Happy post-Thanksgiving! I’m thankful to those who follow my reporting and who help to support The Public’s Radio. As usual, your tips and comments are welcome, and you can follow me through the week on the twitters. Without further ado, here’s the turkey week edition of my column.
Thanksgiving signals the start of the holiday season lull, but the politics beat never stays quiet for long. On Thursday, November 29, for example, House Fiscal Advisor Sharon Reynolds Ferland will present to the House Finance Committee her estimate of the deficit for the fiscal year starting next July 1. (That red ink will be on top of an almost $42 million deficit in the current budget-year.) Gov. Gina Raimondo and her team, meanwhile, are working away on a new budget proposal set for for unveiling in January. While the admistration claims credit for helping to reduce Rhode Island’s structural deficit, it’s been almost 20 years since lawmakers last returned to the Statehouse without ao fresh budget hole. In other coming attractions, newly elected state legislators will get their Smith Hill orientation on November 29, pointing to the start of the General Assembly session on New Year’s Day (since it falls on the first Tuesday in January). An array of issues linger in the background for now – particularly the divided ranks in the RI House – but 2019 will mark the starting line for a series of new political twists and turns.
2) Georgia Hollister Isman, state director of the advocacy group Rhode Island Working Families, believes that support for progressive legislative candidates will move forward progressive priorities in the General Assembly’s 2019 session. While pay equity and anti-harassment bills, for example, died earlier this year, “the intervening thing that happened was the 2018 elections,” Hollister Isman said on Political Roundtable on The Public’s Radio this week. “…. I do think we’re headed for a really interesting House session. I think it’s a very different dynamic than we’ve seen before, with people willing to be outspoken about their demands. And we heard this loud and clear on the campaign trail. This is one of the key takeaways of this election cycle for me. Voters, they want to see progress on these economic-justice issues. They also want to see progress on some of the small-d democratic stuff inside the legislature. They are paying attention to how the House and the Senate are run and they want to see reform there.”
3) House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello sounded a bit like Captain Renault in Casablanca when he was asked after a recent caucus whether dissident Democrats would be punished for voting against him: “I don’t know where that’s coming from,” the speaker said. Yet stripping lawmakers of committee assignments and other plums has a long history at the Statehouse, including during Mattiello’s tenure. The speaker nonetheless went farther during a recent interview at The Public’s Radio, asserting, “Nobody will be punished. I look forward to working with each and every one of them, and I’m looking forward to bringing some of them aboard onto the team, so nobody will be punished. But I’m going to put together a team that is supportive and that I can work with and that shares the same values. That’s not punishment.” That’s a salient caveat, since loyalty and trust are coins of the realm in legislatures throughout the land.
4) The 21 dissident Democrats, meanwhile, are branding themselves as the #ReformCaucus. In a statement this week, the group said it’s committed to changing “the way business is conducted at the State House. That can only happen with changes to the House Rules so there’s a more democratic process which respects all 74 elected Representatives and ensures the diverse needs of all constituents served. The Reform Caucus seeks greater transparency in government such as not suspending rules and posting bills for 48 hours for the public (and reps) to view before votes are taken.” The cominque led Rep. Brian Newberry (R-North Smithfield), a former GOP minority leader in the House to tweet, “Glad to see some Democrats finally getting on the reform bandwagon the GOP has been pushing for years. Funny, how once you lose the taste of power ‘good government’ suddenly becomes a priority. Still late is better than never.” Meanwhile, the Women’s Caucus of the RI Democratic Party issued a statement backing the Gang of 21’s effort to make the legislative process more “fair, comprehensible and public.”
5) Will the start of retail sales of marijuana in nearby Massachusetts spark some movement on the legalization front in Rhode Island? 2019 isn’t an election year, yet the troika remains publicly non-committal. Senate President Dominick Ruggerio: “While I continue to keep an open mind on legalization of recreational marijuana as the state looks into the regulatory and workforce challenges that come along with it, I also have significant concerns, particularly with regard to workforce issues, enforcement around edibles, and impact on children. I will look to the experience in Massachusetts as legalization is implemented there, and proceed very cautiously as we continue to have this important public discussion.” House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello: “The sale of recreational marijuana will raise revenues for our state, but it will also increase social costs and public safety concerns. We will have to determine what the net impact would be for Rhode Island in light of the legal sales in Massachusetts and other states, and I look forward to collaborating with my House colleagues in the next legislative session and listening to the views of our citizens.” Gov. Gina Raimondo (via spokesman Josh Block): “The governor is keeping a close eye on what’s happening in our neighboring states and remains open to exploring options for Rhode Island.” Meanwhile, while former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy remains an outspoken opponent of legalization, his cousin, U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts — a rising star in Democratic politics — this week called for legalizing marijuana at the national level.
6) Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza sketched out three conditions needed to win his support for the 46-story Fane Tower. In a statement the day before the Providence City Council offered its second and final approval for a zoning change on Thursday, Elorza said 1) the city should have final approval over the tower’s design; 2) the developer should make a contribution “that benefits the public”; and 3) the developer should agree to proceed “within a reasonable timetable,” or face losing the zoning change. Opponents remain focused on a funding gap identified in an earlier report done for the I-195 Commission. Fane spokesman Dante Bellini said the developer disagree with that finding. Regarding Elorza’s conditions for backing the tower, Fane said, “Reasonable pe
ople will find reasonable solutions. Our door is open to discuss any and all issues. And now, hopefully, with the mayor’s support, we can put the zoning relief process behind us and move forward with the important design review phase. It is certainly our expectation that this will be a collaborative and collegial effort.”
7) Will 2019 be the year when an effort to codify abortion rights in Rhode Island law makes it to the House floor? Speaker Mattiello was non-committal on that question during a recent interview, even while acknowledging that a majority of Rhode Islanders support abortion rights. For her part, Georgia Hollister Isman of Rhode Island Working Families thinks the dynamic has changed enough that things could be different in the new year. “I think we’re going into the first legislative session probably ever and certainly that I know of where you have majorities of legislators in both the House and the Senate who are pro-choice,” she said on Bonus Q&A this week. “The majority of Rhode Islanders have been pro-choice for a long time, and the legislature is just now actually catching up to them.”
8) U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is among three senators challenging President Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general. In a statement, Whitehouse said, “The stakes are too high to allow the president to install an unconfirmed lackey to lead the Department of Justice – a lackey whose stated purpose, apparently, is undermining a major investigation into the president. Unless the courts intercede, this troubling move creates a plain road map for persistent and deliberate evasion by the executive branch of the Senate’s constitutionally mandated advice and consent. Indeed, this appointment appears planned to accomplish that goal.”
9) Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has formed a strategic partnership with Brightline, the privately operated inter-city rail service in Florida. That makes for two firms with some level of connection to Rhode Island: Virgin Pulse is part of Branson’s empire, and Fortress Investment Group, whose affiliate helps to manage the parent company of the ProJo, developed Brightline.
10) U.S. Rep. David Cicilline has switched gears, running for chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee instead of his earlier target of assistant Democratic leader. In a letter to his House colleagues, Cicilline said he didn’t want to block the path to assitant leader of Ben Ray Lujan, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Our ‘For the People’ message resonated with voters because it was simple, clear, and consistent and it laid out exactly what Democrats would do if we won the majority,” Cicilline wrote. “Now we have to deliver on our promise to lower the costs of healthcare, raise family incomes, and end the culture of corruption in Washington. The DPCC will play a crucial role in helping our Caucus deliver on those promises by working closely with Committee Chairs, Leadership, Democratic Members and the various caucuses to ensure that every voice is heard and all points of view are considered when bringing legislation to the floor. The DPCC can also help protect and expand our majority in 2020 by effectively communicating our message to the American people and relentlessly emphasizing our accomplishments.”
11) Via Steve Ahlquist: What happens when the rubber meets the road with the Open Meetings Act?
12) State Rep. Joy Hearn (D-Barrington), who did not seek re-election, is now running instead for Barrington Town Council in a special election set for February 6. In a statement, she said, “The term on the Barrington Town Council is just two years and my goals must be simple; I have two goals. The focus of my first goal is accessibility, including its expansion relative to information as well as transportation infrastructure and options (bicycle, walking, public transportation options, and traffic pattern analysis). The focus of my second goal is supporting business development, including nurturing our business community through the investigation of how to improve a climate that seems to be struggling at this time.”
13) NPR looks at how Rhode Island is trying to reduce opioid use among people who wind up at the ACI.
14) Brett Broesder, who helped chart Peter Kilmartin’s winning AG campaign back in 2010, is joining the staff of Advocacy Solutions, the lobbying and communications shop. Broesder, who will remain based in Connecticut, has worked in recent years as the co-founder and VP of Tomorrow’s Jobs, an effort to grow the Nutmeg State’s economy.
15) “Six ways Washington could make housing more affordable”
16) Will there be a political hangover from the forthcoming move of the PawSox to Worcester? So far, the answer seems a resounding “no.”
