Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
By Sam Wroblewski, reporting by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Mayor Dan McKee and Mayor Charles Lombardi joined forces Thursday, taking Secretary of State Ralph Mollis to task on his record as mayor of North Providence.
Both men disputed Mollis’ claim that he had left the town with a small surplus when he left office in 2006. McKee said that the surplus was only achieved because Mollis claimed profit from the sale of a public works building; however McKee said the building was never sold.
“He’s declaring he had a $206,000 or $207,000 surplus at the end of the fiscal year 2006, that’s correct but he’s only telling half the story, so a half a truth is still a lie,” McKee said.
“I can’t sit there and allow misrepresentation of the facts,” said Lombardi, the current North Providence mayor.
Mollis disputes their claims.
“No, nothing could be farther from the truth. Unfortunately as we get close to the primary we’re victims of some of this mud-slinging,” Mollis said. “But fortunately, I’ve kept a lot of the documents back when I was mayor eight to 18 years ago.”
“In 2006 we ended it with a surplus of over a million dollars for that year,” he said.
McKee and Mollis also traded barbs over the others’ handling of town pension funds and bond ratings in their respective communities of Cumberland and North Providence.
The third Democrat in the race for Lieutenant Governor, Frank Ferri did not join the dispute between the two other candidates.
“We’re focusing on our positive message and Frank’s small business experience,” said Ferri campaign manager Dawn Euer.
“Those are the things that people really care about, we need people who are going to come together to move the state forward,” Euer said.
Listen to Steve Klamkin’s report:
