The Rhode Island Political Cooperative’s received a warning about its status as a nonprofit corporation earlier this month from Secretary of State Gregg Amore, due to what the group calls an oversight.
A June 20 notice on Amore’s website indicates the co-op did not file a required annual report between Feb. 1 and March 1. Entities have 60 days after such a warning to come into compliance.
Jennifer Rourke, who is listed as the registered agent for the cooperative, said filing the report slipped her mind because she is caring for a very ill family member.
After The Public’s Radio brought the revocation to her attention, Rourke said she is taking care of filing the overdue report.
The co-op, a group with a stated goal of moving Rhode Island politics to the left, burst on the scene in 2019 and had some initial success a year later in electing progressive candidates, particularly in the state Senate.
But efforts to build on that floundered in 2022, as some of the candidates backed by the co-op faced criticism for not being true progressives. The co-op’s preferred gubernatorial candidate, Matt Brown, got just 8% of the vote in the Democratic primary for governor, some former co-op candidates sought re-election without the group’s support, and legislative candidates backed by the group were roundly defeated last year
Brown was one of the co-founders who launched the cooperative in 2019. In January, the cooperative announced he was no longer part of the organization.
As far as the future, “We are gearing up for the next election cycle,” said former state Sen. Jeanine Calkin, one of four directors listed for the co-op on the secretary of state’s website.
Note: an earlier version of this story misreported the significance of the notice from Amore’s office.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org
