PVD COUNCIL: Ward 13 Candidate Connor Blier

Connor Blier on Providence Ward 13, rent stabilization and local political trust

Connor Blier joins Bartholomewtown to explain why he entered the open Providence Ward 13 race and how his personal history in Rhode Island shapes his campaign. The conversation centers on rent stabilization, city leadership, and his broader argument that local politics has drifted away from working-class residents.

We discuss Blier’s criticism of insider politics, his belief that the recent rent stabilization effort was used as a political tool, and why he says the city needs representatives who answer the phone, show up in neighborhoods, and write policy from lived experience.

Key topics

• Blier says he entered the Ward 13 race because he sees a repeat of what he experienced in Rhode Island’s cannabis industry, where he believes small operators were squeezed out by corruption and insider access.
• He argues that the original dispensary licensing process hurt local homeowners and small businesses, and says that experience made him wary of how government power can push working people out.
• The discussion turns to Providence rent stabilization, where Blier says he supports meaningful protection for renters and homeowners, but only if the policy is written carefully enough to avoid harming small property owners and neighborhood families.
• He claims the rent stabilization push was used as a political maneuver rather than a sincere effort to pass workable legislation, and says working-class people were being turned against each other for electoral purposes.
• Bill Bartholomew presses Blier on whether the City Council and Mayor Smiley ever had a realistic path to a deal, and Blier responds that the process lacked honesty and clear intent.
• Blier says his campaign is aimed at local representation first: answering calls, helping residents navigate city services, and being physically present in the ward.
• He describes Ward 13 as a working-class district and says the city’s biggest issue is cost of living, especially housing pressure and the risk of homelessness.
• He argues Providence has not built enough housing, has failed to keep pace with population growth, and needs to incentivize development while also protecting people already living there.
• Blier says he is running against the political machine rather than just an opponent, pointing to endorsements, out-of-state money, and establishment ties as signs of a broader insider network.
• He closes by saying the race is a chance to break that system and restore local, working-class voice to Ward 13.

Timestamps

00:00 - Ward 13 special election and why Connor Blier jumped in
00:30 - Cannabis licensing, small business losses, and Blier’s origin story
03:03 - What Blier means by corruption in Rhode Island politics
06:26 - Rent stabilization becomes the central Providence issue
07:24 - Support for tenant protections, but only with real carve outs
09:22 - Why Blier says small homeowners could get caught in bad policy
10:35 - The recording involving Senator Sam Bell and the rent vote
12:45 - Bill challenges the claim that the process was a sham
13:45 - Blier argues the council had the votes to pass it
15:57 - Why Blier says local government should focus on residents first
18:14 - Cost of living, housing pressure, and the working class in Providence
19:37 - Record tax rates, city spending, and frustration with priorities
20:39 - Why Blier says he is running against the political machine
21:29 - Out-of-state money, endorsements, and insider influence
22:54 - The Ward 13 opening and Blier’s case for a local candidate
24:36 - Campaign response, neighborhood reception, and limited resources
27:14 - Blier on mayoral politics, local trust, and neighborhood accountability

