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By Katherine Gregg
PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Democrat Bill Lynch is calling on his Congressional primary opponent David Cicilline to return every dollar that remains of the $759,284 he raised for his presumed campaign for reelection as mayor of Providence.
On Wednesday, the Cicilline campaign at first said the mayor had not formulated a plan to return any of the money, and then sought to clarify the mayor's statements that he intended to return all of the money so his supporters could contribute to his days-old Congressional campaign instead.
Both are running for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, who is not running for reelection.
After the early miscues, Cicilline campaign spokesman Brett Smiley said the mayor will make a decision soon on which supporters will be offered a refund, but "it's not going be a blanket refund to all donors.''
Raising concerns about Cicilline's apparent attempt to keep some of the money, Lynch spokesman Bill Fischer said: "Mayor Cicilline certainly owes the voters an explanation on how this refund process will unfold and why he has clearly chosen to retain a portion of his campaign war chest, which can only be used for re-election purposes or for a statewide election."
"The question now is why has Cicilline chosen to select only certain donors and what will the criteria be to target a donor for refunding? Will he go as far as placing calls to donors to gauge their willingness to swap checks? If this is the path Mayor Cicilline is going down it can only be characterized as murky and problematic."
Speaking on Lynch's behalf, Fischer said: "We would ask the mayor to stand by his initial statement and let his donors decide for themselves if their prior support for his re-election bid will translate to support for his newly announced congressional bid.''
There was no response from the Cicilline camp.
As chairman for 12 years of the state Democratic party until his resignation last weekend, Lynch has a wealth of contacts in Democratic fundraising circles, but no established campaign account of his own.
