Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
Friday, June 22, 2012
Who’s Hot
Allan Fung -> To no one’s surprise, the Cranston Mayor is running for re-election and it appears likely that he won’t have a serious challenger this time around. Mayor Fung has long been a rising star among state Republicans and may very well be the Party’s best chance at winning back the Governor’s office in 2014.
John Lombardi -> The former Mayor and Council President is running for the State Rep. seat in Federal Hill in what might be one the best Democratic primary races to watch in the coming months. Lombardi is running against incumbent Mike Tarro and progressive Libby Kimzey, who sent out a fiery e-mail to supporters this week labeling her opponents “political insiders, with a stake in the old way of doing things.” Lombardi said he plans to take the high road in the race, but acknowledged that he was offended by Kimzey speaking for a neighborhood she didn’t vote from just two years ago.
David Cicilline -> The Congressman is almost certainly going to pick up the endorsement at tonight’s State Democratic convention and he continues to pick up momentum within his base. One has to wonder why opponent Anthony Gemma is bothering to chase the endorsement of groups he knows are going to support the incumbent. Why chase the progressives when you need to win old people in Pawtucket to win that race?
Jon Brien -> The Woonsocket Rep., who was unfairly ripped this week in the New York Times, by the way, is calling for the legalization of sports betting in the Ocean State. He’s got a point. Twin River’s status as a “convenience casino” is not going to win the battle against Connecticut and Massachusetts. But the benefits of sports betting would be two-fold: It would be unique to Rhode Island and sports bettors would no longer have to search for guys named Bobo to bet on the Super Bowl.
Christine C. Ferguson -> Kudos to Governor Chafee for selecting Ms. Ferguson to run the health benefits exchange. There are plenty of questions about how the system will work, but just about everyone agrees picking Ferguson was a no-brainer.
Deb Gist -> Despite Diane Ravitch’s criticism, Commissioner Gist showed exactly why there should be room for charter schools in Rhode Island when she called for the closure of the failing Academy for Career Exploration this week. No matter where one stands on education reform, it is certainly clear that one of the upsides of charters is that, in theory, if they don’t meet expectations, they will be closed. Just imagine if she could do that with Mount Pleasant.
Gary Sasse -> It appears Governor Carcieri’s former Director of Administration is considering running for Bob Watson’s open Rep. seat in East Greenwich. Sasse is one the state’s smartest finance gurus and would be a fantastic choice for the General Assembly.
Who's Not
Lincoln Chafee -> It’s been a rough week for Governor Chafee, who now has to deal with the fallout of his son’s underage drinking incident. The good news is that it doesn’t appear he knew about the party (this isn’t a Dean Esserman situation). The bad news is that he doesn’t know how to just admit that a mistake was made and end it there. Instead he chose to praise his son and suggest he was just blowing off steam, which is not exactly what the parents of that hospitalized girl want to hear from their Governor.
Yvette Jaquez -> A member of Mayor Angel Taveras’ staff, Ms. Jaquez is accused of cheating the Providence Housing Authority out of $85,000. The administration did the right thing by suspending her immediately, but this is still an inconvenience the Mayor didn’t need.
ACLU -> Everyone understands the ACLU has a job to do, but calling for Governor Chafee to veto the religious monuments bill is one of those things that just does damage to the public perception of the organization. It wasn’t an important bill, but it was one of the few things nearly every Rhode Islander supports.
Michael Donahue -> The little known Republican challenger to Brendan Doherty is throwing his hat into the ring far too late in the game and if he takes Doherty’s attention away from David Cicilline and Anthony Gemma for even a moment, he’s probably doing a disservice to his Party.
Economic Development -> Rhode Island’s business community took another hit this week when Alexion chose to move to New Haven over the Ocean State. With the unemployment rate refusing to budge, it’s difficult not to be depressed about the future of the state.
