After a mid-November slowdown, politics near and far remains roiled by fallout from the Paris attacks. Thanks for stopping by for my weekly column. Your tips and thoughts are welcome via email, and you can follow me through the week on the twitters. Here we go.
1. Rhode Island got some unexpected attention in the national debate over admitting Syrian refugees, thanks to an email sent by state Senator Elaine Morgan (R-Hopkinton). Although Morgan declined to return reporters’ calls after the controversy flared, she used a statement Friday to attempt a do-over: she didn’t mean to broadly indict Muslims and instead mostly wanted to stand up for the safety and security of Americans. Critics found Morgan’s take unconvincing, although the freshman senator touted “overwhelming support” for her views from constituents of various political stripes (and her Democratic predecessor, Catherine Cool Rumsey, said she’s leaning toward a rematch next year, urged on by people upset by Morgan’s email). So it went, in the sharp partisan divide after the Paris attacks; Democrats described admitting refugees as in keeping with the best American values; Republicans called it foolish not to place safety and security first. “It is much easier for a foreign terrorist to come to America on a student or tourist visa, as the 9/11 hijackers have done, than to go through the year-long vetting process in refugee camps,” noted The Economist. Yet National Review asked, “[I]s it compassionate to your countrymen — the people you’ve sworn to protect — to admit those refugees when you know that ISIS has plans to embed jihadists among them, and that our Middle Eastern vetting processes have failed so thoroughly they’ve cost hundreds of American lives?” The battle with ISIS could be with us for some time. So maybe the great media critic Jack Shafer had it best when he questioned the myth of the terrorist mastermind: “The ‘mastermind’ narrative treats terrorism like 24, in which the forces of good predictably vanquish the forces of evil in each season’s finale; a far better framework for the terrorist perplex might be The Wire, a world of basic human limits and long, painful, insoluble conflicts.”
2. The longest-serving Republican in the Rhode Island House, Minority Whip Joseph Trillo (R-Warwick) faces a challenge next year from a Democrat with a noteworthy Ocean State pedigree. Evan Shanley, the nephew of Providence College president Brian Shanley and the grandson of one of the founders of Duffy & Shanley, has filed a notice of organization with the state Board of Elections. The filing doesn’t indicate which office Shanley hopes to win, and Shanley declined comment for this report. TGIF has independently learned that Shanley plans to run next year against Trillo, who has served in the House since first winning election in 2000. Shanley, a graduate of PC and the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, is a lawyer with the Gursky/Wiens law firm. Trillo hasn’t faced a serious challenger in some time; he said he couldn’t recall his last Democratic opponent off the top of his head. “I’ve been expecting one for the last seven or eight years, and I haven’t had one,” Trillo said, adding that he “definitely” plans to seek re-election and welcomes Shanley to the race. (Update: The resourceful Sam Howard reports that Trillo last had a Democratic opponent, Barbara Colt, in 2002.)
3. Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, a son of Chinese immigrants, sides with fellow Republicans in opposing the admittance of Syrian refugees to states like Rhode Island. “I’m falling on the opposition side,” Fung said on this week’s RI Public Radio Political Roundtable. “I don’t think that right now with our lack of resources and lack of a commitment to the people that are already within our [immigration] system that we should already be taking on more. And it does also raise a big security concern.” Yet Fung parts company with the GOP in eschewing the use of the phrase “Islamic extremism” to describe ISIS and like-minded groups. “That broad brush, I think, sweeps way too many individuals in that lingo,” he said on our Bonus Q+A. I think it is a small portion that is that radical portion, and any type of discussion has to focus on their inappropriate actions, their terrorist actions, not trying to make this broad-based and say, ‘Islam is bad,’ because it’s not.”
4. A poll released by Morning Consult shows Governor Raimondo with a 46 percent approval rating — almost 10 points below the average 54 percent approval for governors in the survey. Raimondo’s ranking contrasts with the highest rated governor, Massachusetts Republican Charlie Baker, who leads the field with 74 percent. On the whole, Morning Consult writes, “voters appear to give the benefit of the doubt to governors who have only recently won office: Less than a year into their terms, Baker, Hogan, Alaska’s Walker, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) all have approval ratings north of 59 percent. Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) both have approval ratings over 50 percent.” Raimondo spokeswoman Marie Aberger offered this comment on the governor’s approval rating in the poll: “The governor is focused every day on tackling the tough challenges that RI faces. The numbers make it clear that we’re moving in the right direction: college is more affordable for more than 6,000 students because of RI’s Promise; Rhode Island has driven its unemployment rate down 25.3 percent from this time a year ago; over 70,000 Rhode Island businesses are expected to save a combined total of more than $20 million this year because we eliminated the sales tax on commercial energy; and we’re on track to achieve $70 million in Medicaid savings to make the state a more stable and predictable place to do business. We have momentum, and we’re going to keep going.”
