CRANSTON − Mayor Kenneth J. Hopkins , who has denied driving an unregistered sports car he is accused of taking from a city businessman, had pictures taken of himself and a top city aide in the car in 2022.
The pictures , posted to Facebook in 2022, have since been deleted but were obtained by The Hummel Report on Wednesday.
A campaign spokesman for Hopkins confirmed their authenticity.
They show the mayor, wearing a ball cap and sunglasses, in the driver’s seat of the fully restored – but unregistered – 1975 MG; his deputy chief of staff Paul McAuley is in the passenger’s seat and the convertible's top is down.
Attached to the front of the vehicle is a blue license plate that says Cranston in white lettering on top, Rhode Island on the bottom, MAYOR in the middle and a seal of some sort.
Hopkins accused of taking the car, he says he tried to pay
Hopkins is being accused of taking an antique sports car three years ago from a local businessman and political supporter without paying for it, initially putting the city-issued "30000" license plates on it to drive it without a title or registration, then eventually taking it to an auto body shop to have it restored. The restoration included painting the originally white car green.
In a 22-page civil lawsuit filed last week in Providence Superior Court against Hopkins, the city and several members of his administration, Davide C. Broccoli of Providence says there has been a concerted pressure campaign from Hopkins and the city solicitor to turn over the car’s title.
Broccoli maintains that the car situation is part of a larger campaign of harassment by Hopkins and city officials because he won’t give him the title or registration.
Hopkins responds to the photo
Hopkins declined to speak with The Hummel Report about the pictures, instead having Robert Murray, from his campaign, answer our questions.
Murray said that the picture was taken the day the mayor picked up a refurbished MG from State Auto Body in 2022.
Murray said the front license plate is a decorative plate that someone made for the mayor. He added that Hopkins had another license plate − not the "30000" plate used on his city-issued vehicle – registered to another vehicle on the back of the car just to drive the MG to his house.
As to why McAuley was in an unregistered car with the mayor, Murray said: “Paul is the deputy chief of staff, a close personal friend. He was with the mayor on the day (the MG) was picked up.”
In an interview with The Hummel Report Friday, Hopkins said he drove the car home after Broccoli gave him the keys during a visit to his lot in 2021. Broccoli said there was no discussion of him selling the car to the mayor.
Hopkins was asked on Friday if he’d driven the car since then.
The mayor’s response: “Not in the last couple of years. I’ve started the engine up, I’ve moved it around the neighborhood, just so the tires don’t get square on me.”
In the interview Friday, Hopkins also said: “Mr. Broccoli has a different way of thinking than I do, that's all I can really tell you at this point.”
The mayor maintains that Broccoli agreed to sell him the vehicle, but won’t take money for it, or turn over the title and registration. And there is no bill of sale.
Hopkins said he and Broccoli agreed on a price, but the mayor said Friday he couldn’t remember what it was, terming the car a “piece of junk” before he restored it.
"I don't have an exact (price)," Hopkins said. "I don’t know, but all I know is (Broccoli) gave it to me, he gave me the keys."
“My legal position is that by giving me the keys he sold me the car," Hopkins continued.
Broccoli, in an interview with The Hummel Report, said the mayor’s city solicitor, Christopher Millea, tried to give him $1,200 for the car and took issue with Hopkins’ description of the car as a piece of junk. Millea is named as one of the defendants in Broccoli’s lawsuit against Hopkins and the city.
Attorney General explains why they didn't get involved
Meanwhile, Attorney General Peter Neronha said Broccoli’s attorney, Stephen A. Izzi, called the office looking for him in late July. Neronha, who said he does not know Izzi, was out of the country at the time.
The call was routed to Adi Goldstein, the department’s deputy attorney general and Neronha’s second in command. Goldstein told Izzi that he needed to file a complaint with the Rhode Island State Police.
“I don’t know if he did it, or didn’t,” Neronha told The Hummel Report Wednesday, adding that normally a lawyer would call the head of the criminal division with an issue like Broccoli’s.
“There’s always a danger in jumping over steps,” he said. “Telling him to call the state police is not unusual."
“We’re not investigators," Neronha explained. "We guide (the state police), we work with them. Sometimes they need help in a complex case, then we’re collaborating in real time. They don’t need our help in the first instance, to take a complaint.”
Neronha continued: “In this case, if he went there, I’m sure they would have called us right away and we would have sat around a table and said, 'Okay, what is this and are we going to investigative it?'”
The Hummel Report is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies, in part, on donations. For more information, go to HummelReport.org. Reach Jim at Jim@HummelReport.org
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Cranston mayor denied driving antique car he's accused of taking. Does a photo show otherwise?
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