The ties the bind, the feuds that separate in Cranston’s House District 15

Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on state legislative races, chosen based on competitiveness between candidates and relevant district issues. Of the 113 seats in the Rhode Island General Assembly, all of which are elected every two years, 24 seats feature at least two candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot. 

Family ties underpin the three-way race for Cranston’s House District 15.

Republican Rep. Chris Paplauskas is seeking a second term after winning an open seat race in 2024 by just 26 votes. 

His challengers include Republican-turned-independent Allan Fung, whose wife, Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, held the seat from 2020 to 2024 until her unsuccessful challenge to Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins in the 2024 Republican primary. 

Paplauskas now works as deputy chief of staff for Hopkins, who first became mayor in 2022 with Allan Fung’s endorsement. Fung, an attorney, was term-limited, after serving four terms as the city’s Republican mayor.

Then there’s Democrat Colleen Crudele, an attorney whose cousin, Frank Montanaro Jr., held the same House seat for 18 years, and later served as head of the powerful Joint Committee on Legislative Services under former House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello. Mattiello was ousted in 2020 after he lost his reelection bid to Fenton-Fung.

Each got their start on the Cranston City Council: Crudele with a single term in 1996, Fung from 2003 to 2007, and Paplauskas from 2014 to 2024. 

All three emphasize affordability concerns and say they want to reduce unnecessary government spending. None of them supported the millionaire’s tax included in the state’s fiscal 2027 budget, though Crudele gave the caveat that she would need more information about how the revenue from the tax would be used.

Their differences are, for the most part, personal, rather than ideological.

Paplauskas, who has a side gig delivering pizzas to help support his family and keep in contact with constituents, distinguished himself as the only candidate with children; his son just started at the University of Rhode Island while his daughter is a junior at Cranston West High School.

“I understand what it’s like to need a little extra to make ends meet, especially with the cost of college and supporting a family,” Paplauskas, 43, said. 

Not an important distinction to Crudele and Fung. Both said they understand the child-rearing experiences and costs from nieces, nephews and godchildren.

Crudele, 63, said she understands the financial strains for parents through her work as a divorce lawyer in her own family law practice in Cranston. She pointed to her legal background, which includes serving as legislative legal counsel at the State House from 2016 to 2023, as reason why she is the best candidate for the job.

“I’m not a career politician, but I have a lot of experience in the law, in Supreme Court law, case law, seeing how legislation is drafted,” she said.

Crudele ran for the same seat once before, in 2006, losing to Mattiello by 68 votes. 

Fung, 56, an attorney with Warwick-based Lepizzera and Laprocina, is a perennial candidate. In addition to his 16 years in Cranston as a city councilor and mayor, he has also run twice for governor in 2014 and 2018. In 2022, he ran for the open seat representing Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District.

But, this will be Fung’s first time on the ballot as an independent, having disaffiliated a few months before the June 30 declaration deadline.

Fung said he’s “transcended” party politics.

“Voters don’t really care whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent,” Fung said. “They’re looking for common sense.”

Fung said he was concerned with the direction the state was headed, criticizing Paplauskas for voting against the state budget and “dropping the ball” on Cranston’s Meshanticut State Park, overrun by invasive aquatic plants and in need of infrastructure repairs. 

Paplauskas sponsored a resolution in the 2026 session for $3.5 million to restore the park’s 0.8-mile paved walking path. The proposal failed to advance out of committee and was not in the final budget.

Fung said Paplauskas’ proposal did not succeed because he did not work across the aisle and win support from legislative leaders. The resolution had seven co-sponsors, five of them Democrats.

Accusations over city contracts, unpaid state taxes

On Monday night, Fung, who loaned his campaign $50,000, sent a text blast to district voters. The accompanying, 38-second video, shared with Rhode Island Current, suggests Paplauskas helped direct the “tens of thousands of dollars” in no-bid city contracts awarded to his family’s sign and graphics company when Paplauskas was council president. The video also notes the company, Bori Graphix, owes $1.2 million in unpaid state taxes.

Paplauskas did not dispute the taxes owed by his parents’ company. But he said their financial hardship was irrelevant to his candidacy. He has not worked for the business since 2025, and said he had no knowledge of the company finances.

“I’m the candidate, not them,” Paplauskas said, calling Fung’s attack “despicable.”

Paplauskas also noted that the city awarded contracts to his family’s business during the time Fung was mayor.

On his vote against the state budget, Paplauskas said there were things he wanted the state to “do a better job at,” naming taxes and overall spending as areas of concern.

Paplauskas is also unhappy with state education policy mandates that leave local school districts to pick up the tab. If reelected, he plans to reintroduce legislation requiring the state revenue department to publish a report calculating any unfunded or partially funded mandates for local education. The Republican-backed bill failed to advance out of committee in the 2026 legislative session. 

Paplauskas had his own critique of Fung.

“He was a Republican for so long, to turn his back on the party that supported him, I think is unfortunate,” Paplausakas said.

Crudele distinguished herself as the only candidate who is pro-choice.

Fung calls himself a “centrist” on abortion, though he said he opposes late-term abortions. Paplauskas identifies as pro-life.

But more than hot-button issues, Crudele was focused on the challenges of small business owners, seniors and working families.

“Not being an elected official, I think I have a lot of independent experiences to know what everyday people are facing,” she said.

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Courtesy of Rhode Island Current