House on Fire by David N. Cicilline

Author:David N. Cicilline [CICILLINE, DAVID N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2022-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

16

QUEEN FOR (ONLY) A DAY

Providence had gotten used to being entertained. My predecessor had trained people to expect their mayor to bring a little fun and excitement to the city. He had done it with little stunts and outrageous comments and relentless attention seeking. When the circus came to town, he played the ringmaster for a special performance. He turned a downtown bar into his performance space, where at any moment he might join the resident cabaret singer in a duet or crack mean jokes like Don Rickles. All that separated him from a Vegas lounge act was that he didn’t say, “I’m here all week, folks.” He didn’t have to say it because everyone knew.

More ordinary mayors presented personas that could inspire hope or ambition and project competence as they competed with other mayors in seeking big federal grants or wooing companies with plans to create jobs in a new facility. But while performance has been a part of leadership throughout recorded history, it has never been as important as it is now. Outside of the smallest villages and towns, people rarely meet political leaders face-to-face and have little chance to get to know them in a real way. We make do with impressions gleaned from the media or formed in a moment when we might see and hear them from a distance.

Although I agree that when a politician meets a crowd they are “on” in a way they might not be at home, I won’t do anything that conflicts with my basic character. I won’t play the insult comic the way Cianci did or indulge in sly race-baiting the way the first President Bush did with his Willie Horton ad. But I will choose to show people different sides of myself at different times, depending on the moment. And I know that it’s important to be as open as I can so I don’t seem one-dimensional. I mean, there’s more to me than the guy who talks about corruption and promises ethical government.

Two months after I took office, the Providence Newspaper Guild held its annual follies at a semi-campy banquet hall called Venus de Milo. The charity event had begun in 1974 as a goodwill gesture following a bruising guild strike. Bigger and better every year, it featured local media folks, politicians, and other boldface names. The best poked fun at themselves with a skit, song parody, or stream of jokes. With a crowd of over 1,200 made receptive by plenty of alcohol, you almost had to try to fail.

Each year the show featured a secret special guest who appeared in the last skit of the night. Since I was the new kid on the block, the guild asked me to be the surprise special guest. I waited out of sight while other performers ran through skits about, among other things, the federal conviction of our former mayor and a speaker of the house having sex in the capitol basement. The song parodies included a version of “I

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