28 November 2022
City Treasurer James Lombardi III
Office of the Providence Treasurer
City of Providence
25 Dorrance Street
Providence, RI 02903
Dear City Treasurer Lombardi:
I hope this message finds you well. With any luck, tomorrow’s cosmic rain event won’t ruin any of your plans. Too bad we can’t have the 60 degree temps and push the rain aside.
I am writing to you because I was supposed to write to somebody else. I was supposed to write to the city of Providence’s LIability Insurance Company. Then we were supposed to go visit their local office with coffee and snacks. Meanwhile, political friends wherever they were headquartered were going to visit the home office with coffee and snacks. Instead, I find out that Providence is “self insured”. That means I get to write to you. If coffee and snacks would help, please let me know.
The topic at hand is Jeann Lugo. Yes, I know the city is going to try and fire him via the LEOBOR process. I just wanted to raise the stakes a little. You can understand that some municipalities could say they “were going to try” but then put in a 50 percent effort and say it was too hard. I just wanted to motivate you beyond that possibility.
Do you really believe this was the first time he punched a black woman in the face?? Can you imagine that if it has happened before that such a woman would feel that coming forward would only cause more problems for her?? Can you imagine that someone who reacted the way they did last night has not lost his temper before in all kinds of situations?? So, we have to do a little digging. We are going to public records request documents from every case he has ever been involved in. Then we are going to ask around and see if anything pops up. Rumors are that Ms. Rourke might be talking to lawyers at the moment. Who knows how many cases he could possibly drag the city into the middle of?? I should probably call draft kings and see if they would make book on it.
It should be noted this is not a revenge on cops thing. I have 34 arrests, including 1 in Mexico, 3 indictments, and only 8 convictions. I only got hit once and I had it coming. I used to date the daughter of a police captain in a local community. A few years later, he got promoted to Chief. He wanted to show how much he still cared so he would go out with his team when they broke up college drinking fests. One night, I happened to be at one of the parties he joined the squad at.
Highly intelligent college me wanted to throw him off his game. I thought the best way to do that would be to rattle him by discussing some of his daughter’s “favorite proclivities”. That’s the night I found out it is way worse to get hit with the flashlight than the baton. LIke I said, I had it coming.
While all that’s happening, it is the Christmas Season. Some folks will need cash now; some will need cash after the Holidays to pay off bills. This is how crisis actors are born. If he should return to the job, we just have to figure to cause the actors and Mr. Lugo to come together in a number of different situations. If he just had a bad night, then nothing will result from this. If punching black women in the face is how he lives his life, you might want to ask the Providence City Council to enforce a Lugo tax somehow. Based on the amount of money you are about to give away this week so folks can have their lungs ruined, you might want to do that anyway. Between Lugo and the pollution you as a municipality are about to allow, maybe allowing personal injury and discrimination attorneys to have their own office at City Hall might not be the worst idea.
In some ways, this is like the Narducci situation. We know that Narducci throws around the N-word, treats women like property, and attacks the homeless yet you still named a School after him. We know Officer Lugo, due process and all, violated campaign finance law, jumped into a fray he did not need to, punched a woman of color who he should have recognized, but thanks to a Judge who reversed himself, nothing sketchy there, and the LEOBOR process being what it is, he will probably be back on the job.
The challenge with correcting the bad behavior of cops can not be understated. Yes, it used to be that 8% of cops were racist/sexist/bigots who did not belong on the job. Then Trump happened and by the numbers, that estimate jumped to 23%. That still means that 77% of cops are good. Please note that while I was falsely arrested in 2021, of course I beat the case thanks to a great lawyer, I never talked about taking civil action, or any other for that matter, against the officers. I will mess with the community, and definitely Pat Serpa, but not the cops. Why?? Because if I do act against the one of the 23%, those same efforts can be copycatted and used against the 77%. The trade is not worth it.
In the Lugo case, we believe that we can isolate the free market in such a way that it can only be used against a bad cop. The nice thing about having a healthy love for the free market is that you can use it to get around LEOBOR. Democratic Socialists don’t have that option. When Democratic Socialists got mad at Joann Ryan, a person who took $1000 arranged by Senator Ruggerio when she was running for Senate so she could screw taxpayers over, all they could do was yell “shame”. My friends and I are going to get together tomorrow and steer the free market into her life, the lives of her contributors, and maybe a family member or two who takes advantage of her connections. Playing this way beats yelling “Shame” at the top of your lungs by miles.
It should be noted that we are only here due to the judge. Yes, we now have to review every case when the alleged defendant was a cop and every case where a person of color was the victim. I spent 7 years in Upstate New York. That experience taught me how to handle “compromised” judges in an entirely different way than before. Albany is one of my favorite classrooms.
How many of the folks you run into on a regular basis who live in the city want their taxes to possibly go up because Mr. Lugo returned to the job?? Of course it’s all avoidable. He could admit he made a mistake, couldn’t do that while the trial was happening, apologize to Ms. Rourke, admit he made an error to the Board of Elections, and agree to seek help for his “anger containment” issue if after a few counseling sessions he turns out he has one. This could have been a one night thing but we should always be prepared for the worst possible scenario.
Please note that no one is going to get mad at the Union. It’s their job to defend their guy even if he’s totally out of bounds. Again, that’s why I left the Officers off the retribution list. As adults there are sometimes trades we have to make for the greater good regardless of how it looks or feels.
Before I close, I should mention it appears that you are doing a great job at Wyatt. That facility used to be in the news almost daily. Now, we barely hear anything. That includes folks in the recovery community who have been held there or have friends and/or family members who have spent time in that institution. Well done sir.
I repeat this a lot because it is true. The upcoming DeSantis v. Trump Civil War is going to solve a lot of these issues for us. In my mind, the fact that Officer Lugo showed up at an event to express that he wanted to enslave women via their sexuality tells us he is not fit to be an Officer. I can’t wait to hear what some of the women we will interview are going to report he has said to them. As the Republicans continue to have battles where people have to out crazy each other, the Officer Lugo’s of the world will have to pick a side. Or I could be totally wrong and it was a one night thing. If we do not push a few buttons, we will never find out.
Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
In Hoc Signo,
Robert T. Oliveira
Warwick, RI
401-391-6402
Quahogs United 