Rhode Island Politics

A girl peaks out from under bedcovers

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Woke and the Awakening

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

John and Justin talk about who is woke, awake, asleep, and awakening in Rhode Island politics.

Harrison Tuttle and Richard August on State of the State

State of the State: Black Lives Matter-RI PAC

By Richard August | January 9, 2022 |

Harrison Tuttle of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC speaks with Richard August about his organization and possible his own possible campaign for office.

A Zoom meeting

Open meetings law is the cutting edge of state government’s failure.

By Justin Katz | January 7, 2022 |

What a joke this all is: The open government coalition ACCESS/RI and a number of municipal officials had urged McKee to provide the authorization for remote meetings as COVID-19 cases soar across Rhode Island. The East Providence City Council was among the entities forced to cancel a scheduled meeting this week after members tested positive…

Allan Fung and Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung in a parade

Please, no “Fung for Governor.”

By Justin Katz | January 4, 2022 |

Criticisms of Allan Fung among Rhode Island Republicans have always struck me as either too demanding for purity or else founded in personal animosity (albeit perhaps with some justification… I don’t know).  He was a solid Republican mayor and, from what I could see, a reasonably loyal member of the party.  Given the GOP’s position…

Silhouette of hikers with leader

Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Little Leadership Would Go a Long Way

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

John and Justin cover the controversial topics in Rhode Island politics today.

A water drop and ripples

Rep. Brianna Henries reminds us how awesome our country is.

By Justin Katz | December 28, 2021 |

Here’s the comment of Est Providence Representative Brianna Henries on today’s biggest news in RI: gob·smacked /ˈɡäbˌsmakt/ adjective INFORMAL•BRITISH utterly astonished; astounded ….however I’m not surprised. I can’t even fathom meeting this level of racism with a clever quip, it does not merit that. This is the reality of our world. We simply must do…

A water drop and ripples

Geena Pham isn’t really disproving Morgan’s concerns. [Language warning]

By Justin Katz | December 28, 2021 |

Geena Pham is a progressive candidate for state senate and a public school teacher.  Here she is tweeting about Patricia Morgan’s controversial comment: Delete your fucking Twitter, Patricia. You’re a disgrace to Rhode Island. Honestly, a world in which a public school teacher running for political office tweets such a thing is exactly a world in…

2021 written in beach sand

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Closing out 2021

By Justin Katz | December 27, 2021 |

John and Justin wrap up 2021 with discussion of how COVID politics have been going in RI and some predictions for Ocean State politics in the year to come.

A water drop and ripples

Ruggerio is getting feisty!

By Justin Katz | December 24, 2021 |

This is a notably aggressive tweet, responding to provocations from progressive gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown, from the historically reserved Senate President, Dominick Ruggerio: Mr. Brown claims to know working people. I’ve fought for working people my whole life, and I just got done fighting for wage bonuses equating to $15/hr for childcare workers. Matt, you…

A water drop and ripples

Is Ruggerio dialing back the progressive wave?

By Justin Katz | December 23, 2021 |

Reading political tea leaves from interviews is an iffy game, but this feels like a bit of a tone change from Democrat Senate President Dominick Ruggerio: On the Rhode Island Report podcast, state Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio said he opposes raising the income tax rate for the richest Rhode Islanders, saying he fears they…