Transcript

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Bill Bartholomew 0:00

All right, welcome to Bartholomew Town. We're zooming in right now on Providence Ward 13. Now, that's the ward that outgoing Providence City Council President Rachel Miller has represented. She announced that she was not seeking reelection earlier this year. One of the candidates in that race is Connor Blier. He's going to join us in just a moment, and we will be joined later this week by Anna Jane Yolkin, who is another candidate in this ward 13 race. Connor, welcome to Bartholomew Town. What does what what made you decide to jump into this?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Yeah, so you know, I feel like politics feels like a big thing for a lot of people. For anyone who remembers in 2016 and 2016, we had uh some changes in regulation that let uh cultivators come out from underground and start growing legally. The state of Rhode Island highly encouraged it. Um regulation actually ended up so that only three dispensaries came out. Uh, those were friends of politicians. They made a lot of money. It was a really good example of corruption. Uh, the FBI actually ended up giving out the lottery for the additional dispensaries that came out. But the cultivators that got pinched were local homeowners, small businesses, and uh 117 of them opened up at the same time. Many people lost their homes for those home loans. It was a really tough time. My uncle actually was for us because we did Mammoth Incorporated, uh, was our lead investor, and now he lives in the apartment next to me. And you know, you'd expect folks opening up small businesses to succeed. This is an example of politics and corruption, uh, regulating out small businesses, pushing people out of their homes. Uh, and I've kind of carried that on with me as a local Rhode Islander for uh, you know, a decade because I I still have not been able to see that business flourish to the point where it's it's really paying back the people who invested their time. And you know, for me, I've seen some stuff going on now in the local politics and Providence that's impacting me directly. Uh people feel like local representation has left. You can't really call or get a hold of the people who are supposed to be representing your best interests. And uh when I first got into this, I you know, I'm not a politician, but a lot of that was exposed to me. I haven't really talked about it all that much, but I'm really excited to be here on this platform to bring that to light because I think that people should know what's going on behind the scenes with the people who are pretending to be helping them that are actually using the working class to uh further their own private interests, which for me I think is Yeah.

Bill Bartholomew 2:19

Well well let's go back here. I just want to make sure because we s we're setting the table with with something that I think is probably far from a lot of people's memory at this point. Maybe um they don't even know it w you know exactly what we're talking about. You're you're so you're involved or you were involved in the cultivation side of cannabis here in around from a business standpoint. Is that fair? That's basically what you're saying. And then in 2016, that's when the General Assembly overhauled the the whole program and budget legislation and the it was very it was transformational to the system. You know, that's that's that's from an observational standpoint in terms of marking time here when you say a decade ago. So how does that tie in? What flet g give us a little bit more detail on like kind of that background, if you could.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Yeah, certainly. So I mean, for us, like I said, my my uncle put his life savings into that business. We were a small business. It was a really tough time in Rhode Island for small businesses that were getting involved in that program due to corruption. Uh and and folks, and I personally know people who lost their houses. I was personally almost unhouse. I went nearly bankrupt. Uh and so that was a byproduct of bad operating government.

Bill Bartholomew 3:24

And I I feel like what's the corruption that took place? I think that's where people are gonna are gonna I certainly I'm I'm trying to understand what corruption took place. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah. The the three dispensary licenses that were released went to people who were affiliated with high-level politicians who ended up making significant amounts of money, enough that the FBI actually had to be present for the new dispensary licenses that came out to make sure that the lottery system giving it out to the next round of dispensaries, which we ultimately helped fight for, went to true unconnected, unaffiliated people who were just trying to open small businesses.

Bill Bartholomew 4:01

Yeah, people may remember there was a lottery that had I don't know, if the guy had a mask on or something like that. It was a it was blindfolded or s and masked during the actual lottery. So it was um, you know, there was a uh that that's a famous photo, I think, for a lot of news followers around to kind of mark time. So th you're you're describing in 2021, I think, is when that's when the expansion of licenses occurred, and that's when there was this process. And then the FBI was present. That was sort of a guarantee of transparency. Um as far as I know, the FBI didn't demand to be there. That was something that was you know part of the truth. So the F so that's a the FBI w was invited by uh the uh at that point, I think DBR or was it was a cannabis control, either way. The state invited the FBI to ensure transparency. So it's not as if there was Are you alleging there was specific corruption that the FBI was investigating here?

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Aaron Powell it was discussed. I mean, part of it is a little bit of Rhode Island lore. Uh the person did it voluntarily. Uh they were actually retired FBI at the time, but they were just considered to be a person of virtue in contrast to some of the ongoings that had happened historically. And you're right, there's a five-year gap between the initial launch of the program and the additional dispensaries coming out. And I'll tell you, those five years were tremendously difficult for the folks who had opened up their businesses that couldn't make any sales. So it that disparity in time is actually it's a really good thing to point out. That's the a five-year gap where people were struggling. And uh it there was investigation into corruption outside of that event that was publicized. So it is factually known that those initial dispensary licenses went out to, you know, friends of people in politics. It was classic Rhode Island insider insider politics that made a lot of people very upset and pushed people out of their homes.

Bill Bartholomew 5:44

Aaron Ross Powell What do you mean by that? Classic insider Rhode Island politics? How does that differentiate from other places?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I wouldn't say it necessarily differentiates. I I think you get corruption in anything that's a little bloated. Uh you know, I'm from Rhode Island, my family is from here, so we've just maybe seen it here a little more firsthand. Uh and I finally feel like I have an opportunity to make a change to that because for me, the reason why I'm running it, it ties back to experiencing that so many years ago. But it's happening again now. And uh for me, it's happening to local homeowners, to the working class, to people who need the help the most, just like it did back then, you know. And uh I I feel I feel like it's time to take a stand and be honest about it and talk about it.

Bill Bartholomew 6:25

Aaron Ross Powell So you're talking about one of the uh the central issues of Providence politics right now is rent stabilization. And look, the rent stabilization ordinance that the city council passed earlier this year, Mayor Smiley on record, as far back as I can remember interviewing him as a candidate debates back in 2022. I I I can never recall a time where he wasn't specifically opposed to rent control, rent stabilization. So barring flipping certain counselors, this was kind of a dead-on arrival type of thing. Um at best uh there wasn't a lot of negotiation, if any negotiation happening behind the scenes from what we understand. And in many ways, this was uh sort of the the divide in Providence politics on display. That may be the most productive thing to come out of it. Where do you stand, if anywhere, in sort of that scope of, you know, there's not an official alignment, but people can now understand that there's a major rift here. Are you in favor of rent stabilization or are you opposed to it?

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, I think that we need to have open and honest conversations about it. And I feel like we're gonna get into a little bit about why the last one was a bit of a controlled sham, which is really unfortunate because working class people here are struggling, right? We have renters and homeowners alike who are both working class people who are at risk of losing their homes. There's tons of them. I've been talking to them on a daily basis, and they need help immediately. So for me, I think it's more than the policy they tried to pass. I think it's it's beyond that. It needs better definition. And if I saw a version of it that truly segregated private equity firms from small homeowners, from small businesses, from renters that treated everyone fairly, I'm game, right? I I really want to discuss actual policy that helps people be protected from getting unhoused versus using it as a sham to manipulate voters to garner their interest for something that they never even intended to pass in the first place. And I think that's an important thing to recognize.

Bill Bartholomew 8:18

I want to get into the latter point what you just said right there, but just on the first part of it. I mean, I think that is interesting, and it's something that hasn't been necessarily talked about in public as much, which is the scope of carve-outs and the negotiation. Look, I my take on this is that, um, and it's pretty well documented here on the show and in general, that uh there wasn't going to be a scenario where this rent stabilization ordinance as passed by the council was ever going to be signed by the mayor or overridden by that council. That was very unlikely. The question was what sort of negotiations from either side, be it the mayor's side, be it opposition counselors and and those who were in fr favor of the ordinance, what kind of actual negotiation was gonna go into constructing something that could be passed? That's where the questions are are sort of left unanswered. So you're saying you'd be in favor of sitting in the room and saying, hey, we've got to bang this out. We need a level of rent stabilization here now, but there's also carve outs we've got to put into place. So you're you're kind of undecided, or maybe not undecided, but um willing to make a decision after seeing the legislation. That's your formal position here.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Yeah, I think so. My barber is from the Hartford Projects. That person in their family bought a home that is now my local barber shop. They live in it and they have renters. They are by no means a private equity firm, but they would be treated as one according to the one they tried to pass. That's the exact type of people we're trying to protect. They just had to take a second loan out against their home. They're living the American dream. Those are the folks we need to fight for and protect just as much as renters who desperately need regulation and support as well, right? But my gripe with this is that we have people who are writing this drastic policy, which is important, we need it for drastic measures, but they don't understand the dynamics of who they're writing it for. And so we have someone who's not a PE firm at risk that needs protection. And so unless folks are willing to talk about the details on who they're writing for and speak with these people, you know, I just don't think that that's okay. I don't think it's okay for that person to be experiencing that. And it it rubs me the wrong way that a representation is not writing policy that represents them in a time of need, and also that they're doing it in a falsified effort, allegedly, according to Senator Sam Bell, in order to garner votes on something they never intend to pass. Uh beyond that, you know, I'll take something, but that's certainly not it, and it's not even real, which is so disheartening.

