Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics?

Friday, March 15, 2013

Dan Lawlor, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

 

Every Friday, Dan Lawlor breaks down who's rising and who's falling in the world of Rhode Island politics. Check out who made the cut this week.

Who’s Hot

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For her efforts on scheduling a vote on same-sex marriage and preparing the Senate's "Moving the Needle" legislation, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed landed a spot on this week's "Who's Hot?" list.

Rep. J Patrick O'Neill-> O'Neill, once part of House leadership, stepped away from power when it conflicted with his principles. On Tuesday, O'Neill helped organize a successful vote in the Judiciary Committee for a bill that would restore the R.I. Ethics Commission’s oversight power over state lawmakers. On Wednesday, Speaker Fox removed him from the Judiciary Committee, and nullified the ethics vote. We need more representatives like O'Neill willing to buck leadership to advance the state. 

Ken Block-> Kudos for Ken Block! From tackling fraud and waste in the state's Human Services to helping overflow the House Judiciary chamber with opponents of the state's confusing Master Lever, Block, founder of the Moderate Party, was a Rhode Island problem-solver this week. He did it with facts.

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Providence School Board-> The Renaissance City—excuse me, Creative Capital—School Board directly challenged the State Department of Education's new graduation testing proposal. Unless the state is serious about financially committing tutoring supports to help current students succeed with the NECAP benchmark, this new graduation requirement will keep youth down. 

Angel Taveras-> The last few years have been challenging for students, families, and faculty in the capital city. Too many school buildings are still in need of repair, and some greater cohesion and consistency with principals is a must, yet winning the $5 million Grand Prize from Bloomberg's Mayor's Challenge to support an innovative family literacy initiative is not too shabby. Good job to the Mayor and his team for winning some needed cash to build up community supports. 

James Monteiro-> This Mt. Hope community advocate is working hard to build up a proposed "Billy Taylor House"—hoping to provide job training and positive opportunities for young people around Camp St. in the city's East Side. Numerous community centers are struggling, but one with a clear mission and vision might be a good jump start for a neighborhood hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.

Teresa Paiva-Weed -> The Senate President facilitated the release of a range of economic reform proposals—some eyebrow raising, some exciting, but all with a good focus on the economy. In addition, the Senate Judiciary Committee will finally hold a hearing on Marriage Equality next week. I'll remind the Senate President that lack of equal marriage rights for LGBT business owners is definitely a turn-off for out of state business re-location.

Who’s Not

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Governor Lincoln Chafee's handling of the controversial Block report on fraud/waste landed him a spot on the "Who's Not?" list this week.

Gordon Fox-> Speaker Fox is running scared of dissenters and open debate. On Tuesday, without prior leadership approval, Representative J. Patrick O'Neill organized a successful vote in the House Judiciary Committee for ethics reform. On Wednesday, Fox had his judiciary chair declare the vote null and void, and removed O'Neill from the committee. Shameless. 

Edith Ajello-> The Judiciary Chair was doing her best San Bento impression of good government. Despite voting the previous day to support an ethics reform bill, Ajello locked step with the Speaker and nullified the committee's previous vote of support. Ethics reform is now being held for further study. Ajello, you're breaking my heart. 

Met Life Insurance-> The insurance giant will be cutting over 500 positions from its Warwick division. While the state's official jobless rate is now at 9.8%, corporate cuts don't do much for improving the mood. How can we encourage more local business? 

Lincoln Chafee -> The Governor fumbled what could have been a slam dunk. Chafee commissioned a report on fraud and waste, but the Governor kept the public report private. After much protest, Chafee released the report to the press. Take away lesson: copying the legislature's style of transparency is never a good play. 

The General Assembly-> The Sunlight Foundation is a DC nonprofit that focuses on government accountability and transparency. In a recent legislative ranking on transparency, Rhode Island's General Assembly earned a D (originally we had an F, but after protests they bumped us up). We tied with Maine (D), scored better than Massachusetts (F), and ranked lower than Connecticut (A), Vermont (B) and New Hampshire (A).

 

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