Eric Nelson and his husband Jess Jose hosted a fundraising event at their home for openly gay Providence, Rhode Island mayoral candidate Brett Smiley Sept. 9. About 20 people attended the event to hear Smiley's latest campaign news.
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Debra Shore served as honorary chair for the event. The host committee members were Nelson, Jose, Rick Ingram, Mike Jarecki and Earl Nicholas.
Guests chatted and noshed on hors d'oeuvres ahead of remarks by Nelson, Shore and Smiley. A Glenview, Ill., native, Smiley received his bachelors degree and M.B.A from DePaul University and is married to James DeRentis.
Nelson thanked everyone for attending and encouraged everyone to support Smiley's campaign. Then Shore shared that she met Smiley about 10 years ago. "The word I would use to describe Brett is he is an enthusiast ... I'm so glad to see that he is now wanting to do this [be a candidate] ... it's great to be a part of that trajectory and journey and now we get a next step," said Shore. Shore shared that she lived in Providence for some time and that it is a lot like Chicago, only with a smaller population.
Of his campaign Smiley said, "It's been really great to have friends step up and help. It's interesting that when I decided to do this. ... The job I wanted to do was be the mayor of Providence [not another type of elected office] ... because the really creative problem solving, good government, and innovative policy solutions are all coming from cities these days. That's where the good stuff is happening."
Smiley also explained the intricacies of the mayoral race in Providence. He also shared that he has gotten support from openly gay U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, who was previously that city's mayor. Providence has about 200,000 residents and is now a minority-majority city, noted Smiley. Smiley encouraged everyone to support LGBT candidates in all levels of government and across the country.
Smiley remarked that the primary is September 2014 and he needs to raise about $500,000 to keep his campaign going. Smiley noted that some of the ways people can help his campaign are through direct donations, traveling to Providence to knock on doors and/or spread the word online via social media outlets.
See www.smileyformayor.com for more information.