Bill Bartholomew 12:56

Right. Well, you had sent me some audio that um is uh I'm I'm it sounds to me like it's Sam Bell with Senator Sam Bell with Steve Alqist, and is that what it is?

SPEAKER_00 13:07

It's Senator Sam Bell and me. I was told to be careful going over his house, I can verify that it's true. I was there, I have timestamps on it, and something tells me he does as well. I don't think they're expecting it to come out.

Bill Bartholomew 13:19

So is this it has is Senator Bell w was he recorded when when this was recorded, was it did did you did he know that this was being recorded or was this did you record it on his without him knowing it?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Aaron Powell Rhode Island is a single party consent state. I was told to be wary speaking with him because he typically speaks out of the side of his mouth uh by a number of people in Rhode Island politics and my network. I'd preferred not to exclaim, but I was told to be careful with him. And so with him in particular, I did, and I thought about it. It makes me uncomfortable that I had to do that, and I've been weighing it in my mind because it it doesn't feel like the best thing to do. I agree with that. I know I'm gonna get blowback for that, but you know, I I had uh uh uh come to you know a come to reality moment where even if this blows me up, I'd rather people know what's going on because I think people deserve to know the truth. And I I am willing to compromise a little bit of my own race in order for people to understand what these people are doing. Rachel Miller fraudulently used that as a platform to make working class people be upset against working class people to divide the population, to vote for their agenda. She stuck up her new replacement that she's endorsed the day she stepped down, and she has no intention, she never had any intention of passing it, according to Sam Bell, who's a senator, who's right in the heart of their group. Sam Bell is running my opposition through the streets right now. They all knew, and they were not honest about it to the population of people who desperately need help right now. We need some version of rent control that's correctly written. We need rent relief, we need protection for homeowners, and these people don't care. They're using it as a platform to turn us against each other for votes coming up to an election. And that's why corruption in politics is so bothering to me because we need real local working class people who are experiencing this who actually want to pass it because they're one of the folks about to get pushed out. It matters.

Bill Bartholomew 15:06

All right. Well, I can sum I I I didn't I thought it was an actual interview that you, it's like a clip from an interview, so that's why you know I I I can summarize an element of it, which I heard. And look, I mean, President Rachel Miller was here on on this show, I don't know what the date was, sometime in the spring, and I asked her, hey, how much of what we're seeing right now with the rent control? By the way, this was before the override vote. This was like I think right after the veto. Um I'd have to double check that. But she she said right there, look, this is a bi-directional effort. One thing is, yeah, we want rent control right now, we want to move that legislation forward. It's also a political offering to do exactly what I just described there, which is to say, hey, there are kind of two camps on a major issue in the city and it is a political instrument. So I mean that's that's not that's not new information. That's like it's kind of well known. Everybody on record has kind of already said that. So I'm not sure what a secret recording of Sam Bell describing what is you know, it's kind of already that's like yesterday's news.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Aaron Ross Powell But they could have overturned it, right? That's the whole thing. Everyone was very upset that the fact it was a nine-six vote, and that recording proves she had the tenth vote. They had the ability to factually pass it. She intentionally asked for someone to not vote for it and step down. So Rachel Miller intentionally sabotaged the rent control vote. You're right, it was a political maneuver. They did do it to garner interest. And when push came to shove and they had the ability to ratify it behind the scenes where people are sitting on the edges of their seat hoping for help, she withheld it, right? And that's for me, tells me that she never intended on passing it. It was a sham. It was used you're right, for political a political agenda, which is not the benefit of the people, that's the benefit of a movement. And for me, I don't really want that to be happening in local politics. I want radical honesty and for, you know, folks to know what's truly going on, especially those who need help, which is what's going on.

