The election and subsequent resignation of Laufton Ascencao should be an instructive example of democracy going off the rails. Mr. Asencao fabricated a narrative of a young Bristol native who grew up poor and through blue collar efforts became a man of the people.

This was a narrative that contained some truth, but even more fabrication. His claim of being a Bristolian rang hollow considering that all but one year of his adult life was spent outside of Bristol. It would be more consistent with the truth to say that he only moved back to Bristol in order to run for the District 68 state representative position.

His work history was equally questionable. If he did work as a quahogger, it must have been before his family moved to Maine in 2005 at the age of 12. He may have accompanied his uncle or his father when they went quahogging, but that hardly qualified him as a person who worked the river.

Since graduation from the expensive Lee Academy in 2011, Mr. Ascencao worked as a political activist and lobbyist for a number of organizations. This activity can hardly be described as a blue collar work history.

If he worked the river with his uncle and father since coming back to Rhode Island in 2016, they did not sell their catch to Tony’s Seafood in Seekonk, as he claimed. Tony’s in Seekonk has not bought quahogs from fishermen for almost a decade.

The narrative that Mr. Ascencao used during his campaign to win the votes of District 68 constituents was largely fabricated by an individual who in the past had done nothing for our community. Unfortunately, a majority of voters accepted his story as compelling and totally true. It should be no surprise to anyone that in the end Mr. Ascencao betrayed the trust of the voters in a major way. Voters beware.

Mike Byrnes
Bristol