Local politics getting down and dirty

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, October 19, 2004

BY PAUL DAVIS, KATIE MULVANEY AND ARTHUR GREGG SULZBERGER
Journal Staff Writer

As Election Day approaches, South County politics appear to have taken a newly caustic tone.

In recent weeks, state and local political campaigns have seen signs stolen, a misleading Web site posted -- and even a bogus letter to the editor.

The surge in incidents has some wondering: has Washington County become Washington D.C.?

"It is rougher," says state Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, who says 25 of her campaign signs have been stolen. Last week, she asked the state Department of Transportation to remove illegally placed campaign signs on Route 1.

"There's a blatant disregard for the law," says Sosnowski, a Democrat who is running against Republican David Cote in Senate District 37. "There's a climate right now that makes people uneasy about politics."

Her competitor School Committee member Cote says 60 of his signs have been swiped.

So, what's different this year?

"Clearly the parties have been energized by the governor," who has been appearing at local fundraisers and posing with candidates, says Maureen Moakley, a political science professor at the University of Rhode Island.

"That's the catalyst for a lot of keen competition, especially in South County where Republicans can make some gains," she says. "It's not only energized the race -- there are some tough politics going on."

Add to that a mean-spirited national presidential campaign and "it allows for a wider range of responses" locally. "The standard has changed," she said.

Not everyone agrees.

Marc Genest, a political science professor at URI, says political warfare of this sort is nothing new.

"All's fair in love and politics," he says. "Those kinds of shenanigans have been going on since the beginning of the Republic. Any time you have a group of people, you're going to have a few immature fanatics. That's par for the course."

What's new, he says, "is how sanctimonious the press is about it."

But clearly some candidates are feeling bruised, and the tactics appear to have crossed all party lines.

Wayne Cahoone declared that Cranston politics had come to South Kingstown after independent council incumbent James W. O'Neill urged residents to vote for three newcomers in the Democratic Town Council primary. Cahoone -- the top vote getter in 2002 and council vice president -- was bumped from the November ballot.

"He did something I don't want to see in my elected officials," Cahoone said. Cahoone has since launched a write-in campaign.

In North Kingstown, Town Council candidate Jonathan Bertman grabbed the Internet name www.NKGOP.com.

But Bertman isn't a Republican -- he's an angry Democrat.

The family doctor used the address to direct visitors to his own Web site, which featured a harsh attack on the Republican party.

The GOP cried foul, charging Bertman with misleading voters. The town's Democratic party asked Bertman to stop.

Bertman did. He says he didn't intend to mislead voters. But he says he would probably do it again, despite the political fallout.

"I believe the Internet is an electronic soapbox, an open forum which allows us to speak our personal views and opinions freely and without fear of somebody showing up in the night to take us away," says Bertman in a recent statement.

Like other ignored voters "I'm sick of politics-as-usual and back room dealings," he says.

Stolen lawn signs, perhaps the standard bearer of dirty local politics, have also been a problem in Narragansett. Karen Salvatore, a Republican who is challenging Democratic Rep. Donald J. Lally in House District 33, reported more than 50 signs missing last week, costing the campaign roughly $300.

Lally, along with Robin Porter, a Republican state Senate candidate in District 36, also reported stolen signs.

Darrell West, a political science professor at Brown University, was more troubled by a phony letter to the editor that appeared in The Narragansett Times last week.

The letter, which criticized local teachers and endorsed Cote, included personal information about its supposed author: Keri McAlice, vice president of the South Road Elementary School parent teacher organization.

"It's very shocking that someone would use my name in such a malicious way," said McAlice. "I have the utmost respect for teachers."

McAlice contacted the police and sent an e-mail to parents renouncing the letter.

West said that much of the negative tone of the election can probably be traced to the primaries, which ousted seven incumbent state legislators, all Democrats.

"Voters are in the mood for change so there's a lot of politicians worried about how the election will go. In that situation some resort to underhanded politics," says West.

"When politicians are worried, that's when they start pushing the envelope and start engaging in dirty politics."