A grass-roots campaign has pushed Providence City Councilor Kevin Jackson from office in an overwhelming, unprecedented recall victory on the capital city’s East Side, marking the first time any city political figure has been ousted from office through a recall effort.
Unofficial results showed voters in Ward 3, which takes in the Mount Hope and Summit neighborhoods, pushed Jackson, an embattled Democrat facing criminal felony charges, by about 91 percent, a result more resembling an election in the former U.S.S.R. than in a city in the U.S.
Jackson was swamped at all three polling places open for the rare recall tilt. Returns reported to the Providence Board of Canvassers put the final tally at 1,772 to 158. At the Summit Commons polling place there were 721 votes to oust Jackson and 34 against; at Church of the Redeemer, an Episcopal Church on Hope Street, the tally was 890 to 56 and at the Vincent Brown Recreation Center in Jackson’s onetime electoral stronghold, the vote was 161 to bounce Jackson and 56 against.
Jackson, 58, has represented the ward since 1995 and is onetime council majority leader. Once heralded for his activism in helping the neighborhood’s underprivileged youth and for spearheading a youth track-and-field team, he was arrested a year ago by state police and charged with stealing more than $120,000 from the Providence Cobras track-and-field initiative, a program that took in more than $67,000 in taxpayer-financed city grants. He has also been charged with converting $12,000 in campaign money to personal use.
The victory party for the recall campaign team this evening at the Parlour tavern on North Main Street in Providence was subdued; there was none of the usual election-night cheers and champagne toasts. It was as if those pushing the ouster campaign took no glee in their lopsided victory.
“It’s sad that it had to come to this,” said Tricia Kammerer, a leader of the recall effort.
The recall had another message – that politics is not a spectator sport. It is not enough to complain if you don’t like what is going on in your community. The recall campaign fought city hall – and won. They gathered more than 2,000 signatures on petitions to force the recall. Then they followed up with a strong neighbor-to-neighbor campaign.
Constituents in Ward 3 had come to feel burned in recent years by their representatives. First then-Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox, a Democrat who rose from a gritty section of the neighborhood to become a lawyer and the most powerful state lawmaker, left the House in disgrace after being indicted on corruption and bribery charges. He was later convicted and is currently serving a federal prison sentence.
Then Jackson, once lionized for his efforts on behalf of Mount Hope youth, got in his current jam after his arrest and indictment. Unlike Fox, Jackson refused to leave his office after charges were brought. He did step away from his council leadership post, but many constituents saw that as too little.
In recent years, Jackson gained a reputation for not paying attention to constituents, which also cost him, according to recall leaders. He was nearly defeated by a write-in candidate at his last council election.
Kammerer is an elementary school music teacher at Oakland Beach elementary school in Warwick. But she also has a serious political resume. A former staffer to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, Kammerer was the campaign manager for the unsuccessful 2000 U.S. House campaign of women’s political campaign guru Kate Coyne McCoy. Kammerer, who was educated at Cornell University and Rhode Island College, lives on Exeter Street in Ward 3 with her husband. Another leader of the recall effort was Karina Holyoak Wood, a native of Birmingham, England, who has been involved in city political campaigns; her former husband, Cliff Wood was a city council member who was close to former Mayor David Cicilline.
Recall elections are typically difficult to organize; opponents of former Mayor Vincent A. `Buddy’ Cianci Jr., tried unsuccessfully in the 1980s to oust him via recall after his arrest on felony assault charges for beating his ex-wife’s lover.
The recall campaign used traditional local campaign tactics grafted to social media to reach voters, said Kammerer. They collected petition signatures throughout the ward and conducted voter contact through relentless door-to-door stumping. These campaigns are more perspiration and inspiration than glorified political combat.
“You have to roll up your sleeves,” said Kammerer. More than 70 volunteers fueled the recall, she said. “We knocked on nearly every door in the ward.”
Leaders of the recall say at this point that they do not have a favored candidate in the special election to replace Jackson. “Tomorrow we begin the search for a good candidate,” said Holyoak Wood. “At this point we need to see who is going to run.”
“Our hope is that this sends a message that voters will hold their politicians accountable,” said Kammerer.
“This was voters saying, we’ve had enough of unethical conduct that takes voters for granted. We hope that tonight will resonate across Rhode Island,” said Holyoak Wood.
Said Art Norwalk, who helped with the recall effort, “A lot of people get into politics for the right reasons, but they they get caught up in the system and go down the wrong road. It’s unfortunate.”
