David Cicilline
David Nicola Cicilline is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 36th mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital.
Cicilline chaired the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law. In this role, he has supported efforts to modernize antitrust law. On September 29, 2022, he was elected chair of the House Middle East, North Africa, and Global Counterterrorism subcommittee, succeeding Ted Deutch, who resigned from the House on September 30, 2022. In November 2022, Cicilline announced he would run against outgoing Majority Whip Leader Jim Clyburn as Assistant Democratic Leader, the fourth senior position in the Democratic House caucus. Cicilline later dropped his bid for assistant minority leader.
In February 2023, Cicilline announced his resignation from Congress, effective June 1, 2023, to become president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Foundation.
Early life, education, and legal career
Cicilline was born July 15, 1961, in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Sabra, is Jewish, and his father, John Francis "Jack" Cicilline, is Italian American and Catholic. His father was a prominent attorney in Providence who defended local Mafia figures in the 1970s and 1980s, and was an aide to Mayor Joseph A. Doorley Jr.He was raised in Providence before moving to Narragansett. In high school, he served as president of his graduating class, and participated in the Close Up Washington civic education program before attending Brown University, where he established a branch of the College Democrats with his classmate John F. Kennedy Jr. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science in 1983. He then went to Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned a J.D.
He remained in Washington, D.C. for a while to work as a lawyer at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
In 1992, he ran for the Rhode Island Senate against incumbent senator Rhoda Perry, but lost the Democratic primary. Two years later, he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 4th district on Providence's East Side.
Rhode Island House of Representatives (1995–2003)
Elections
;1994He won the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Linda J. Kushner with 56% of the vote, and was unopposed in the general election.
;1996
In 1996, Cicilline ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 4. He defeated his Republican opponent, Michael L. Schein, in the general election with 2,851 votes to Schein's 1,642.
;1998
In 1998, Cicilline ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. He also ran unopposed in the general election.
;2000
Cicilline ran unopposed for the third time in the Democratic primary in 2000. For the second time, he ran unopposed in the general election.
Mayor of Providence (2003–2011)
Elections
;2002Cicilline defeated Joseph R. Paolino, Jr, Keven A. McKenna, and David V. Igliozzi in the Democratic primary.
In November 2002, Cicilline was elected in a landslide with 84% of the vote, following the downfall of controversial mayor Buddy Cianci and the aftermath of Operation Plunder Dome. He succeeded acting mayor John J. Lombardi, who served out Cianci's term and decided not to run in the 2002 election.
;2006
In 2006, Cicilline defeated Christopher F. Young in the Democratic primary. He went on to win an easy reelection with 83% of the vote.
Tenure
;Approval ratingsA Brown University survey from September 2007 found that 64% of state residents approved of the job Cicilline was doing in Providence. By February 2008, that number had dropped to 51%. In September 2008, his popularity fell to 46%.
;Affiliations
Cicilline was the 2008 President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. As mayor, he was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bipartisan group with the stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets". Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg co-chaired the Coalition.
In 2009, Cicilline served as one of six selection committee members for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.
;Focus
Cicilline's administration focused on the residential neighborhoods of Providence, as well as the "Renaissance" areas of downtown and Federal Hill that thrived under Cianci, and continued the promotion of the city via the tax breaks given to artists and movie productions. A former state legislator, he overcame the animosity between state and city government that had existed under Cianci.
;Student head tax
In May 2009, Cicilline gained national headlines after proposing a $150 per semester Head Tax on each of the 25,000 college students attending four universities in the city. The tax was an effort to close $6–$8 million of a reported $17 million city budget shortfall. The Associated Press reported that if enacted, it would become the first-in-the-nation tax on students simply for being enrolled and attending college within the city limits.
;Environment
Cicilline has expressed concern about the Providence metropolitan area's carbon footprint. As mayor, he sought to implement a streetcar/light rail-type system for the city. He also focused efforts to fight poverty. He won passage of a vacant-and-abandoned property penalty, to provide an economic disincentive for banks to keep properties off the housing market for extended periods of time. He also proposed municipal bonds for the purpose of buying foreclosed properties to expand housing.
;After school programs
Cicilline is a strong proponent of after-school activities as a means of improving opportunities for children. As mayor, Cicilline served as Chair of the Standing Committee for Children, Health and Human Services of the United States Conference of Mayors. He has also been recognized for his efforts to establish youth programming and to strengthen ties among schools, businesses and local government, in order to expand access to after-school programming. Under Cicilline, city officials worked with Rhode Island's Education Partnership to form PASA, the Providence After School Alliance. Cicilline also serves on the board of the national nonprofit Afterschool Alliance, an organization that works to promote and to support after-school activities for all children.
;Prostitution
Between 1980 and 2009, most prostitution was legal in Rhode Island. As mayor, Cicilline was a strong advocate for outlawing it. Cicilline personally testified in Superior Court to stop the opening of "spas" in Providence, and discussed his position in the 2009 documentary Happy Endings?.
He lobbied for a prostitution law—not only to arrest sex workers and their customers, but also to fine landlords that permitted prostitution on their premises. On September 2, 2009, Cicilline submitted an ordinance to the City Council to ban indoor prostitution in the city, imposing a $500 fine and a potential 30-day prison sentence on violators. On November 3, 2009, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill making the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
;Democratic presidential primaries
During the 2008 Democratic primaries, Cicilline supported Hillary Clinton. In August 2008, he attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver. While there, he told an interviewer that he now supported Barack Obama, saying "here is a real sense of hope and optimism about what we're about to do, and about a change in leadership in this country”.
