22-05-2025
What promises were made in the battle for the R.I. Senate leadership?
The barbed exchange is pulling back the curtain on a Senate leadership battle that played out even on the day of the late
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The dispute began when Ciccone was interviewed for this week's
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Ciccone, a Providence Democrat, was asked for his reaction to a progressive group that called him 'Trump Lite,' describing him as 'anti-choice, anti-LBGTQ+, anti-gun safety, anti-climate.'
As part of his response, Ciccone said that during the leadership battle he 'wasn't one of the people that were out there telling (senators) if you vote for this, I'll grant you money for your schools, I'll grant you this, I'll reduce the tax on clothing.'
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Ciccone confirmed that he was referring to Pearson, a Cumberland Democrat and former majority leader who lost the leadership battle to Lawson and Ciccone on April 29.
'I know (Pearson) called the mayor of Johnston, offered him $10 million for a school, called one of the ... senators in Pawtucket, offered $5 million for their schools,' Ciccone said. 'And then he called another senator and said, on the sales tax on clothing, we'll eliminate that. So in that one day, just prior to the vote, I think he gave away over $30 million of state money.'
When asked what he thought of that, Ciccone said, 'I think it was totally illegal.'
When asked for his response, Pearson did not deny he offered those deals, but said he did nothing illegal.
He said he has long supported increases in state education aid in communities such as Pawtucket and Johnston, and said there's nothing wrong with discussing what legislation you would support or oppose.
'As far as I know, every senator — when making commitments to vote for someone — asks for certain things,' Pearson said. 'This is how it works. Every senator had different things they asked me for, as I'm sure they asked him for. I know they promised no assault weapons ban. Was that illegal?'
Pearson said conservative senators told him they were voting for the Lawson/Ciccone leadership team because they were promised that Lawson would put the assault-weapons ban 'up for committee vote to let it die.'
'The conservatives were promised [Lawson] would have no power because her Number 2 and Number 3 would be conservative men in the chamber,' Pearson said, referring to Ciccone and Senate Majority Whip David P. Tikoian, a Smithfield Democrat.
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Lawson and Ciccone issued a statement Wednesday, saying, 'No such promises were made.'
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard hours of testimony on the assault-style weapons ban, introduced by Senator Louis P. DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat who said he has 24 of the 37 senators as co-sponsors. The committee held the bill for further study.
The 10-member committee is viewed as being evenly split between supporters and opponents of the bill. The attention is focused on whether Lawson, Ciccone, and Tikoian will use their ex officio power to vote on any committee and send that legislation to the Senate floor.
As the April 29 leadership vote approached, Pearson said he had secured 18 votes — one shy of the 19 needed to become president. He said 'swing' senators who preferred him as president told him they had committed to the Lawson/Ciccone team because of their commitment to kill the assault weapons ban.
'So I said, 'Fine, I'll kill it too,' Pearson said. 'I knew it was already dead. I remain in support of it, and would love to see it become law, but I knew it would ensure [Lawson] is the president.'
On the day of the leadership vote, Pearson and his supporters did not enter the Senate Lounge for the Democratic caucus until well after the Lawson and Ciccone supporters entered. Pearson confirmed that if he could get 19 votes, he and his supporters were planning to skip the caucus and go straight into the Senate session in which all senators, including Republicans, would vote for president.
But that plan fell apart when Pearson couldn't secure the 19th vote. In the end, Lawson received 24 votes while Pearson received 8 votes, and Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, received 4 votes.
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Pearson said Ciccone had approached him in 2023 and 2024, looking to become majority leader if Pearson became president. 'He kept shopping until he found someone who would give him that, and that person was Val,' he said.
Pearson said the Lawson/Ciccone team told conservative senators they would hold sway while they told liberal senators 'it would be the most progressive Senate leadership in the history of the state.' And, he said, 'I don't know which one of those two will be true.'
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
