Hundreds of Firefighters Unite to Protest Rep. Morgan, Low Ticket Sales Cancel Event

On a very cold night Thursday evening, an estimated 200-300 firefighters from across the state were dressed in hats, gloves and layered clothing, holding signs and standing in solidarity with their brethren from Central Coventry, waiting to protest State Representative Patricia Morgan (R - Dist. 26 - Coventry, Warwick, West-Warwick) at a political fundraiser that was scheduled that night at the Midville Country Club in West Warwick.

As the protesters rallied together and prepared to load into buses for the demonstration, Coventry Professional Fire Fighters President announced to the group of CCFF supporters “the demonstration is already a great success and we haven’t even officially started”. That is because the official word came down from Midville Country Club and Patricia Morgan herself, that the event was cancelled because there were not enough ticket sales. 

Gorman, very excited to have such an immense showing of support from the Rhode Island State Association of Fire Fighters told his supporters that he and his membership thank each and every one of them for taking the time away from their families, for coming out to show support and “this picket was as successful as it could be and we didn’t even have to stay out in the cold. If we prevented Morgan from raising even a dollar this evening, because it was known among the local political circuit that we would be here in force, than I deem this a victory for us tonight. This shows us here tonight that it’s not just the firefighters that are fed up with her, everyone is fed up and her support is dwindling”.

He continued to say to the cheering crowd that “firefighters are a tight-knitted family that stick together and support each other in crisis. That’s what we are trained to do at the academy, and that’s what we did here tonight.  We serve our community, with pride and dedication, and when someone like Morgan comes along, assaults everything that we stand for, everything that we do, we have every right to take that to heart and to take her to task”.

Gorman reiterated, “it should be no surprise to Morgan, her supporters, or any others for that matter that the firefighters were rallied together to picket this event and that the firefighters vow to do the same at any other event she intends to host so long as she continues to be dishonest and disingenuous to the public”.

“Morgan’s consistent misrepresentation of our wages and benefits as well as her continued encouragement to shut down the largest fire district in the state, without a real, substantive plan for the public’s health and safety is the reason that we are protesting. The public needs the truth, they do not need more lies from Morgan”, Gorman said.

Admittedly, Gorman said that CCFD had some financial turbulence a couple of years ago caused by a major clerical error that had absolutely nothing to do with the rank and file firefighters, but rather than being honest and assisting the district, the court, and most importantly the taxpayers that she represents with stabilizing the situation, telling the truth and working together to right the ship, Gorman said that Patricia Morgan made it a point to inflame the general public and to exploit the situation for her political gain.

Gorman says “Patricia Morgan’s actions have been designed at attacking our collective bargaining right and CCFD’s ability to provide a much higher degree of public safety not seen in the other fire districts and that Public Safety should have no place for political agendas”.

For these reasons, Gorman said the firefighters feel that it is necessary to demonstrate against her. “Patricia Morgan and her political buddies need to be held responsible for unnecessarily dragging this on and on. This mess has been blown way out of control because of her consistent deceptions”.

Gorman continued to lambast Morgan and avowed “Morgan’s actions are despicable for that of a public servant. We would have been out of the court and out of the special mastership by now if it weren’t for her underhanded tactics and dirty politics.” 

He went on to say “to put a political agenda over public safety is egregious, and that the people of Coventry, West Warwick and Warwick deserve much better and must take notice and understand exactly what Patricia Morgan is all about. She is not concerned about your safety or the safety of your community. She’s about putting more Rhode Islanders on the unemployment lines, and lining the pockets of her friends”.

Gorman says that Morgan and her [taxpayer taskforce group] as well as the members of the CCFD Board have publicly admitted to working with Tom Carroll, the former Republican Town Committee Chairman of Bristol who manages a Massachusetts based private ambulance company. 

“She’s about putting her constituents out of jobs, privatizing, contracting, and farming out those jobs to her friends that run an out-of-state for Profit Company," Gorman concluded.