Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - April 29, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
Russ Moore, GoLocalProv Contributor
Every Friday, GoLocalProv's Russ Moore breaks down who is rising and who is falling in RI politics, business, and sports. Moore has worked on both sides of the desk in Rhode Island media, both for newspapers and on political campaigns. Send him email at
[email protected] and follow him on Twitter @russmoore713.
Related Slideshow: Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - April 29, 2016
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HOT
RI Progressives: There's been this suspicion in Rhode Island that the state's so-called progressives were opinionated and outspoken, but not as numerous as they purported themselves. That notion was obliterated this week. There were reportedly upwards of 7,000 people at the Bernie Sanders rally last Sunday. And then progressives delivered for Sanders--big time--on Tuesday, giving him a margin of victory of more than 10 points dismantling the notion of RI being "Clinton Country". The result means close to nothing nationally. But locally, make no mistake about it: the state's progressives are numerous, enthusiastic, and they're not going anywhere. They'll be influencing policy for decades to come.
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Luis Vargas: The 23-year-old Director of Community Development for the Rhode Island Republican Party embodies just the kind of youth and energy that will be needed if the state party is going to capitalize on the increased voter turnout it saw in this year's presidential primary. Vargas is working to engage communities throughout the state that have been resistant to conservative ideas in the past. A candidate for state representative in South Providence this year, he gives voters a genuine alternative and a fresh perspective in the election.
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Joe Trillo: It was a good night on Tuesday evening for the long-time Warwick state representative, who served as a co-chair to Donald Trump's campaign here in Rhode Island. Trillo was an early Trump supporter and the fact that Trump won his biggest percentage victory to date here in Rhode Island is a nice feather in Trillo's cap.
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Joe Paolino: The former Mayor of Providence and one of the largest real estate developers in the state had a problem -- the homeless were slepping in the Facade of the former bank building on Weybosset Street. Despite being frustrated by the in action of the Elorza administration, Paolino teamed up with the urban arts organization - The Avenue Concept - and developed a strategy to transform the space into a revolving art installation. Less than a week later, French transplant, Rhode Island artist Philippe Lejeune is now painting away on site.
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RI Music Hall of Fame: The Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket was rocking on Sunday as the RI Music Hall of Fame inducted eight new members--Greg Abate, Frankie Carle, Bill Harley, Carl Henry, Carol Sloane, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, Richard Walton and The Fabulous Motels/The Young Adults/Rudy Cheeks. Congrats to the artists, bands, and other inductees.
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Dr. Debbi McInteer: The President of Rhode Island Physicians for Quality Care points out in a GoLocal Guest MINDSETTER column that a bill proposed in the state legislature, called the interstate Medical Licensure Compact Bill, would unnecessarily discourage people from becoming doctors due to burdensome regulations that wouldn't improve patient care. Good or Dr. McInteer for speaking out against this potential legislative overreach.
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NOT
Gina Raimondo: Although the Governor's name has previously been floated as a potential running mate to Hillary Clinton, that possibility must have been weakened by the the former Secretary of State's surprising and lopsided loss in the Rhode Island Presidential Preference Primary on Tuesday. That loss is another example of what's been a tough year for Raimondo--including General Electric's move to Boston instead of here, the flawed tourism campaign roll out, and still lingering questions about the hiring of former state legislator Donald Lally in what looked like a blatant attempt to skirt the state's revolving door statute.
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NOT
James Morone: The Director of the Brown University Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy released a poll last weekend that had Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic Primary and vastly underestimated the margin of victory of Donald Trump on the Republican side. For the poll to be so far off when it was released just a couple days before the election suggests that there were problems with the methodology, which should be addressed going forward.
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NOT
The RI Democratic Establishment: The Democratic Primary voters sent a devastating blow to the state's establishment on Tuesday evening when they selected Bernie Sanders by a wide margin of more than 10 percentage points. It was a stunning rebuke to the state's Democratic establishment--the whole Congressional Delegation, Governor Gina Raimondo, and Legislative leaders--all of which had endorsed Hillary Clinton. Yet despite the will of the voters, the state's "superdelegates" (party leaders who can vote for whomever they please at the convention) said they would still support Clinton.
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Stefan Pryor: It took the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation two weeks, (and a day after a story on the issue ran in GoLocal) to respond to a press inquiry about the presence of former A.T. Cross CEO Charles “Chad” Mellen at the Commerce Corporation's offices. One would think that given the flawed roll out of the state's tourism and marketing campaign, the RI Commerce Corporation's leadership would be a little bit more fixated on public relations and messaging and respond to press inquiries more quickly.
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NOT
WPRO: One America's top radio analysts, Jerry Del Colliano, warns that the state's top talk radio station's model of providing local news analysis all day will not last much longer. Del Colliano said that the station's audience is mostly older and that big national media conglomerates are more interested in economies of scale that can be delivered through national syndication. That's bad news for Rhode Island as the state benefits from locally focused talk radio.
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NOT
Roger Goodell: The NFL's Commissioner just can't leave well enough alone. A lower court judge decided late last summer that Tom Brady's suspension was unjust and that the superstar quarterback shouldn't be suspended. The NFL, despite already fining the patriots and taking away coveted draft picks, appealed the ruling, and then prevailed in federal court this week when a panel of judges ruled 2-1 that Goodell had the authority to suspend Brady. Now, the saga and its corresponding uncertainty will continue, and it's hard to see how that benefits anyone--including the league.
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