Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - May 22, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
Russell J. Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
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 - May 22, 2015
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HOT
Josh Fenton
The newest kids on the block now have the longest tenured leader in media. With the dismissal of former WPRO station manager Barbara Haynes this week, GoLocalProv CEO Josh Fenton now is the longest serving tenure leader of a media company that covers statewide issues in Rhode Island. Projo, all the TV stations and the leading radio groups have all seen recent leadership changes. Even closer to home GoLocal is the only statewide media company with local ownership.
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HOT
Frank Williams
The former Chief Judge of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, who helped forge a settlement between the state and the public sector unions which resulted in a settlement agreement earlier this year, has been appointed the mediator in the 38 studios lawsuit. Hopefully, Williams can get the two sides to agree to settle the case in a way that makes the state whole on some of the money it lost.
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HOT
28th
The city of Providence was ranked the 28th most fit city in the country according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Mayor Jorge Elorza and new Recreation Director Mike Stephens say they'll work on improving even more, and that's a good thing as it will only put a downward pressure on our health care costs.
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Gina Raimondo
Gina Raimondo
RINPR's Scott McKay reports that the Raimondo administration has hired an East Providence firm to study the feasibility of installing central air conditioning in the Rhode Island statehouse. That's a move that's long overdue. For far too long, rank-and-file representatives who don't have access to the comfy air conditioned offices of the leadership, as well as the general public have suffered too many long hours in that stifling hot building.
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HOT
Charlene Lima
The State Representative from Cranston is once again prepared to lead the fight to stop paying the 38 studios bond payments. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello has already made it clear that he wants Rhode Islanders to pay for those bonds (which they don't legally owe), but it's still nice to see someone in the state legislature standing up for what's right.
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HOT
Ray Di Pasquale
The President of CCRI has announced that he isn't going to seek a renewal of his contract, which expires at the end of the month. Under Di Pasquale's tenure, the school saw it's largest graduating class ever (in 2012) and he also led the school's first ever capital campaign, which raised more than $5 million that went towards improvements for the library, dental lab, and theater.
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NOT
Seth Magaziner
The state Treasurer's office has charged Edward "Ted" Siedle, a former SEC lawyer, Forbes.com columnist, and finance industry critic, who is conducting another forensic investigation into the RI pension system, $7,625 for his open records requests. That's interesting coming from a Treasurer who claimed to be all about transparency on the campaign trail last year.
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NOT
Nicholas Mattiello
After the unfortunate passing of former Red Sox President James Skeffington this week, Mattiello issued a statement expressing his regret, which was obviously a classy thing to do. But aside from the sadness everyone feels about Skeffington's passing, the statement made it seem, once again, like a new stadium being constructed with major taxpayer dollars is a done deal. Why is Mattiello constantly downplaying the state's leverage over the team to get a good deal for the taxpayers of RI?
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NOT
Providence Foundation
The Providence Foundation has come forward and endorsed the corporate welfare scheme that would force taxpayers to subsidize a shiny new stadium for the wealthy owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox. Of course, members of the board of the Providence Foundation are conflicted. Duncan Johnson, a former law partner of the recently departed James Skeffington, serves on the Executive Board, as do several Brown University top appointee--and Brown has stated that the school would use the field for activities.
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NOT
Lack of Judicial Diversity
Is Rhode Island's government ever going to reflect the diversity of our people? NAACP Providence branch President Jim Vincent pointed out to Golocal this week that the state's population is comprised of roughly 25 percent of people of color, yet of the 800 judges and magistrates in Rhode Island, you could fit the judges of color into a compact car. Not hot.
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NOT
Ed Cooley
Is Cooley's personality overly adversarial with his players? Providence College and Rhode Island basketball fans can no longer ignore the fact that despite the coach's success over the last two seasons, he's lost some highly touted players that transferred to other schools. Josh Fortune, Sidiki Johnson, Tyler Harris, Brice Kofane and now Paschal Chukwu have all left the school to wear the uniforms of other schools.
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