12/29/2005
Candidate for 3 offices says he's in it to challenge the law
By CHRIS BARRETT
Christopher Young is taking an unorthodox – and illegal – approach to “restoring justice” in Rhode Island by declaring his candidacy for U.S. Senate, lieutenant governor and mayor of Providence.
“This is a challenge to state law that bars individuals from running for more than one seat,” said Young, who is running as a Democrat. “I believe it’s necessary to do this for justice…the basic right to vote is in jeopardy.”
Among other opponents, Young, 37, squares off against Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey and U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee for U.S. Senate and state Sen. Elizabeth Roberts (D-Dist. 28) for lieutenant governor.
In an interview last week, Young maintained that the law barring a candidate from running for more than one office was a direct result of his bid to represent Providence in both the state Senate and House of Representatives in 2004.
Running as a Democrat, Young lost both primaries but secured 28 percent of the vote in his attempt for the House – enough, Young said, to scare state lawmakers into passing the law last session.
Young also unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2000 and Providence mayor in 2002, losing to Lincoln Chafee and David Cicilline, respectively.
Young said he is running as a Democrat because independents have a difficult time being elected in Rhode Island, but Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairman Bill Lynch said Young does not have the support of the party.
“He’s just not considered a serious candidate as evidenced by this publicity stunt by running for three positions,” Lynch said. “He doesn’t appear on the party radar screen and he has also run under every party banner imaginable at this point…His candidacy takes away from people who run for all the right reasons.”
In his campaign platform, Young says the state has “serious issues” with running fair elections and, in the interview last week, said running for three seats would make it more difficult for the mafia to rig the results.
“This obviously has to be specifically targeted against me because it’s harder for the mafia to fix two elections than it is to fix one,” he said.
Young said he would also decline campaign contributions to maintain an uncompromised candidacy as he has in past elections.
“The issue is, can you get elected into political office if you don’t take campaign contributions?” Young said. “I believe a candidate should be able to run for office without receiving favors, or what amounts to bribes, through campaign contributions.”
With or without campaign contributions, it is unlikely Young will see his name listed under more than one seat on the November 2006 ballot.
A spokesman for Secretary of State’s Matt Brown’s office, which draws up the ballot, said the office would not certify one candidate for more than one office. Instead, the office would certify the candidate to run only for the first office for which the paperwork is received. Young said he would still seek multiple offices and called for the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to become involved.
“There has to be some voice aired by the ACLU if they truly care about civil liberties,” he said.
ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown said it was premature to say whether the organization would become involved.
“My understanding is that the courts have upheld the constitutionality of laws like this that prohibit people from running for more than one office at the same time, so I’m not sure there is a strong constitutional challenge available,” Brown said. “Different issues are raised if the state also barred him from federal office as well as state office…I’m not sure the state can restrict someone from running for federal office.”
As for the law itself, Brown opposed it.
“We believe in the broadest possible access to the ballot,” he said. “If somebody wants to run for more than one office they should be able to do that and let the voters act accordingly.”
Young also could face a challenge in his bid for Providence mayor because he lives in Narragansett. Young said he moved to Narragansett from Providence after his rent went up and he received threats against his life during his previous campaigns. He said he would return to family-owned property in Providence in time to meet the 30-day residency requirement.
Regardless of what, if any, ballot Young secures his name on, he has a laundry list of complaints ranging from utility prices to the war in Iraq to property taxes.
Locally, Young opposes a proposed West Warwick casino, saying on his Web site (www.wheretovote.com) that “studies conclude casinos increase crime [and] poverty and hurt business in the surrounding area.”
He said the deal “only requested $100 million in licensing fees, whereas in other states they requested $500 million.”
“That loss of $400 million in lost revenue could have gone to fixing the roof at Hope High School or other issues throughout the state,” Young said.
He also suggested the money could be used to ease property taxes and increase affordable housing.
Young said throughout the state rapidly increasing property taxes are hurting Rhode Islanders but officials are ignoring the problem.
“The position taken by no one – not the U.S. Senate, the lieutenant governor, Cicilline – is that if property values fall because the federal government keeps raising interest rates, no one has taken the initiative of appraising for lower taxation,” Young said.
To relieve the pressure, Young said he wants Providence to tax private universities to generate revenue and lower taxes, saying, “Universities are not paying their fair share.”
“Brown University alone has 250 pieces of property that they pay no taxes on, and some of those properties have no educational value whatsoever,” Young said. “They have this excessive amount of property, but they file no quarterly reports on where this money is being spent.”
As for the rest of the state, Young said he wants the lieutenant governor’s office to become involved.
“There are statewide issues that the lieutenant governor hasn’t addressed, such as increased taxation [and] lack of funding for schools,” Young said.
Young said he wants the lieutenant governor to use his political weight to help lower property taxes and set up scholarships for low-income college students.
And property taxes are not the only bill increasing for Rhode Islanders, Young said. Young spent much of last week protesting recent electricity rate increases approved by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that will add $18.17 to the typical customer’s bill. Young called the $2 million approved by the PUC this month to help low-income customers “a drop in the bucket.”
“This small amount of money is completely offset by the increase they just pushed through,” he said.
Young called for the U.S. Senate to debate the issue.
He also chastised Chafee for not becoming more involved during the 2003 Station nightclub fire in West Warwick.
“I believe that there has to be a federal investigation,” Young said. “This is something that Chafee should have advocated for and called for a federal investigation into Triton Realty.”
Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian rented the property the club sat on from Triton Realty, which Young said has connections to various public officials.
“I believe there has to be the possibility of RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] charges brought against any parties that are involved in excluding of litigants within the lawsuit that have ownership in strip clubs and other entertainment venues in the State of Rhode Island and other states as well,” he said
Also, if elected to the U.S. Senate, Young said he would like the government to explore its official account of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Young pointed to CNN footage of the United Airlines Flight 175 flying into the Word Trade Center, which he said needs investigation.
“There appears to be a missile on the fuselage of the plane,” Young said. “This is video evidence that there’s question to involvement of other parties, but this issue was not addressed by the 9/11 Commission.”
Young offered to allow the Beacon to publish still images of the footage that appear on his Web site but then said the paper would probably refuse as part of a media conspiracy to undermine his campaign. (The Beacon cannot legally publish the frames because of CNN copyright, which Young later said he understood.)
“Anything that undermines me reduces my credibility will be put out there,” Young said. “Anything your editor can do to undermine my campaign he will do.”
Young said the conspiracy extends to television networks, citing an example at last week’s PUC meeting.
“Not one television station would put me on the air,” he said. “They refused to interview the person [near me] because I was in the background.”
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