Controversies
;ICE controversy with Governor CarcieriOn June 8, 2008, Marco Riz, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who had been arrested twice the previous year while under a deportation order, was charged with the robbery and rape of a 30-year-old woman. A federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent criticized the Providence Police Department for not checking Riz's immigration status at the time of his previous arrest. The governor of Rhode Island, Donald Carcieri, blamed Cicilline for the department's failure. Previously, Carcieri had signed an executive order requiring all state officials to work with ICE on arrests or hirings of undocumented immigrants. When Carcieri asked the same of local agents, Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman refused. Cicilline responded that it has been the policy of the Police Department to work with ICE and its database on all arrests, that the policy had been followed when Riz was arrested, and that the ICE had failed to act.
On July 8, 2008, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri claimed that Cicilline was not upholding his oath of office by failing to report undocumented immigrants, and suggested that the U.S. Attorney investigate the mayor. Mayor Cicilline responded by accusing Carcieri of "playing politics". Eight days later, Cicilline wrote an op-ed in The Providence Journal, stating that the city always has and will continue to report all arrests to immigration authorities, and that the focus is therefore inappropriate.
;Firefighters' union contract arbitration
Beginning in 2003, Cicilline was engaged in a dispute with the Providence Firefighters labor union, Local 799. In a July 2002 email Cicilline sent to the members of Local 799, he indicated that he hoped to resolve their pending contract dispute with the city within 30 days of taking office. In August, Cicilline said in an interview that it was impossible for him to promise to bring the contract negotiations to a successful conclusion, owing to the unpredictability of his negotiating partners. The city and the union had been in arbitration in every contract year since 2002, with Cicilline appealing one arbitration decision to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. The appeal was rejected.
In 2004, Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards canceled a fundraising appearance in Providence in support of the Local 799. In 2007, Hillary Clinton asked Cicilline, a Clinton supporter, not to attend a Clinton rally, because of threats by the union to picket the appearance.
Both the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the International Association of Fire Fighters censured Cicilline for his conduct in this matter. In 2009, due to the union picketline, the Obama administration canceled Joe Biden's appearance at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Providence, in the interests of remaining neutral in the conflict.
;Tax office controversy
In June 2008, John M. Cicilline, brother of Mayor Cicilline, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false statements for his role in the courthouse corruption scheme. Federal prosecutors indicted John M. Cicilline, disbarred attorney Joseph Bevilacqua Jr., and two assistants in January 2007. According to court documents, the two attorneys spun a complicated scheme to win leniency in a drug trafficking case.
Before reporting to prison, John M. Cicilline gave the city of Providence a $75,000 check for taxes owed by a client, but asked that the check not be cashed, and only held as collateral. Two of the mayor's top aides told the city tax collector, Robert Ceprano, not to cash the check because it would bounce. In four instances, Ceprano said mayoral aides pressured him to perform tax favors for the mayor's friends and/or campaign contributors. The mayor claimed the taxpayers had been given relief because the city had made errors on their taxes, not because they were his friends or contributors. During the controversy, Ceprano was fired.
On May 10, 2009, Robert Ceprano filed a lawsuit against the City of Providence, alleging conspiracy, corruption, libel, and wrongful termination. The suit accused John M. Cicilline, the mayor's imprisoned brother, of attempting to defraud the City of Providence by writing a bad check for $75,000 on behalf of a delinquent taxpayer. Furthermore, it alleged the mayor and his aides "willfully conspired...to conceal John M. Cicilline's illegal activities". Ceprano also charged that he was fired not for poor job performance, but because he resisted the mayor's efforts to perform tax favors for political friends and supporters. Lawyers for Ceprano asked for $10 million. Judge Kristin Rodgers dismissed the single-count complaint against John M. Cicilline on November 17, 2009.
;Budget controversy
Shortly after assuming office, Cicilline's successor as the Mayor of the City of Providence, Angel Taveras, announced that the city was facing a "category 5" hurricane due to its substantial debt. Tavares made budget cuts, including teacher layoffs and paycuts for city employees. The total structural debt inherited by Tavares in 2011 was $180 million.
A report commissioned by the City of Providence found that the Cicilline administration had transferred funds from the Undesignated Surplus without the proper approval of the City Council, had not provided financial information on a timely basis to the independent auditor, the City Council, or the Internal Auditor, and had not provided the City Council with monthly financial statements, or with projections of year-end surpluses or deficits, among other findings. Providence City Council Finance Chairman John Igliozzi accused him of "hiding the scope of the city's fiscal woes through 'illusory revenues, borrowing, and other tricks.'"
Fitch Ratings also downgraded Providence's ratings, citing "imprudent budgeting decisions, and failure to implement recurring budget solutions". Cicilline, who portrayed himself as a reformer looking to restore transparency to City Hall, was criticized by his opponents from the primary and House elections; Democrat Anthony Gemma said that he felt Cicilline had lied his way to federal office, and Republican John Loughlin said, "You just don't lie to people in such a transparent way".
A year later, it was reported that Providence could be on the brink of bankruptcy. Former Mayor Cianci placed much of the blame on Cicilline for Providence's problems, saying that although he didn't think it was entirely his fault, he did hide it from the public. Experts have said that the only way out for Providence may be to declare bankruptcy.