Rhode Island official resigns after using man dressed as elderly woman at news conference
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The city official wanted an elderly woman in a photo op about a snow shoveling program, but instead of actually finding one, she had a man dress up as one.
The man stood next to the mayor of Cranston at a news conference touting the program and wore a name tag that said ‘‘Cranston Senior Home Resident.’’
WJAR-TV uncovered the ruse in reports this week.
It is unclear why officials decided to use a stand-in for a woman during the Jan. 5 news conference, which was held at the senior center where the man worked as a van driver.
Snow seen in front of the senior center during the event was also apparently a pretense, according to the Providence Journal. The paper reports the “snow” was actually a pile of ice shavings from a nearby ice rink.
Sue Stenhouse, the city’s director of senior services, organized the news conference. She resigned last week, according to Rob Coupe, the city’s director of administration. Stenhouse, a 2006 Republican nominee for secretary of state, did not return messages requesting comment.
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