The National Republican Senatorial Committee has filed an FEC complaint against Steve Laffey for a mailing Laffey sent to his constituents reminding them of the progress that the City of Cranston has made under his stewardship. According to an article  in yesterday morning's Providence Journal, the NRSC, along with Lincoln Chafee and the Democrats on the Cranston City Council, say that Laffey stating as fact the benefits he has brought to Cranston is "a promotional campaign mailing at taxpayer expense." Perhaps what they are actually upset about is that the facts about what has happened in Cranston are getting out, and are in direct contrast to the NRSC's (and Chafee's) portrayal of what has happened in Cranston since 2002 spread through a very aggressive media campaign that started last year. Laffey succeeded in bringing a major city out of near bankruptcy in less than four years, and that type of success galls the NRSC. For months Chafee and the NRSC have been crying about Laffey's raising property taxes in Cranston while hoping that people don't remember the context in which that was done (he had no choice by law — municipalities, as opposed to the federal government, can't run cash deficits), or are too lazy to research it. Laffey releases the real tax facts to his constituents, something that they are entitled to know, and Chafee and the NRSC freak because their charade has been blown.

Even the Journal, who placed this article next to a continuation of another front-page puff piece  on Democrat Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse's fundraising advantage over Chafee and Laffey (complete with an ominous "insight"' that Laffey's fundraising has peaked, and Chafee is the only GOPer who can keep up with Whitehouse's fundraising prowess),  included this gem: "Laffey has sent similar letters to residents in past years, as have previous administrations."

But the real money quote, and the one that shows how out-of-touch (or working for Democrats) the NRSC is right now is this: "NRSC spokesman Dan Ronayne said in a statement yesterday: 'This is a serious matter and Mayor Laffey should know federal candidates who hold local office cannot use city government resources to pay for campaign propaganda. Mayor Laffey now has the FEC to worry about in addition to the many residents of Cranston he has offended with this gratuitous political mailer.'"

Hmmm. Facts are "campaign propaganda," especially when they are used to refute the lies told by the NRSC and Chafee's campaign? Cranston taxpayers don't deserve to know the truth because it could interfere with Chafee's reelection campaign? Why doesn't Dan Ronayne just up and endorse Whitehouse for Senate right now? He's going to have to, eventually, because if Chafee does win the primary the NRSC will have to figure out some way to attack Whitehouse from the left, as that's where many of Chafee's positions are in relationship to Whitehouse's. I don't know if the NRSC can do that and have any type of credibility left. With an FEC filing like this, and over-the-top statements like Ronayne's, the NRSC is in real danger of having many Republicans and conservative independents in Rhode Island give a "screw-you" vote to the NRSC and Chafee (and for Whitehouse) in the fall. Looking at this, why should anyone donate to an NRSC that stands for nothing except the quest for power, and is now indistinguishable from the Democrats? Why should anyone take them (or Chafee) seriously?