Rhode Island Politics

Casual office planning meeting

Politics This Week with John DePetro: PR Bumbling All Around

By Justin Katz | November 30, 2021 |

John and Justin discuss local, state, and national stories with which the messaging is going all wrong.

Chart of Biden approval among young, non-college Rhode Islanders

Biden’s unpopularity can be a guide in Rhode Island.

By Justin Katz | November 26, 2021 |

Via Stacey Lennox, who looks at Biden’s approval/disapproval ratings across all states for PJ Media, comes a fascinating tool that may prove useful in the toolboxes of anybody who writes about or engages in politics. It’s an interactive poll tool from Civiqs that allows the user to cut up the data by various demographics in one…

Bob Walsh talks on A Lively Experiment 11/12/21

Walsh gives away the game for the local media and his union.

By Justin Katz | November 26, 2021 |

Referring to an appearance by National Education Association of Rhode Island director Bob Walsh on A Lively Experiment, Erika Sanzi plainly describes a reality of local media. Walsh’s offending claim was that Nicole Solas shouldn’t call herself a “stay-at-home mom” when she’s “in a different community at a different school committee meeting screaming at the top…

American flag behind a barred window

We’re not reactionaries, so let’s stop being exclusively reactive.

By Justin Katz | November 24, 2021 |

As I’ve thought about it, this morning’s post on New England governors’ poll results ended a bit short.  I closed with a suggestion for Democrats, but what about Republicans? Considering the huge jump of New England’s three Democrats from the bottom of the national list in 2019 to the top now, two possibilities come to…

Chart of most popular governors in Autumn 2021

New Englanders seem to approve of their governors, lately (especially Republican ones).

By Justin Katz | November 24, 2021 |

During our weekly conversation on Monday, John DePetro and I had some mild disagreement about how one might explain the most recent results of Morning Consult’s regular ranking of U.S. governors’ popularity. The headline for Rhode Island is that Governor Dan McKee is the second-most-popular Democrat governor in the country (at thirteenth overall), behind Connecticut’s…

A man with a mirror mask

Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Revealing Week

By Justin Katz | November 22, 2021 |

John and Justin cover lots of ground in this content-rich discussion of political news in the Ocean State.

A man with his head in a washing machine

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Government Hides Its Dirty Laundry

By Justin Katz | November 15, 2021 |

John and Justin talk about times in which government should just air politicians’ thinking and mistakes.

A water drop and ripples

Do RI Democrat donors buy anti-GOP warnings?

By Justin Katz | November 15, 2021 |

The state Democratic Party in Rhode Island recently sent out a fundraising email saying: We’ve got just over a year to reach and talk to as many voters as possible. We know the GOP is already doing its best to beat us up and down the ballot, and we can’t let that continue. Are there…

A vice on a tool table

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Pointing Out the Blinders

By Justin Katz | November 8, 2021 |

John and Justin discuss the position that the establishment and the Left have gotten themselves in.

A water drop and ripples

The RI School Committee Association is emblematic of the RI establishment.

By Justin Katz | November 8, 2021 |

I’ve said it again and again over the years:  Rhode Island government is structured such that the state is the center of everything, and various committees, associations, chambers, and other organizations that people think represent the interests of various segments of civil society do not.  They are there to represent the state government’s interests to…