Developer, ex-lawmaker to lead Trump reelection campaign in Rhode Island
The Trump reelection campaign has picked former Republican Rep. Doreen Costa and developer Gerald Zarrella as "honorary state chairs" of the Trump reelection campaign in Rhode Island.
The press release announcing the two long-anticipated picks also said: "Our Rhode Island Trump Victory leadership team will work to elect Republicans across the state." It remains unclear exactly what that will mean in blue-state Rhode Island, where Democrats hold every seat in the state's Congressional delegation, every statewide office and the overwhelming majority of legislative seats.
But when asked what she expects to do in her new unpaid role, Costa on Monday night told The Journal: "Spreading the message about Donald Trump.
"We've got to keep his name out there ... go door to door, get the rally situated for when he does come down here and ... call out the fake news all the time. If we see a story that we know is not right, you know we'll double-check it and triple-check it and then call the people out because I think he's getting a bum rap all around."
"Like for instance, he wanted to have the [G7] summit at one of his resorts. He wasn't going to charge anybody. He was going to save the taxpayers millions and billions of dollars ... They didn't report he was going to do it for free,'' she said.
(A Trump organization spokesman was not as definitive in a statement to The New York Times: "This is a perfect example of no good deed goes unpunished. It will likely end up costing the U.S. government 10 times the amount elsewhere, as we would have either done it at cost or contributed it to the United States for free if legally allowed.”)
"They don't report anything good that this man does,'' Costa said. "He could save every kitten and puppy in the entire universe and they would still trash him for some apparent reason."
According to the joint press release from the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, Trump "has added 13,300 jobs to Rhode Island since he took office,'' and is singularly responsible for reducing the state's unemployment rate.
For what it's worth: Hillary Clinton carried Rhode Island with 54% of the vote in 2016. Trump's tally: just under 39 percent.
Costa is the Republican firebrand who, as state Republican Party's finance director in 2013, helped organize the Rhode Island GOP’s attempt to raise money by raffling off guns, including Smith & Wesson’s version of the AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle linked to the Newtown, Conn., elementary school massacre. While the move stoked controversy, even within state Republican ranks, the fundraising event itself was hailed as a success.
Her first legislative victory: getting the House to pass a resolution she sponsored requiring the state to refer to the evergreens that are erected in the State House during the holiday season as Christmas trees.
Some of her other bills were tougher sells: abolish the minimum corporate tax, eliminate defined pension benefit plans for non-vested state and municipal workers, prevent women who are on welfare and have two children from getting additional benefits if they have a third child.
After opting against a run for reelection to her legislative seat, Costa won a seat on the North Kingstown Town Council which she has since relinquished.
Zarrella — who billed himself as a "Trump Democrat'' in 2016 — was the Trump delegate who helped arrange Trump’s pre-election visit to Rhode Island. Asked about the spoils of victory, he told The Journal in 2016: “I was asked if I wanted something ... and I said, ‘What’s available?’ He said a top federal farm bureau post was mentioned.
“I said, I would be interested in something like that ... but then I did more research. It’s a full-time job. I’m a builder. I am not looking for a full-time job." (Zarrella made headlines that same year when he invoked a 2014 amendment to the state’s Right-to-Farm law to host a wedding on his property, and his neighbor responded by dumping a pungent pile of chicken manure on the property line.)