Cranston Democrats -> Not only is Mayor Fung going to win re-election in a landslide, but it appears as though several longtime Council members may be stepping away from their positions as well. While the Democrats are strong in the majority of the other large cities in the state, Cranston is at least one spot where they are losing some clout.
Providence Crime -> Great move by the city to start the anonymous gun tip line, but more certainly needs to be done to address what could be a very long summer. The shooting in broad daylight Thursday shows things could get worse before they get better.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dmcgowan@golocalprov.com.
Follow him on Twitter - @danmcgowan
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- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
- Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?
Comments:
Aaron Regunberg
8:30am on Friday, June 22, 2012
I think a lot of the adults and students working hard at Mt. Pleasant to improve that school would be offended by the closing comment. That school, I think, needs an incredible amount more work and community involvement and innovation and democratization, but the answer isn't to shut it down; I fail to see how that will help the big picture at all.
tom brady
8:58am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Censorship. Wrote 2 comment both deleted. Teflon Chicks.
Comment 1, Yvette Jaquez = Field Coordinator for Gina Raimondo.
Comment 2, Dan takes the obvious bait and commends Commish Gist for attempting to close charter school. I asked how long Gist has been in power, and cited that her hand prints are all over failing schools such as Mount Pleasant which you threw a cheap shot at. add to the list CF, Roger Williams Middle in Prov., ... Does she get 10 years of this nonsense before she's a not Dan? Furthermore, Ravitch is someone with real experience unlike our toy commish, and your own paper today states that 25% of students in Providence move around and affect schools performance. Which is it Dan?
anthony sionni
10:11am on Friday, June 22, 2012
"David Cicilline -> The Congressman is almost certainly going to pick up the endorsement at tonight’s State Democratic convention and he continues to pick up momentum within his base"
Dan,you cant be serious. Cicilinne picking up momentum,the guy got in office with 37 percent of the vote,he is losing momentum. Why would anyone support this guy,corruption,lying,dishonest on and on!
David Allen
10:12am on Friday, June 22, 2012
No matter what Cicilline does, his "friends" at GoLocal find him "hot". The slanted press continues.
David Allen
10:13am on Friday, June 22, 2012
EDC is hot...they brought the Americas Cup world series to town... and the events start tonight. Wake up, GoLocal.
anthony sionni
10:15am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Johm Lombardi all the way ! Isnt that kimzey from NJ? I think john has lived in the same area his whole life!
Dan McGowan
10:25am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Thanks for reading everyone.
TB, please know that you're always welcome to criticize me, but we are deleting your comments because, as you know, there is a former Superintendent named Tom Brady and you aren't him.
Please feel free to comment under a different name.
Bernie McCrink
10:38am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Dan, exactly how can you consider an incumbent congressman getting endorsed by his party an indication he is "hot". Maybe i haven't been paying attention over the years, but when is the last time, anywhere, that an incumbent wasn't endorsed by his party, either one?
Russ C
10:49am on Friday, June 22, 2012
"No matter where one stands on education reform, it is certainly clear that one of the upsides of charters is that, in theory, if they don’t meet expectations, they will be closed."
Ah, yes, for charter schools even failure is success! Too bad for those guinea pigs, I mean students who are now moving schools again. Better luck next time!
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/student-mobility/
"Student mobility" refers to the phenomenon of students changing schools for reasons other than grade promotion. Students who transfer frequently between schools during the school year are at greater risk for academic and behavioral problems (Hartman, 2002)...
Research indicates that frequent school changes have a cumulative affect on students' achievement that can place them as much as a year behind their peers (Kerbow, 1996). Students changing schools frequently are also at greater risk of dropping out (Rumberger and Larson, 1998).
tom brady
11:31am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Is Russ C. really Russ C. Dan?
RI Voter
11:33am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Great analysis as always!
Mayor Fung is going to win big, Cicilline is getting endorsements from all the important groups (and deservedly so!), and it's been a tough week for the Governor (though it seems that much of it is beyond his control).
Dan McGowan
11:33am on Friday, June 22, 2012
In fact, Russ C. really is Russ C.