Bill Bartholomew 16:58

Well, I don't I don't know. I mean, look, again, I heard in in the audio have I have no idea what the conversations were between uh President Miller and other members of the council that voted no. I you know, I don't I don't I don't know the behind the scenes there enough. I mean, I I can't so I can't factually say that in any way, shape, or form. But you know, what is clear for sure is that the the rent stabilization effort was two things at once. It was sort of like two two two truths at the same time. It's real in that these people there there's an effort to pass rent stabilization at real time. Like that's a that's a real thing. But there's also a secondary angle, or equal angle, maybe, which is to say, hey, um this is something we want to showcase that the will of the people at a certain level is in favor of this, that there's a that the city council as elected uh has is supporting this, and that we are we're this is this is where we're at. So I think that that's the political offering um that that occurs. As far as anything behind the scenes, I don't know. But but it does kind of come back to a broader point, which is you're saying that look, you want to run because you want to represent the people on the ground, and that you're not looking at it from, well, this could be good for a like you describing a movement, let's be real, it's about you know David Rouse and and Mayor Smiley, that race. So you're saying you don't have any interest in any of that. All you want to do is represent the people on the ground in War 13, period.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

That's it. I I feel like people here are struggling, just like that experience I had back ten years ago trying to open a small business where folks were losing their homes. And it bothers me that people are having discussions for platform politics on things that don't actually change the everyday life of people who need help. And there's two parts of that. Half of it is taking calls. I think that's the most important thing that can change right away. There is a reputation here that for eight years we've had folks who need the help bridging the gap between them and city services, them and other mundane needs that has not been met. And I feel like the best way to bridge the gap with the people and their needs is by servicing those things. It's a very well-known fact that that has not been happening in my community. There's a disparity in areas that it has been and has not, and generally it has been done well. And uh, I feel like that's where you learn what people need by being available, by being in the community, by frequenting the restaurants, by having your barber here, by having open forums, by taking phone calls, right? And that doesn't happen. And so for me, if that's done well, that's a win. And then, yeah, off the back of that, if I have the privilege to write policy because I've learned and I'm here and I'm present and I know what these folks need because I'm fixing it on a daily basis, you bet I'd like to write policy to be able to help on things like this. And you'll never see me use it as a platform for something where if I can create radical change to actually help people, where I'll run it as a marketing campaign to turn working class people against working class people on behalf of an upcoming election. I I feel that that is deceitful. I feel like it's representative of what most people think is happening in politics. And I think that that changes. Like I know that you're saying here that Rachel Miller did say that part of it was a platform piece, right? But two things. I will share this recording out after you will hear that Sam Bell in that insider circle knew that she did have the tenth vote to pass it. She chose to withheld it, which goes against the base of people she's rallying up. That is a conflict of interest between what she's saying and what she's doing. And I think that it's time that that stops. I'm I'm personally not okay with that. I think people would appreciate change. And now she's looking to hand this roll off to someone from her friend group. And, you know, I I just think it should be a local, working class person who takes these things seriously and doesn't use it for campaign politics. What's the what's the biggest issue facing the city right now in your mind? Aaron Powell The City? I think it's cost of living, which is why it makes this so upsetting, right? Like my ward is primarily working class. I think most of us are working class. People are so confused about the definition of working class. It's, you know, the 1% is the 1% because it's the 1%. The vast majority of us are not the 1%. We don't come from generational wealth. We didn't have parents that went to Ivy League and schools like Harvard and Brown. And while I don't have any issues with people having that experience, I think it's great for educational purposes. The rest of us are just regular people that sell their time for labor because if we don't, at some point and we lose our job, you know, we we get unhoused, we lose our homes, we lose our our relationship with uh someone who's renting us a property and and we're out in the streets. It's uh I've been through that. I know exactly what that's like. And I uh I think a lot of people are experiencing that right now in Providence at a record level. We have 35,000 people who moved here in two decades. We had decades of attrition prior, didn't build infrastructure, we don't have enough housing, and we're in this delicate ecosystem now where we need to build, build, build as fast as possible, incentivize developers, not scare them away, which means including them in the these policies that we're writing too, which we didn't do a good job of either, else we're gonna compound the issue and make it worse. And we need to build protections in for people who are here now, waiting for that to come around. Renters and homeowners alike. We just had record high tax rates that got passed, which again, you'll listen to that recording. Rachel Miller pushed to go above the 4% cap. It required a special requirement for that to happen. They had to sign off on it. Rachel, according to Sam Bell, was the person who instigated that. And they used it for things that frankly I wouldn't agree with. We hired a social media manager for city council. How is that representative? How is that how is that representing people? I just I just don't see that.

