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

Friday, August 09, 2013

Dan Lawlor, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

 

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Mayor Taveras's Art Transformer Project is turning the pedestrian into the extraordinary.

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 lists this week.

Who’s hot

Judge Dan Proccacini: Thank you to Judge Proccacini for standing up for common sense! The courts have ruled Rhode Island's Board of Education, a public body, may not hold secret meetings.

Angel Taveras: Hizzoner has disappointed us with the summer pool policy, but a tip of the hat to the Mayor for the success of his Art Transformer Project. Lynn McCormack at Art, Culture, and Tourism has been facilitating this low cost way to beautify city streetscapes by hiring artists to paint murals on dozens of electric transformer boxes. It's low-cost, lovely, and benefits every neighborhood.

Rep Michael Marcello: Kudos to the House Oversight Committee for its hearings looking into 38 Studios deal. The specter of the fallen, publicly-backed video game company haunted this session. We need to understand how this game rolled out, so similar implosions won't happen again. 

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Mike Stanton: Best of luck to the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. The mere mention of his name could cause some politicians to speak in hushed tones. Let's hope he teaches a new generation of reporters at UCONN to ask questions and find out the truth.

Kristina Fox: The new president of the Young Democrats was inaugurated at the Hot Club, that shrine of city politics. Fox is focused on building up the membership of the organization (a new chapter will launch in South County this month) and bringing more young voices (as in under 36) to the table of Rhode Island decision-making. 

Young Republicans: On the other end of the spectrum, the Young Republicans have quietly been making the rounds over the last few months, welcoming speakers from Gregory Angelo of the Log Cabin Republicans to Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin. A functioning, attractive GOP is going to engage a diverse group of people. From East Greenwich's Dawson Hodgson to West End candidate Ana Santana, some changes are afoot in the local GOP. Forward with Fung? 

Marie Aberger: The Cranston, RI native was declared one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in Washington, DC by the The Hill. Aberger graduated from Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, and worked in the press office at the White House. She told the Hill, "Once the president came by and just started fixing a crooked picture over my desk." Just a day at work. Aberger recently left the White House, and will be joining the internet start up Airbnb. 

Who’s not 

Jim Langevin: Our congressman voted to continue massive surveillance of Americans. As Demand Progress' David Segal writes, "Sadly, Rep Langevin has this completely inverted: you don't institute a secret program, via a secret process, under a secret interpretation of a law that runs contrary to most Americans' understanding of their rights–and then also cry foul because you think the effort to put a stop to it isn't sufficiently vetted."

Eva Marie-Mancuso, RI Board of Education: RIDE's board can't flout ethics rules, and can't have meetings in secret. For people supervising school accountability, those concepts should be elementary.

Low Fines for Adult Crimes: Cheaters, a pink strip club on Allens Ave, recently was found to have a minor dancing in it, a clear violation of decency and city code. According to the City Ordinance passed in 2009, a violation "shall be punished by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) for the first offense and not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each subsequent offense." Businesses owners like that deserve more than a slap on the wrist.

George Hunt Help Center Closing: This twenty three year old downtown day center for the homeless, named after the former Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island, George Hunt, recently closed. One advocate mentioned, "it was a safe and welcoming spot." The center's purpose was hospitality in the city for those at the bottom. 

David M. Dooley, URI: Shamefully, Princeton Review ranked the University of Rhode Island as the 9th most LGBT unfriendly college campus in the nation. No Rhode Island school ranked among the top 20 most friendly, which including University of Chicago, Pitzer College, Stanford and Boston's Emerson.

Food Inspections: The Department of Health has made a great deal of progress in the last year by expanding its number of food inspectors (we've gone from 7 to 19 in the last year and a half). To make sure that our restaurants, one of our growth industries, are sturdy, we need to continue this investment.

 

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