Earlier this year, Providence tax collector Robert Ceprano was fired by Mayor David Cicilline for poor job performance.  At least that was the the excuse.  I found it strange that after working for the Cicilline administration for over 6 years, Robert Ceprano's work was suddenly not good enough.  His termination happened at the same time John Cicilline's bad check came to light.  Is it a coincidence?  I'm not convinced.  After Mr. Ceprano's firing, cases of people appearing to get preferential treatment surfaced.  Although, these were just cases of the Mayor "advocating" for these people.  After all, he claims he would have done the same thing for anyone.

     Let's fast forward to today when Robert Ceprano filed a lawsuit against the City of Providence, and a new allegation surfaced.  According to Robert Ceprano, Nortek CEO Richard Bready came in to his office to pay $25,000 for back taxes he owed on two properties.  Ceprano refused the check because it didn't include interest that was owed to the city.  Richard Bready then took the check to David Cicilline and his Chief of Staff Michael Mello told Robert Ceprano to remove the two properties from a planned tax sale.  By the way, no interest was charged, and Michael Mello told Robert Ceprano that Bready was "a generous contributor to the city.''  

     Richard Bready is a generous contributor to the City of Providence?  How?  Well, that made me think.  I visited Richard Bready's history of campaign contributions on the Board of Elections site.  I found that Richard Bready contributed to David Cicilline's campaign on 5 occasions which totaled $4,500.  Next time you have a tax dispute at City Hall, take a walk over to David Cicilline's office and ask to see him.  I'm assuming you won't get in, although a history of campaign contributions probably won't hurt your chances.