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

Friday, February 25, 2011

Dan McGowan, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

 

Who’s Hot

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Sheldon Whitehouse -> For all the talk about his seat being in danger in 2012, Senator Whitehouse looks to be in pretty decent shape according to this week’s poll. Cranston Mayor Allan Fung recently said it would take $5 million to compete with Whitehouse and really, what Rhode Island Republican can raise that kind of money?

Steven Pare -> Kudos to the Providence Public Safety Commissioner for sticking by his original decision to opt-out of the divisive Secure Communities initiative. Shame on alleged Democrat Peter Kilmartin for supporting a program that targets brown people.

Steve Smith -> Nobody gives a better quote than the Providence Teachers Union President, who this week compared Mayor Taveras’ dismissal notices to Pearl Harbor and Wisconsin. Thank you Mr. Smith, for being a journalist’s dream come true.

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Tara Granahan and Andrew Gobeil -> Great choices to host a more news-focused morning show at WPRO. The show will be perfect for local news junkies, who would rather make up their own minds about elected officials than hear from the more polarizing personalities at the station.

Balbina A. Young and Sister Ann Keefe -> Two perfect selections for the Martin Luther King Jr. Hall of Fame. Congrats go out to these two incredible women.

Lincoln Chafee -> The Governor’s quiet decision this week to cut outside legal services by 15 percent was an excellent move that will save the state a ton of money. Of course, given all the lawyers on his payroll, he probably could have forced 100 percent cuts, but who’s counting?

The Follies -> The annual Providence Newspaper Guild event is tonight and GoLocalProv is just hoping not to get beaten up (or out drank) by the scary print guys. By the way, we’re taking bets on the special guest all day… My top picks: 1) Frank Caprio 2)Dean Esserman 3)Buddy Cianci.

Who’s Not

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Angel Taveras -> The Providence Mayor didn’t sign up for weeks like this. It’s far too early to throw him under the bus, but it is worth noting that for a guy who ran on an education platform, the Mayor has very few friends in the education world right now.

Joseph S. Burchfield, Raymond L. Douglas III and John A. Zambarano -> The real question for residents of North Providence: How in the world did you ever elect three guys who would shake down your son’s lemonade stand if they thought it was profitable?

Brendan Doherty -> Was flat out wrong about criticizing Commission Pare. The truth is Secure Communities is a dangerous initiative that will only make our majority-minority residents of Providence less likely to report a crime. That’s wrong.

Dean Esserman -> Remember when Alex Rodriguez made all those ridiculous demands in his contract ten years ago? Welcome to the world of the Providence Police Chief. From computers to cars to the bowl of red skittles that sits on his desk, no one has asked for more handouts than Esserman.

Doreen Costa and Joe Trillo –> If you had to guess which Republicans would be the first to come out in support of the Wisconsin Governor, would there be any other choice besides Ms. Costa and Mr. Trillo?

Don Carcieri -> You may be enjoying Florida, but Rhode Islanders haven’t forgotten about your disastrous eight years, Governor. That’s why even though you might be the only Republican with the ability to raise the money necessary to defeat Senator Whitehouse, the polls give you virtually no chance.

Fake IDs -> College kids all over the state should be saddened following the Fake ID crackdown this week. How in the world are you going to get into Club Hell now, kids?
 

 

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