Bill Bartholomew 22:21

So basically, you know, in in in looking at it from the lens of somebody on the ground and describing the working class, you just feel right now that obviously this is going to be an open seat. So it's you're you're running against an opponent, but you're also running based on sentiment. And you just generally speaking, you don't believe that the city council on the whole has the interest of the working class on a broader scale, broader definition as you describe it, at heart. And you're you're suggesting that maybe it's more of a narrower constituency that there's uh that there's an outsized influence of a narrower constituency inside the city council. Is that kind of the the basis of your assessment of what's happening?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Yeah, I think city council has lost touch. I I think anyone here who hear, I know that you seem to believe that there's some understanding. I think if the general populace knew that they had the ability to ratify the rent control policy, they had that tenth vote and they intentionally withheld it after baiting everybody for it. I think most people would be really upset. And according to our senator, Sam Bell, that's exactly what happened. And again, that conflicts with the interests of working class people, runners and homeowners alike, right? And so let's be clear, you said in the beginning that I'm up against an opponent. I'm not up against uh an opponent, I'm up against the political machine. I'm the only candidate who's not received endorsements from the entire political establishment. I'm not receiving the endorsement from the working families party when I'm the only working class person who didn't go to Brown University in Harvard, whose parents make a mass income over half million per year. Like my dad was a cook, my mom was a school teacher. So you have these endorsements coming from these massive political entities that are jumping tons of out-of-state money. Over 50% of my opponents' you know, funds have come from out of state and from these types of organizations. I saw one I really liked. It was the Rhode Island like housing or like so some sort of Rhode Island like housing protection fund. It's owned by the same company name, but it starts with California and it's from California, and they're another donor. Like, you know, um, and so again, I yeah, I'm running on bringing the voice back to the local community where my family is, where my My family has been, right? Um, and I I'm just sick of these insider politics, all these endorsements, all of these funds coming from all of states, all these things that they're saying, you know, we've just seen that they're not gonna pick up the phone, they're not gonna help us out, and they're not gonna write policy on behalf of the people who live here that need help because they're walking into the room on a an ideology that stems from outside of our area. They they already know what they want because they're part of a mass movement that has nothing to do with people. I I don't care what movement you're a part of personally. I this is smaller than all of that. This is local politics, this is my neighbors, right? And so for me, I like, yeah, I feel like we've lost touch with that. And and that's where policy should be coming from. It should be coming from helping your neighbor. And I I just don't feel that in my neighborhood anymore. I think it's been lost. And this is an open seat, it's an opportunity to change that. It's this rare moment. We have an incumbent of eight years stepping down, attempting to pass this on to the next person. I'm begging my neighbors, step up, recognize the connection. They're friends, they've been friends. John Lombardi is helping these people out, Sam Bell is helping these people out. The whole political machine here is trying to push this candidate in to continue that legacy. And I think it's a rare opportunity to break that system. And I, you know, I love Ward 13 because everyone's all about fighting the power. And I feel like a lot of people are confused about what the actual power is in the ward, right? You have a real working class candidate whose mom was a public school teacher and dad was a cook, right? Who's who grew up working, I had to work through, you know, night shifts while taking the bus to Providence to take public university. I ate my first job out of college. I had two jobs. I worked night shifts at a restaurant and a day shift at an office. It was four guys and a two-bedroom apartment. And you know, we got by. Like, I know what that is. I've tried to open a small business and almost lost my house. My uncle went through it and actually was unhoused. I I'm one of those people, right? And I I feel like that's what people want to see representing them in local politics because like that's what's happening right now, right? And instead you have folks pretending like you're gonna fix that, using it for bait, getting everyone riled up, turned against each other right before an election, and then withholding the final vote when they have the you know authority to actually give people help. What is that?

