Cicilline

PROVIDENCE — Mayor David N. Cicilline’s reelection campaign hosted a fundraiser in Olneyville on Monday night, and among those groups and individuals invited was the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, or ONA.

The only problem?

ONA –– part neighborhood group and part social-justice advocacy coalition –– has been a vocal critic of the mayor’s planning and development policy in Olneyville and never signed up to get notices from the campaign, according to Shannah Kurland, an organizer for ONA.

Kurland says the group has in the past received notices and invitations from the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, which is a non-campaign-related, City Hall office that helps residents gain access to city programs and services, voice concerns to the mayor and resolve neighborhood complaints.

But ONA has never received mailings from the mayor’s campaign. She says the invitation suggests that the campaign is improperly using the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services to solicit donors.

“Our mailing address is not in the phone book,” said Kurland in an e-mail. “We have had no calls in the past several months asking for our mailing address. The only place I can think of that’s even remotely connected with the mayor who has my name, this affiliation and the organization’s correct mailing address is the Office of Neighborhood Services, [which] went to great trouble to request and confirm the mailing address and correct spelling and such about a year ago. Isn’t that a strange coincidence?”

Cicilline campaign manager Brett P. Smiley confirmed that the invitation was extended to ONA for the fundraiser, which was held in the offices of William Kite Architects at Rising Sun Mills, an apartment and office complex on Valley Street. About 40 people were in attendance at the event, which advertised a suggested donation of $50.

But he said that ONA’s contact information did not come from the Office of Neighborhood Services. A campaign intern found ONA’s mailing address online, and, not realizing the group’s opposition to the mayor, sent them an invitation, Smiley said.

“It was not a specifically targeted gesture” to reach out to ONA, said Smiley. “Would I do it again? Probably not. But the goal was to get to all neighborhood groups.”

No other groups have complained about campaign invitations, said Smiley. He also pointed out that ONA’s mailing address is easily found using a Google search, which turned up the 122 Manton Ave. address where the invitation was sent.

Regardless of where the invitation originated, Kurland said it was inappropriate for the mayor’s campaign to be soliciting donations from nonprofit organizations in the first place.

“Aside from the fact that ONA as a 501c3 does not support candidates, it doesn’t show particularly smart thinking on [Cicilline’s] part to request political support from a group that’s been opposed to his feed-the-rich economic development strategy,” Kurland said in an e-mail.

pmarcelo@projo.com