5. Then again, it has to count for something, thanks to Governor Raimondo, that Rhode Island is even part of the conversation about the possible relocation from Connecticut of General Electric. Add to that the rollout of Wexford Science & Technology’s plans for the I-195 district. (Wexford President James R. Berens is set to keynote the annual meeting Monday of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, with a big crowd of business and civic leaders on hand). Going forward, Raimondo’s political fortunes will rise or fall on her ability to improve the state’s economy, and that effort remains in the early innings.
6. You could launch a great newspaper just with the people who have left the Providence Journal over the last 15 years. The exits continue with business reporter Paul Grimaldi‘s pending move to a communications job at the state Department of Revenue. (For another departure, see item #9.) Yet despite the whittling down of the ProJo’s staff, Fountain Street retains by far the largest staff of reporters in Rhode Island. So one of the central questions facing the paper’s new editor, David Butler, involves making the most of his newsroom’s resources.
7. In the aftermath of last summer’s blockbuster State Police report on the Cranston Police Department, Mayor Fung is taking a go-slow approach to discussing his political future. “One step at a time,” Fung said when asked on this week’s RI Public Radio Bonus Q+A if he might run for governor again in the future. Yet the mayor couldn’t help revealing his plan to seek re-election next year when asked about a ProJo editorial, headlined, “It’s a good thing Fung wasn’t elected governor.” Was that a valid criticism? “Look, people are entitled to their opinions, so are the editorial board of Providence Journal,” Fung responded. “I’m going to let the voters of Cranston decide for themselves in the upcoming election about my job performance.” A formal announcement is planned for early next year. Only one challenger has emerged so far: Democrat Michael Sepe.
8. In contrast to the situation last July, the Procaccianti Group’s proposed Fountain Street hotel sailed through the Providence City Council’s Finance Committee this week, without a higher-wage amendment sought by UNITE HERE, Local 217. Sources say Governor Raimondo‘s office was part of the behind-the-scenes push for the project.
9. Another exit on Fountain Street: Timothy Barmann is leaving the ProJo after 28 years, effective November 30, to take a job at the tech firm MoJoTech. Barmann calls the move a good opportunity to work with a group of developers, rather than working mostly by himself, as he has in recent years. Barmann came to the Journal as a photographer and wore a number of other hats over the years, including being a business/tech reporter, starting the paper’s first interactive online maps, and incorporating live tweets for the most recent election coverage. “It was great,” Barmann said. “I feel grateful that I was allowed to a lot of different things,” and to have worked with talented people. Not surprisingly, he leaves with mixed feelings, but said it’s the right time for a change.
10. In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, some high-profile law enforcement officials are calling for a prompt changes to apps that allow users to send encrypted messages. Yet former state rep. David Segal, executive director of the advocacy group Demand Progress, believes the focus on apps is misplaced. “When the intelligence agencies fail at their jobs, they always finds someone or something else to blame,” Segal tells TGIF. “But as the 9/11 commission reported over a decade ago, these lapses tend to result from an unwillingness or in ability to share and analyze information. The terrorists were already known to the government, and the failure to prevent the attacks arose from an inability to connect the dots. And even the investigators are not saying that they have evidence of encryption having been in play here. Weak encryption makes the us — government, American businesses, and private citizens –vulnerable to hacking by state actors and sophisticated thieves; strong encryption would not make the terrorists invisible; and encryption is a red herring to avoid discussion of Intel community failures.”
11. Joe Ganim‘s mayoral comeback in Bridgeport, after his previous conviction on a string of corruption charges, has more in common with Rhode Island than some echoes of Buddy Cianci‘s political career. Av Harris, a one-time reporter for WRNI (as RIPR used to be known), is doing communications for Ganim. Meanwhile, Ganim’s defeat of Bill Finch is leading Finch’s communications director, Brett Broesder, to scout for new work. “If there’s a role for me to play in helping move Rhode Island forward, I’d love to do my part,” said Broesder, who helped run Attorney General Peter Kilmartin‘s 2010 campaign.