TB, you have mostly commented on education stories and I've received complaints from those close to Mr. Brady.
I'm not trying to offend you. I'm happy that you comment. I just don't want anyone to confuse your comments with the former superintendent.
tom brady
11:34am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Dan, PS, there are more than 10 Thomas Brady's in Rhode Island. How about a little respect?
Donnn Roach
11:43am on Friday, June 22, 2012
Could you have found a less flattering picture of Mayor Fung?
vinny coia
12:03pm on Friday, June 22, 2012
if rep. brien is serious about legalizing , as stated , it would be extremely beneficial to ri
however, it literally takes an act of congress in order for it to be allowed in ri .
only 4 states currently are allowed to conduct sports betting .
there could be great interest and profit .
Todd B
2:29pm on Friday, June 22, 2012
It's tough to consider David Cicilline "hot" when he is about ready to lose a heavily Democratic congressional district to the GOP challenger. He may be "hotter than" Gemma at this point simply because Gemma doesn't know how to run a race.
Gemma started his campaign acting like he was already the nominee, when in fact he was the underdog in his own primary. He then tried to cultivate the far-left, which wasn't going to abandon Cicilline.
At some point, he'll figure out that he really needs to win "the old people in Pawtucket". Unfortunately for Gemma, Brendan Doherty started months before him and has already locked down most of the moderate Democrat and independent support.
This race is like a game of musical chairs for Gemma--and it looks like he'll be the guy left standing when the music stops.
Nicholas Alahverdian
11:17am on Sunday, June 24, 2012
Libby Kimzey isn't an insider? I beg to differ.
a) She lived with Rep. Teresa Tanzi for over a year. I don't know how much more inside you can get.
b) Her base (David Segal, Kate Brock, Ray Sullivan, Dawn Euer, and multitudinous other pseudo-progressives) advantageously (and in the most usurious way possible) builds upon the vulnerability of poverty-stricken Rhode Islanders though a process that, on its face, seems virtuous and meritorious, but in reality is just a surreptitious attempt to keep the aforementioned individuals employed. These people politically capitalize on Rhode Island's most vulnerable people. Take a look at the salaries of Pat Crowley and Kate Brock. Look at David Segal's parents - both of them are physicians and the dude has never had a real job in his life. These people are activists and progressives by name only. You will never see them give change to a beggar. You'll see them getting drunk at Local 121. So, with these people behind her, is she *really* not an insider? She's an elitist who will conform to the pipe of her forebears; doing little, saying much, but dancing to a good-sounding tune to please her district.
c) Finally, she's not even a college graduate. She dropped out of Brown. If she can't even take care of her own academic/psychological/social issues (or whatever else it was that inhibited her from fulfilling her degree requirements), then she is not fit for office - plain and simple.
Footnote: I can verify the inauthentic nature of Brock, Segal, Sullivan, Euer, and others because I experienced their double-dealing rhetoric. They epitomize what it means to speak in an equivocatory fashion. I know; I was one of the vulnerable Rhode Islanders that sought out their help because of how they deviously conveyed their false sense of compassion. In 2011, I held several rallies and fundraisers to reform the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families. None of them helped me with this truly grassroots cause. None of them returned my calls. None of them helped with my fundraisers or came to the rallies to even hold up a sign. They feign this "progressive" attitude to appeal to a vulnerable minority with the hope that they'll somehow appeal to the mainstream - and then when they get elected it will just be more of the same.
So why should Tarro stay in office? Because the man is a hard-working professional. He's smart. Kimzey? You're just going to get more of that fake, amoral rhetoric that gets the already broken State of Rhode Island no closer to the repair shop. Rhetoric isn't a pillar of the progressive ideology - in fact, it's the antithesis of progression. Elect Kimzey and watch her camp out at Julian's (Julian, by the way, supports Tarro) with all of the other hipsters while they speak of "changing the world" and just that - speak. No action.