RI Mayor Disappointed in Clinton Camp

Mayor David Cicilline indicated this week that his support for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton might be wavering, after he said members of her presidential campaign urged him to cave to the demands of the firefighters union ahead of her weekend appearance here.

But Clinton's campaign told a different story Friday, saying no members of the staff would interfere in the city's business.

The mayor is a Democratic superdelegate, who, unlike pledged delegates won through a primary or a caucus, can vote for whomever they chose. With the race between Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama so close, the campaigns have been lobbying for the support of every superdelegate.

Clinton is scheduled to be here Sunday for a fundraiser and rally. Firefighters who have been in a long-running contract dispute with Cicilline have said they would disrupt any Clinton event the mayor attends.

Cicilline told news outlets Thursday that national and local members of Clinton's campaign called him and tried to get him to cave to firefighters' contract demands, something he said he won't do. He also told The Providence Journal that Clinton political and field director Guy Cecil called him and asked him not to attend Sunday's event, a request he said he would honor.

"I'm obviously very disappointed," he told WJAR-TV. "I'm going to think very carefully about the next step."

Cicilline's spokeswoman, Karen Southern, would not comment Friday when asked if he was considering switching his support to Obama, but said he had not been in touch with the Illinois senator's campaign. She would not say who had contacted Cicilline from Clinton's campaign.

Clinton campaign spokeswoman Christine Heenan said Clinton has great respect for the mayor's commitment to the city.

"No one on our staff would ever interfere with the decisions the mayor needs to make to run the city of Providence," she said.

Heenan said she was unaware of any attempts by the campaign to contact Cicilline on Friday.