Interview with Cynthia Fogarty, Dem for Mayor of Cranston

The main topics of this 13 minute interview: the firefighter’s contract with the new “presumptive conclusion” for cancer, senior services in Cranston, and education in Cranston, particularly the pending Caruolo action for $4.9 million.

2 thoughts on “Interview with Cynthia Fogarty, Dem for Mayor of Cranston”

  1. I give this interview a mixed assessment:

    Plus: Mrs. Fogarty is clearly staying on message.
    Minus: It’s not much of a developed message (i.e., repeating the same things she said in her kick-off address about being Finance chair).

    Plus: She’s been doing her homework on the fire contract and its details.
    Minus: She has no idea how the recent one was negotiated, and doesn’t have an opinion except that the entire contract will be considered open if she’s mayor.

    Plus: The insight on elderly care is interesting.
    Minus: Way too much of the “this is how it is with me” line of discussion. A little empathy for the other families dealing with similar situations would have been nice to hear.

    Plus: She puts the burden on the General Assembly for solving the education funding problems RI faces.
    Minus: There’s a conflict between the state tax cap and Caruolo… hmmm, sounds familiar.

    Plus: She talks up consolidation.
    Minus: There are not 5 “like” communities to Cranston. And Warwick is a fundamentally different city.

    Plus: She’s for private business-type efficiency.
    Minus: Virtually no chance it’ll happen in municipal government without major contract concessions.

    Overall, I’d say there were too many broad strokes with little detail of how she’d actually accomplish her plans. Recognizing that there are lots of ideas about consolidation is fine, but it doesn’t answer the key question, What could she do in two years’ time? Same goes for establishing committees to improve public services — what is really going to change in two years?

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