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Dear Davebarry109,

I don't understand why you call out John Howell for an article written by Christopher Curran.

As for Buddy Cianci, he did more good for the City of Providence, in my opinion, than any other Mayor. For the record, the downtown revival and the changing of the direction of the Providence River, Waterfire etc. was financed with federal money costing the taxpayers almost nothing and has attracted millions of dollars into the City as a result. As far a his "crimes" the first one, kidnapping occurred when he caught his chauffeur having an affair with his wife. Buddy ordered the chauffeur into his office and confronted him with it. When the chauffeur decided to leave Buddy pointed his cigarette at him and said "You're not going anywhere!" (he often used his cigarette pointing as a visual prop). From that statement came the charge of kidnapping. Yeah, kidnapping a 6 foot 4 inch State Policeman with a cigarette. Wow, but they made it stick, because Buddy was making too many taxpayers happy and the political insiders hated his growing popularity.

The second one came when Buddy ran as an Independent. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans could take credit for his good deeds (and both parties wanted to!) so they both wanted him out. They got together and charged him with 28 made-up charges and do you remember which ONE they were finally able to convicted him on? That's right "conspiracy". That means he didn't commit ANY crimes, he just talked about one. The conversation probably went like this. "What about X, Y, or Z? Naw. We can't do that. It's illegal!" Well, since he talked about it, it's "conspiracy". (something EVERY politician is guilty of "talking" about)

Cianci's real crime in my opinion, was not letting either party share the spotlight. I advised him to do that then and again when he ran for Mayor against Jorge Elorza. I also advised him to "own" his criminal record. Some of the greatest leaders of all time had one. Jesus Christ, Mohammed Ali, Martin Luther King, not bad company, but he allowed his criminal record to defeat him and he lost the election because of it, I believe.

In either event, the above article was well written and informative. Shouldn't we embrace free press?

Happy New Year Davebarry.

Happy New Year everyone.

Rick Corrente