POLITICS

Taub had 'visions of grandeur,' says R.I. GOP chair

Patrick Anderson
panderson@providencejournal.com
Taub

PROVIDENCE — H. Russell Taub was already introducing himself as "ambassador" when he appeared in Rhode Island Republican political circles in 2014 as a fresh-faced newcomer, raising red flags for some party leaders long before federal prosecutors charged him with fraud.

"I had concerns about him from the very beginning," said Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Brandon Bell Thursday about Taub. "I warned people and I know others who were warning people about him. He had visions of grandeur."

When Taub ran for Congress against U.S. Rep. David Cicilline in 2016, Bell said he recommended Taub not receive the party endorsement, although party members did ultimately endorse him.

Others Rhode Island Republicans never suspected anything was amiss with the man federal investigators accuse of using GOP donors as a cash machine to pay for, among other things, clothes, cigars, strip club trips and escorts.

"He had me fooled," said Pat Cortellessa, who hoped for months Taub would make good on promises of financial support for his bid for secretary of state. "He was still at it right up until the week before the election, saying he would donate and had all this money. We were really taken advantage of."

According to court documents, Taub raised more than $1.6 million through an unregistered political action committee and pocketed more than $1 million of it for personal use.

He is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Providence Friday and has signed a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Taub has billed himself as a fundraising specialist and his legal trouble is another blow for local Republicans, who have struggled to compete financially with Democrats in recent elections.

It's also provided new ammunition for Democrats to hit back at the GOP for campaign finance improprieties.

"Perhaps as concerning as the egregious nature of Mr. Taub’s criminal conduct is the fact that the current G.O.P. Chairman, Brandon Bell, and those vying to succeed him vanished into hibernation while Taub was defrauding his contributors during the election cycle," said Rhode Island Democratic Party Executive Director T. Kevin Olasanoye. "That is the only plausible explanation for why the self-appointed good governance watchdogs in the RI GOP matched their alleged 'concerns' over his behavior with no meaningful action."

Taub's title of "ambassador" was granted to him by the nonprofit International Human Rights Commission, a nonprofit not associated with any government or the United Nations, he said in a 2015 news release.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust filed a Federal Elections Commission complaint against Taub last July that described his Keeping America in Republican Control Political Action Committee as a "Scam PAC."

Since then he continued to raise money, bring national Republican figures to Rhode Island and find audiences in Washington.

He was co-chair of the Anwar Sadat Congressional Gold Medal Commission, which promoted legislation to award a congressional gold medal to the late Egyptian leader and in November attended a reception with senators and members of the Trump administration.

Taub contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to federal candidates and far more modest amounts to state candidates last fall including, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung ($1,000), former Rep. Robert Lancia ($500), former Rep. Antonio Giarrusso ($500), state representative candidate Julie Caiozzo ($1,000) and Warwick Mayor Joseph Solomon ($125). He gave $1,000 to the Rhode Island Second Amendment PAC in March.