Troubled RI lawmaker fails to qualify for ballot
PORTSMOUTH, R.I.—A troubled Portsmouth lawmaker has failed to qualify for the November ballot.
State Rep. Dan Gordon needed 50 signatures to qualify, but fell 22 signatures short. The one-term Republican tells WPRO-AM he used an old map and inadvertently got signatures from outside his district.
Gordon told The Newport Daily News on Saturday that he planned to run as a write-in. But he told WPRO-AM on Monday that write-in campaigns are difficult and expensive, and at this point he's not willing to do it.
Gordon's arrest last year for driving on a suspended license revealed a sentence in 1999 for assault and an attempted murder charge dismissed in 2004.
He said his troubles were tied to alcoholism following the 1991 Gulf War. Military records for Gordon list no Middle East service.
