PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Ed DiPrete, who won three terms as Rhode Island governor during economic boom times in the 1980s but eventually went to prison due to widespread corruption in his administration, has died. He was 91.
ORIGINAL NOTE: https://www.wpri.com/news/politics/former-rhode-island-gov-ed-diprete-dies-at-91/
by: Ted Nesi, Mike Montecalvo
DiPrete’s death was confirmed by Robert Murray, who worked for him in the mayor’s office and the governor’s office.
DiPrete rode strong job growth to three successive election victories as the Republican candidate for governor in 1984, 1986 and 1988, before he was finally defeated in 1990 by Democrat Bruce Sundlun – on Sundlun’s third try – after a weakening economy and a drumbeat of corruption allegations had tarnished his reputation with voters.
Edward Daniel DiPrete was born in Cranston in 1934. He graduated from LaSalle Academy and the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, then served in the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1959 before joining his father’s real-estate firm.
DiPrete’s political career began in 1970 when he won the first of two terms on the Cranston School Committee; he followed that by winning two terms on the City Council. His ascent continued in 1978 when he was elected mayor of Cranston, a job he held for three terms, developing a reputation as a popular pragmatist friendly to business.
DiPrete won the governor’s office in 1984, becoming the first Republican to hold the job since John Chafee lost it in 1968, on a platform that promised economic revival after a brutal recession. He pushed through tax cuts and trumpeted a drop in the unemployment rate to a record low of 2.9% in 1988, despite the ongoing decline of manufacturing locally.
DiPrete’s tenure coincided with a brief revival in the electoral fortunes of Rhode Island Republicans, and he had enough pull in the national GOP that then-President George H.W. Bush headlined a 1989 fundraiser for him. The president called DiPrete “simply one of the finest governors in all the 50 states,” as well as “a close friend and a trusted adviser.”
But allegations of misconduct haunted the DiPrete administration almost from the start.
DiPrete’s first transportation director resigned just months after the new governor took office, and a notorious “Cranston land deal” that benefited DiPrete’s son financially caused so much outrage that it almost cost him re-election in 1988. The various scandals scarred DiPrete’s administration and eventually implicated him personally.
After three successful campaigns, DiPrete suffered a massive defeat in 1990 at the hands of Democrat Bruce Sundlun; just 26% of voters supported the incumbent. Less than an hour after DiPrete left office Sundlun was forced to close dozens of the state’s banks and credit unions, symbolizing the problems stored up during his predecessor’s tenure.
Four years later, in 1994, DiPrete and his son Dennis were indicted on charges of racketeering, extortion, bribery, and perjury stemming from his governorship. DiPrete finally pleaded guilty in 1998 in exchange for leniency toward his son; he was given a one-year prison sentence, becoming the first Rhode Island governor to go to prison.
“To the people of the state and the state itself, I am deeply sorry,” DiPrete said at the time of his sentencing.
DiPrete mostly stayed out of the public eye after getting out of prison, though he occasionally made appearances in public and was involved in a lengthy court fight over whether he was entitled to pension benefits. His wife, Patricia, died in 2011 after 55 years of marriage. The couple had seven children.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.