Cranston Mayor Michael Napolitano has announced he will not run for a second term.
I’m in with the commenters over at Kmareka who say that they are surprised, but not shocked by the news. There never seemed to be any long-term vision in Mayor Napolitano’s plans that would be a top-priority for him to see through and, though it’s possible to make mistakes trying to read these things from afar, he never seemed particularly comfortable in the job.
According to David Scharfenberg of the Projo, this leaves three contenders on the Democratic side, State Representatives Charlene Lima and Peter Palumbo, and retiring City Councilwoman Paula McFaraland, as challengers to Republican candidate Allan Fung.
UPDATE:
The Cranston Republican City Committee offers gentle words of support, in response to Mayor Napolitano’s decision not to seek re-election…

On behalf of Cranston taxpayers, the Cranston Republican City Committee would like to thank Mayor Michael T. Napolitano for his decision not to seek re-election as Mayor of Cranston. Following in the footsteps of his mentor, former Mayor John O’Leary, Mayor Napolitano is shying away from a re-election campaign after helping to create a fiscal crisis in Cranston.

Since Mayor Napolitano’s election the membership of the Cranston Republican party has been a relentless watchdog for the taxpayers through press releases, newspaper advertisements, internet websites, public comments at city council meetings and letters to the editor. From the early days of his administration when Mayor Napolitano decided to waste taxpayer money redecorating his office while using an allergy attack as an excuse, Cranston taxpayers have witnessed wasteful spending and financial incompetence from Mayor Napolitano.
Mayor Napolitano ran for office in 2006 on a series of false promises such as tax relief and more money for schools. Now, as he leaves elected office, he refuses to tell the truth as to the real reason why he is not seeking re-election. Mayor Napolitano is not seeking re-election due to the bad poll results he recently received. After spending millions to help his re-election bid by agreeing to an outrageous firefighters’ contract to spending millions to buy swamp land to concocting a phony tax freeze budget all while bragging that he is raising tens of thousands of dollars from political insiders, no one should believe that all of sudden Mayor Napolitano decided to drop his re-election bid because of personal reasons. Once again we see the Mayor’s dishonesty and his lack of courage. We already knew he did not have the courage to stand up to the special interests like the firefighters’ union. Now we know he does not have the courage to face the voters and justify his record. Mayor Napolitano’s internal poll must show that the voters of Cranston clearly reject his irresponsible fiscal policies. They will not be fooled again and that is why he is not running for re-election.
Regardless of whom the Democrats and Mayor Napolitano hand pick as their candidate for Mayor, there is only one candidate who has fiscally conservative policies, a proven track record, the courage to speak out over the last year and half against the current administration’s irresponsible policies, and the experience of dealing with a fiscal crisis in Cranston. That candidate is Allan Fung, and we believe the voters will not be fooled into making the same mistake again.