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

Friday, November 04, 2011

Dan McGowan, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

 

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Who’s Hot

Brendan Doherty -> He continues to catch heat from both sides of the aisle, but supporters are saying Brendan Doherty is racking up endorsements from the majority of Republicans that have actually held major offices in the state. They’ve got a point. Doherty may not have rank-and-file support, but that might not matter in an open primary next year.

Angel Taveras -> The battle continues with both the Occupy Providence protesters and state lawmakers, but Mayor Taveras still managed to sign off on an executive order that closes the corporate tax loophole that allows foreclosing banks to hold onto owner occupied homestead exemptions in the city. This was long overdue.

Jamie Doyle -> Kudos to this State Senator for calling for an investigation into Lifespan after it was announced that up to 2,000 patients in the state were given the incorrect form of medication since last fall. The pension debate may be all the rage on Smith Hill, but it’s not the only important issue that needs to be addressed in the state.

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David Salvatore -> Following a GoLocalProv investigation that showed 25 percent of all city loans for small businesses were at least 90 days past-due, this Councilman stepped up and introduced a resolution calling for more oversight of the city loan fund. That money may be vital to local businesses, but the loans ought to have a better success rate.

Ken Block -> It finally appears the former gubernatorial candidate will get his chance to clean up Medicare waste and fraud in the state. Block said this week the details with the Chafee administration are finally being worked out. The only question is what took so long.

Brandon Naylor -> Welcome to Rhode Island. Naylor is Congressman David Cicilline’s new Communications Director and considering the amount of attention that is going to be paid to his new boss over the next 12 months, Naylor will likely face a baptism by fire.

Rhode Island Schools -> Nice to see a positive story about education in Rhode Island this week after it was announced that test scores improved. Credit goes to all the teachers who, despite receiving too much negative attention, continue to show up every day with the goal of helping students.

Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless -> One of the all-too-quickly forgotten consequences of state budget cuts is the affect they have on our neediest residents. At its Reaching Home Rhode Island conference Monday, the coalition will attempt to address some of the state’s most pressing issues when it comes to affordable housing. Here’s hoping the decision makers are listening.

Who’s Not

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John Carnevale -> The State Rep. with a pretty nasty track record with women was indicted last week on 1st Degree sexual assault charges. Conveniently, his story fell out of the new cycle pretty quickly this week, which wasn’t the case for Representatives Dan Gordon, Bob Watson and Leo Medina during their run-ins with the law.

Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education -> It’s a shame that despite everyone loving to use those buzz phrases like “knowledge economy,” the state continues to do a poor job at funding higher education, which has led to increased tuition once again. If you want an educated workforce, maybe you should actually make college accessible for all Rhode Islanders. Sadly, that isn’t the case right now.

Stephen Coyne, Kevin Jackson, Leon Tejada, Ricardo Patino & Mark Plympton -> The five pols being sued by the state Board of Elections for not paying campaign fines are just the beginning. Elected officials and candidates owe more than $1 million in fines and for too long, very little has been done about it.

Rhode Island’s Mayors -> They’re trying, but it sounds like the amendment that would give cities and towns a little more help when it comes to addressing municipal pensions isn’t going to be a part of the pension reform legislation during the special session. It will be interesting to see if this comes up again next year.

National Grid -> Following the disaster that was Irene, National Grid is again being criticized for slow response times during last weekend’s surprise snowstorm, which knocked out power to thousands of Rhode Islanders.

Leo Medina -> The State Rep. essentially accused of being a scam artist had his court hearing continued until February this week. It’s all part of the process, but it can’t be too encouraging to his constituents to know that he continues to skate by. Then again, they did elect him.

Herman Cain -> Rough week for the Presidential hopeful, who has been surging in the polls lately. The details are still murky, but Cain did a poor job explaining himself this week and sexual misconduct allegations are precisely the type of thing that can derail a campaign.


 

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