In Rhode Island, a campaign worker for Democratic primary challenger Anthony Gemma called Democratic incumbent House Representative David Cicilline a “liar, thief, crook, Sandusky copy cat’’ on Twitter yesterday. The obvious implication is that the incumbent congressman, since he's openly gay, is a child molester like Jerry Sandusky. The staffer, Anthony Sionni, has since deleted the tweet.
From the Boston Globe:
The campaign of Democratic congressional candidate Anthony Gemma on Monday said he thought it was "inappropriate" for one of his unpaid campaign workers to apparently compare Democratic U.S. Rep. David Cicilline to a pedophile on the social media site Twitter and asked the worker to step down from the campaign.
Falling well short of the Democratic party's call to "apologize to Cicilline and disavow the message," campaign spokesman Alex Morash told the
Globe: "His comments on social media are his alone; they were neither shared with nor approved by campaign staffers prior to their posting." Though described as unpaid, Sionni drove Gemma’s campaign bus, worked on canvassing and office chores and was described as being frequently seen with the candidate.
Democratic Party spokesman Bill Fischer is quoted the Globe saying, ‘‘It’s slanderous, beyond-the-pale language.’’ Fischer isn't buying it was one bad apple. He told to the local NBC affiliate in the video above:
"I don't think there are any accidents at this point. I think there is a established pattern of behavior from the Gemma campaign where they perpetuate rumor and innuendo and provide no facts. We have no reason to believe this was not done with great purpose today.
Last week, offering no proof Gemma
accused Cicilline of voter fraud in a press conference that many local news outlets described as bizarre.
And the homophobia does not seem to be isolated. On Aug. 8, local outlets reported of the departure of Gemma's field director, Joseph Lazzerini, but were vague on the reasons for it.
There is some dispute as to the actual reason Lazzerini left, however. Gemma spokesperson Alex Morash said the “hours became too much” and that Lazzerini was preparing to head back to school in the fall.
In a brief interview with GoLocalProv, Lazzerini said hours had nothing to do with the reason he left and again repeated that the decision was mutual. When informed that Morash said school was a factor, the phone call was disconnected and Lazzerini did not return follow up calls.
Lazzerini, who is gay, is now talking and tells the local NPR station a homophobic atmosphere and morally questionable campaign tactics were a "major" factor in his reasons for leaving.
Joseph Lazzerini released this statement to WRNI's On Politics blog:
“I’ve been following the unfortunate events that unfolded today between the Gemma campaign and the Democratic Party of Rhode Island. As a former Gemma campaign staffer, I felt it was important to issue the following statement:’’
“This kind of hurtful, intolerant smear has no place in electoral politics. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time I heard someone in the Gemma campaign make such a suggestion about David Cicilline. It made me uncomfortable and I communicated to my direct supervisor that I felt this effort was moving the campaign in the wrong direction – both tactically and morally. Ultimately, the fact that the Gemma team continued to pursue this line of inappropriate messaging was a major part of why I resigned.’’
“The attitude that Mr. Sionni communicated today is pervasive in the Gemma organization,’’ states Lazzerini. “As an openly gay man I am well aware of the ignorant implications often directed towards the LBGT community and I am incredibly [sic] they would stoop to such low depths in order to win a campaign.’’
This sort of behavior is expected from Republicans, but really should be beneath Democrats. In my anecdotal observations, "pulling the homophobia card" does happen in Democratic primaries. In Arizona, bisexual Kyrsten Sinema, a longtime state lawmaker now seeking the House nomination has
made charges one of her two primary rivals has been using homophobic attacks. This usually happens when a candidate is feeling desperate (and Cicilline is currently beating Gemma by a
comfortable margin).
Fortunately, mucking around in homophobic bullshit doesn't seem to be a very effective way to actually win a Democratic primary, at least in bluer states. In my memory, it's a bellwether of a failing campaign, and come election day they've always lost.
Primary day is Sept 11. David Cicilline's ActBlue page is here.