Rhode Island Politics
Apart from the complications of Rhode Island law, as a matter of political theory, this strikes me as a reasonable argument: The lawsuit [by the city of Woonsocket], which also names State Controller Marc A. Leonetti and General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio as defendants, said the money [that the state was supposed to give towns…
State Senator and Secretary of State candidate Leonidas Raptakis (D, Coventry, East Greenwich, Warwick, West Warwick) has submitted legislation that would insert the following language into state law: No political party shall prohibit any independent registered voter who has no affiliation with any political party from participating in any political primary. Here’s his press release,…
The WPRI poll Monique mentioned highlights the poor favorability ratings for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (apparently because he has the lowest approval numbers of RI’s Federal delegation). Yet, Senator Whitehouse isn’t up for reelection for a couple more years, so the more immediate–and actionable–item is the news that Congressman Patrick Kennedy has a high unfavorability rating.…
From a poll conducted by WPRI 12. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has a favorability rating of 33 percent, with an unfavorable rating mired at 57 percent. Ten percent of those polled weren’t sure how they felt about Whitehouse. Five percent thought Whitehouse was doing an “excellent” job. Yikes. Apparently, many Rhode Islanders who thoughfully oppose the…
Former Steve Laffey campaign manager John Dodenhoff (he ran Laffey’s Senate campaign in 2006) was on the Dan Yorke Show to explain that he ate lunch last week with Michael Lepizzera (former Laffey campaign member, now affiliated with Frank Caprio) who put forward an idea of having Frank Caprio run as a Republican so long…
Anybody catch this little nugget? A one-time chief of staff to former Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano, [Former state Sen. Edward] Morrone has spent the last year as the $94,100 “director of intergovernmental affairs” in the office of Montalbano’s successor: M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport. In recent days, Superior Court Presiding Judge Alice B. Gibney…
Patrick Lynch’s campaign issued a press release (thanks, Ian Donnis) implying that the Statewide Coalition must be racist because they associate with the Tea Party movement which is, in turn, responsible for a number of ugly protests around the country featuring racist rhetoric and signage over the past year. The plot thickens, however. Harry Staley…
Last week’s Violent Roundtable on the Matt Allen Show featured Rep. John Loughlin (R, Tiverton, Little Compton, Portsmouth) and Senator Leonidas Raptakis (D, Coventry, East Greenwich, Warwick, West Warwick) and is, as always, worth a listen. As one might expect, the three participants (John, Lou, and Matt) were in agreement on most issues, albeit with…
An interesting call to the Dan Yorke Show as I was nearing home on my commute. The caller started out complaining about the corrupt, one-party political system in Rhode Island and then suggested that he simply couldn’t vote for Republicans because, while he’s fiscally conservative, he’s socially liberal. He included opposition to the welfare state…
My post concerning the Warwick Beacon’s look into Warwick firefighter pay/contracts has generated some commentary regarding the RIPEC report (mentioned in Russell Moore’s story) that found: On average, [a RIPEC] report showed that Rhode Islanders spend about $6.24 on fire services for every $1,000 of personal income, or just under double the national average of…