Republican congressional candidate Brendan Doherty said in a Tuesday news release that when David Cicilline was a state representative, he opposed mandatory sentencing legislation aimed at perpetrators of domestic violence.
"Despite his chorus of partisan rhetoric on the issue of protecting women, David Cicilline once again failed to stand with the women who are victims of domestic violence," Doherty said in his release. He referred to Cicilline's recent attack on Doherty's own positions on legislation meant to prevent violence against women.
Doherty cited what he described as Cicilline votes in 1995 and 1996 against legislation to mandate tough sentences for domestic violence convicts.
Cicilline campaign manager Eric Hyers said in an -emailed statement that Cicilline opposed mandatory sentencing laws as a state legislator because he believed courts, rather than elected officials, should make sentencing decisionss. Hyers said the Doherty release was an an act of "desperation."
(The original version of this story was published at 3:45 p.m.)