When Progressives Fight, Progressives Win
In 2008 progressives across America were basking in the warm glow of the nation’s first black president. A breeze of Democratic victories had blown through Congress and the long, dark night of the Bush era had given way to the rising sun of the Democratic super-majority. A Democratic executive branch and a bicameral legislative branch [...]
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RI Republican Party On Life-Support
On Election Day 2012, there were 786 candidates for all offices across Rhode Island, from U.S. Senator to Town Sergeant. According to a list provided by the Secretary of State’s office, the make-up was such: 301 Democrats 209 Republicans 116 Independents 4 Moderates 1 Libertarian (Independent) 1 Vigilant Fox (Independent) 154 candidates for nonpartisan offices [...]
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Winning for Women Takes Progressive Teamwork
What is the elections’ postmortem week in Rhode Island without the subjective coverage of those who really “won” in state races? I think many progressive voters and activists in Rhode Island can agree that women were a force to be reckoned with up and down the ballot. More so, that Planned Parenthood Action Fund was [...]
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Speaking to the Speaker
Winners in political races have it easy. They thank everyone and move forward. The Silver Medalists analyze what went wrong and fade into the shadows. Is it possible to write a post-election column as the loser and not sound self-serving, shrill or sour? I’m going to do my best. From the beginning, this race was about [...]
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Note to Obama: Leave Our Senators Alone
Could we please have one day in which one of our recently- or even not so recently-elected pols isn’t a candidate for some other job? If the #2 line prep cook in the East Wing kitchen calls in sick, Politico will immediately speculate that Obama is already talking to Jack Reed. Leave our Senators alone. Operative [...]
Progress Report: For, and Against, Fox; Patch on Walmart; Warren for Banking; Belcourt Castle and Karen Silkwood
There’s an interesting – and small – mix of conservatives, moderates and populists who seemingly aren’t supporting Gordon Fox’s effort to be re-elected speaker of the House. His detractors from the left – Reps Scott Guthrie of Coventry and Spencer Dickinson of South Kingstown – have a disdain for pension cuts in common. Guthrie may [...]
Ft. Wetherill Sunrise
There are few more beautiful places in Rhode Island to watch the sun rise than from the cliffs high above the confluence of Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean at Ft. Wetherill on the southeastern edge of Conanicut Island, or what you politicos might know better as Jamestown. Since I happened to find myself in [...]
Armistice Day Honors Ending of War
Now-a-days, we honor our veterans on November 11, but time was that on 11/11 we celebrated Armistice Day and the end of World War I. Earlier tonight a group of activists from the South East New England office of the American Friends Service Committee held a vigil to mark the 11 years of war we’ve been [...]
Rhode Island Foundation and Buy Nothing Day
Every year I write an essay on the spirit of the Buy Nothing Day Winter Coat Exchange and how to heal the economy, ecosystem, and communities of Rhode Island using the principles of use less, share more. Often I dedicate the essay to those trying to end poverty, war, or planetary destruction, or in jest [...]
Progress Report: Tax Capacity and Our Failing Cities; Chafee Speculation; Ucci and Blazejewski; Stripped Bass; Burnside
Regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, most agree that Rhode Island’s biggest concern should be the failing finances of our urban communities. GoLocal reports this morning in a piece on which local communities have the highest tax rates: “Some of the most dramatic increases are in urban communities facing financial distress. They [...]
Heartfelt Sympathies to Laid-Off ProJo Employees
The big local story of the day will be neither the 2012 election or the Son of Sandy, as the Providence Journal cleverly called it this morning … rather it will be the employees of said newspaper who lost their jobs yesterday. I hear 26 people were let go – 16 union and 10 non-union [...]
Reports of Cicilline Death Were Greatly Exaggerated
For nearly his entire first term in Congress, pollsters and pundits have questioned David Cicilline’s chances at re-election. Obscenely low approval ratings (below 20%) in February 2012 had many across Rhode Island and the country sounding the Democrat’s death knell. Along with my union, I supported his re-election — but I have to admit that secretly I held more [...]
NK Support Staff Votes No Confidence in Supt., Comm.
North Kingstown Education Support Professionals (NKESP) – who have been battered over the last few months by the town’s school committee and Superintendent Phil Auger – took overwhelming votes of “no confidence” in the leadership both have provided for the school district. Our local union of teacher assistants, clerks, food service workers, mini-bus drivers, bus [...]
Huge Night for Rhode Island Progressives
Brendan Doherty, Mark Binder and even, to some extent, Mitt Romney, all made Rhode Island progressives nervous throughout the 2012 campaign season. But once the campaign was over and the votes were counted, it turned out to be a great election day to be a local liberal. Easily the biggest victory was Congressman David Cicilline [...]
Gordon Fox Wins, Says He Will Move Back Left
House Speaker Gordon Fox held onto his State House seat and promised to move back to the left during the next legislative session. He balked a little when I asked him if we’d see a more progressive speaker, but he did say he would be a more liberal legislator. I think he also said he’d [...]
Cicilline Beats Doherty
While the campaign was heated, the actual election was less so. Congressman David Cicilline easily held onto his seat defeating Brendan Doherty 50% to 42. Without further adieu, here’s some video of his victory speech: His fellow Rhode Island progressive Senator Sheldon Whitehouse also won, handily beating Barry Hinckley 64.3 to 35.5%. I’ll have video [...]
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