his family relationships and connection to a former staffer could raise new questions about his reformer credentials. His father is a mafia lawyer. His brother just got out of federal prison after serving time for a courthouse corruption scheme. Now, his former police driver, the husband of his longtime executive assistant, has been arrested as part of a state police bust of a cocaine dealing ring that also netted two other Providence police officers. * * * Cicilline says he believes voters will understand the criminal behavior of his brother and the allegations surrounding the police department are not connected to him. * * * But Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University, said the news of Thursday's bust makes Cicilline's job that much harder at a time when voters don't trust elected officials. "Even though he may be completely clean here, it's an additional burden for him because he's running for an election in an environment of high skepticism and doubt," she said.
