Press Release
September 15, 2006

For Immediate Release

Contact: Bob Cooper, prguynow@yahoo.com 401-447-6474, Days/Eves
Wilbur Jennings , wilburkey7@msn.com, 401-461-3617

Ward 8 Election Recount “may” be Friday

(Providence , RI , USA ) The race for Providence Ward 8 Councilman “may” continue today at the Board of Elections where a hearing was to be held on the recount between Wilbur W. Jennings Jr. and Leon F. Tejada. Only a few votes separate the two candidates, and Jennings has filed a complaint that also includes more than a few “irregularities” during the election.

In a posted memo by Robert Kando, Executive Director of the Board of Elections, the hearing was originally set for Friday but the date and time was changed to Noon from 9:30am . Now a subsequent memo from Kando states that the board, “may conduct recounts with regard to primaries held on September 12, 2006 .”

Jennings complaint is four pages long, and includes claims of voting machine “inaccuracies,” voting count discrepancies, people voting illegally, mail ballot tampering and people being compensated to vote or vote illegally in another ward as if they were another voter.

Jennings also questions “ethics violations” as the phone bank used by winning candidate Leon Tajeda was the Cicilline Headquarters on Broad Street . The Mayor’s Director of Neighborhood Relations, Gonzalo Cuervo, was Tejada’s campaign manager and treasurer. The Mayor’s staff was observed picking up and dropping off voters during the election, and Cicilline appeared himself at the polls to promote Tejada.

While unconfirmed, it appears that months ago, when the Ward 8 Committee looked like it would endorse Jennings who is a long time neighborhood resident, Mayor Cicilline responded by encouraging Tejada to move into the neighborhood a few months before the election and then endorsed and openly supported him.

In an interview today, Jennings asked, “Whose interests will Tejada represent if the election is confirmed?” “Will he represent the needs of people here in the Ward, or Mayor Cicilline whose support and people got him elected?” “What happens with issues we are facing now, like opposition to our new public school being built on contaminated land like the former Gorham/Textron site? Providence Officials continue to pursue exposing our children to these known sickness causing hazards. Who will speak for the safety of our children and oppose the Mayor then?”

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A copy of the complaint and a sound byte from the Arlene Violet show are at http://www.digitalgurune.com/jennings/
The Board of Elections is located at 50 Branch Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island.