Bill Bartholomew 26:30

No, and again, I can't substantiate that here in any way then, but uh I understand, I mean, if you release that audio and put a press release out, then maybe the we you know we'll we'll we'll get a response from from anybody on that, but you know, but but but but the bottom line is look, what's what's been the response from the people on the ground that you describe right there? Are you in in terms of forget about any sort of campaign apparatus, but just going around door knocking, et cetera. What's what's it feel like out there right now?

SPEAKER_00 26:57

It resonates. It's uh it's for me, it's a size of voice issue. I think there's a small group of people who hear me kind of touch on Brown a little bit or or touch on some of the other stuff and they get upset. And I want to be clear, like I don't everybody comes from different places and different backgrounds. And I love everyone. I love that Rhode Island is changing and progressing. That's a good thing. But people resonate with knowing the history of our local neighborhoods and knowing the history of Rhode Island politics and having working class representation, you know, in these seats that's not being backed by the machine. But I when I get that message out and people see it, like I win every conversation over pretty easily if they'll take the time to speak with me, you know? And the issue for me isn't the message, the issue is size of voice, which is why I'm so thankful for you to take me on to this podcast. We have the Brown University Student Union is knocking through my ward right now. Like the irony of that, right? It's you see these posters of 25 volunteers, where they're the nonprofits getting donations from Brown, knocking in our neighborhood, they're coming in, and you know, uh it's me and one other person. I've done all my design myself. I've done most of my I've paid for my campaign, mostly out of pocket. Uh, you know, yeah, I the reception is good. It's not about reception. The reception wins. The r the issue is size of voice, trying to get this out to the community so people know.

Bill Bartholomew 28:12

Are you endorsing anyone for mayor?

SPEAKER_00 28:15

That's yeah, I I don't know. I people say Brett Smiley has lost touch with our neighborhoods. I agree with that. I've talked to our neighbors, and you know, I I would find it fascinating. Nick's on Broadway is where he got engaged, and I've seen them commenting online that they're upset with him. You know, that's a strong indicator that he has lost touch with this community, that a place that he should have such a strong tie to, is publicly saying stuff about him on his next race. I think he should be reflecting on that. That matters. You know, people the whole point of this is to serve people, and if the people are saying that, you've done something wrong. Um on the same side of the token, I you know, I don't love that the people in David's center circle, which is Sam Bell and Rachel Miller and and David, those are the three that Ben, the campaign manager, is working with uh on their behalf to run through our our city is gonna get tied to this thing that I find again wasn't actually uh representing the local working class. So for David, you know, I I believe that his intentions are true. I think he really cares. I think he wants to see positive change for the neighborhood, and I think he's surrounded himself with people who are more senior than him that can advise him on how to do that. And my my concern is not with David, my concern is with this circle of people who are in his ear telling him what to do. And I I pray that if he has the ability to serve our neighborhoods, that you know, he he maybe rotates some of those voices out because, you know, they're I think they're a bad influence. And yeah, I also think personally that uh I I have a responsibility to represent my neighborhood. Like for me, it's funny I get asked so often about these bigger picture things. And the mayoral race, of course they matter. All of these things matter. For me, I you know, I don't care where you're from, I don't care, you know, what your family's background is, I don't care, you know, about who you want for mayor. I I care about my local community and making sure that I understand their interests by taking calls, and then I fight like hell for it. And I do not deceive the people that I'm working on behalf of locally on in my streets, on my communities. That's what I care about most.

Bill Bartholomew 30:10

Connor, thanks so much for your time today.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Great. Thank you very much, Bill. I appreciate your time as well.