12. Rhode Island students generally had dismal results in PARCC scores released this week, following years of warnings about the connection between education and the state’s economic future. Here’s an excerpt from my colleague Elisabeth Harrison‘s analysis: “Rhode Island students were proficient on PARCC at significantly lower rates than students in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Our students performed similarly to students in Colorado until high school, where Colorado pulled ahead, particularly in Mathematics. Rhode Island elementary students were comparable to students in Louisiana, but our middle school students performed slightly better than students in Louisiana in English, although not in Math.” Elisabeth also spoke with state Education Commissioner Ken Wagner and offered a detailed breakdown on the PARCC scores.
13. Congressmen David Cicilline and Jim Langevin came down on opposite sides of this week’s US House vote on admitting Syrian refugees. This may just reflect the different political philosophies between the more liberal Cicilline and the more conservative Langevin. Then again, it could be the start of an effort by the two congressmen to differentiate themselves ahead of a potential skirmish in 2022. In a statement, Cicilline described as vigorous and intense the level of screening for refugees: “The current system works. In fact, of the 2,174 Syrian refugees admitted to our country since September 11, 2001, not a single one has been charged with a terrorism-related offense. I will continue to work with my colleagues on ways to improve our national security, but [this week’s] bill does nothing to make us safer.” Langevin said the bill “would additionally require the FBI, Homeland Security Department and Director of National Intelligence to certify to Congress that any refugee from Syria or Iraq does not pose a threat to the United States. I believe these requirements will provide a reasonable new layer of assurance to our protocols, and I will do whatever I can to ensure that the resources are available to carry them out in a way which does not close or delay the resettlement process for those refugees who meet our criteria.”
14. Longtime PawSox season ticket holder Jim Dawson has a suggestion for the team’s ownership: bring in Janet Marie Smith to make McCoy Stadium more profitable by designing corporate boxes and suites. Smith helped make some of the most noteworthy updates at Fenway Park, not to mention Camden Yards in Baltimore. Smith currently works for the LA Dodgers, so bringing her back east, particularly after her relationship with the Red Sox ended years ago, may be a long shot. Nonetheless, Dawson points to how the PawSox drew more than 500,000 fans annually between 2010 and 2014 in contending improvements could bear fruit.
15. Best wishes to Seth Larson, communications director for US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse as he heads off to be comms chief for the US Department of Energy’s Office of Under-secretary for Science and Energy. As Larson noted in a parting email, he joined Whitehouse’s staff shortly after finishing college: “I first joined his 2006 campaign for the Senate as a field organizer, helping to lead GOTV efforts in the town of South Kingstown. I then spent about 15 months in his Providence office handling constituent casework before moving to his DC office in 2008 to work on his communications team — first as deputy press secretary, then press secretary, and now as communications director for the last four years. I can’t express enough how much I admire Senator Whitehouse and how grateful I am for the opportunities he has given me. I joined his team as a wide-eyed, green-behind-the-ears novice with very little experience in politics. And while I’ve learned a lot over the years about the ups and downs of politics in America, I can honestly say that I’ve never been disappointed in Senator Whitehouse. He is a public servant of the first order who stands by his principles and fights for what’s right, even against long odds. As a native Rhode Islander, I couldn’t ask for anything more from the person representing us in the Senate. I’m endlessly proud to have been a part of his team.” Caleb Gibson, Whitehouse’s longtime deputy communication director, will succeed Larson in the top job.
16. Two new web sites, courtesy of Providence City Hall: 1) an open records portal, which allows users to check the results of previous Access to Public Records searches; and 2) an “open checkbook” site that offers details on payments to vendors.
17. The start of a new legislative session can’t be far behind if House Finance is planning a budget update. It’s on for 4 pm, December 2, in the redesigned Room 35.
18. Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen, a Brown University alum, once co-authored a paper about how workers would rather quit than work for pay they consider unfair.
19. Dessert: A sweet ode to Calvin and Hobbes by Annie Daly, the daughter of former WPRI-TV reporter Sean Daly.
This post has been updated.