CRANSTON –– It has been a relatively quiet primary season here.

But in the southwestern section of the community, two newcomers are waging a spirited fight for the Democratic nomination for the Ward 4 seat on the City Council.

Pelletier

Robert J. Pelletier, an information technology consultant for the state Department of Corrections, and Michael J. Farina, a financial analyst with CVS, are walking door-to-door, sparring over ideas and experience, and trading charges of dirty politics.

The winner will take on Republican Donald McCutcheon in November in a battle to succeed Democratic Councilwoman Maria Bucci, who did not seek reelection.

Pelletier, 38, is positioning himself as a tireless advocate bent on shaking up local government.

“Cranston is starting to move in the wrong direction,” he said.

Pelletier, who has the endorsement of the Democratic City Committee, is calling for a merger of city and schools divisions with similar functions, such as purchasing or information technology.

He is pushing for greater City Council oversight on large development projects such as Phenix Terrace, a proposed 198-unit rental and townhouse complex that has drawn sharp opposition in the neighborhood.

And he is offering a few quirky proposals: rerouting chronic flooding from Natick Avenue to a local landscaping business, where it could be used to water trees, for instance, and establishing a police substation at the Cranston Police Training Complex, on Phenix Avenue, in a bid to improve response times in the western part of the city.

It is unclear if those ideas have any legs: Pelletier said he has not yet spoken to the landscaping company, Lawn Beauticians.

And the police chief, Col. Stephen C. McGrath, while open to discussing the substation proposal, said a mini-station would probably not improve response times since the department always has officers on patrol throughout the city.

But Pelletier forges ahead. He said he pulled in about $3,800 at a recent fundraiser.

And he is making regular appearances at City Council meetings, School Committee meetings and gatherings of a neighborhood group fighting the Phenix Terrace proposal.

Farina

His opponent Farina, who also opposes the Phenix Terrace development, is running as an outsider.

“He’s the endorsed candidate,” said Farina, 30, of Pelletier. “Nobody wants me to win. I’m fighting an uphill battle.”

But electing an outsider would pay dividends for the residents of Ward 4, Farina argued.

As the unendorsed candidate, he said, he would be accountable to the voters –– rather than beholden to party operatives.

And Farina, who says he has not done any fundraising because he does not want to ask cash-strapped voters for contributions, pledged to bring his financial expertise to bear on the city’s fiscal crunch.

“I just bring more to the table,” said Farina.

But first Farina will have to fend off charges of dirty campaigning.

James S. Ginolfi, chairman of the Ward 4 Democratic Committee, says he fielded three calls from voters alleging that Farina presented himself as the endorsed candidate in the race.

“I just don’t think it’s right that someone should be packaging themselves as the endorsed candidate when they’re not,” Pelletier said.

But Farina denied the accusation, arguing that he has built his campaign around the notion of being an outsider.

To claim that he was the endorsed candidate would undermine that message, he said.

Pelletier, he suggested, was smearing him because the race is close.

“I think Mr. Pelletier didn’t understand what kind of [campaign] we’d put up,” he said.

“He’s obviously lying,” Pelletier replied. “He’s trying to win voters by lie, cheat and steal.”

The primary is Sep. 9.

dscharfe@projo.com