Tuesday’s (predictably) low-turnout primary (surprisingly) punched above its weight in offering a lot of grist for the political mill. So let’s get right to it, after the obligatory reminder that your tips and comments are welcome, and that you can follow me through the week on the twitters.
1. A whopping total of 1,343 people voted in the election this week that unseated House Majority Leader John DeSimone, a 24-year incumbent. After a recount Friday by the state Board of Elections, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell‘s margin of victory expanded slightly — from 17 to 21 votes. Sure, money dominates our national politics, and much of what happens in the General Assembly has all the drama of a Moscow show trial. The upset in House District 5 nonetheless offers proof positive that elections matter and every vote counts.
2. So what happened? Even if DeSimone was perceived as getting a late start in countering Ranglin-Vassell‘s campaign, he remained a heavy favorite in the race, thanks in part to his name recognition and superior fundraising. As the news dawned Tuesday night, there were various explanations for his loss, including news reports about DeSimone’s practice of paying property taxes late. Yet the simplest reason is probably the most accurate: DeSimone steadily lost touch with his district and hadn’t been seriously tested by a challenger in years; Ranglin-Vassell said he had never knocked on her door in the 2o years she’s lived in Wanskuck. That level of disconnection/dissatisfaction enabled the first-time candidate to pile up just enough votes to win. Similarly, Rep. Eileen Naughton (D-Warwick), another member of the Class of 1992 who hadn’t made an aggressive push for votes in years, was defeated, by Warwick Councilor Camille Vella Wilkinson. Ranglin-Vassell got considerable support from a variety of sources, including Rhode Island Working Families, the advocacy group that pledged to become a force in Ocean State elections. Beyond other efforts, Working Families Party national spokesman Joe Dinkin said WFP spent about $16,000 on an independent expenditure effort that supplemented RIWFP’s effort by encouraging voters to back Ranglin-Vassell and cited her support for a $15 minimum wage and paid sick days. Some of the money also went for a social media effort to let Bernie Sanders‘ supporters know there was a progressive candidate in the race. For more, on the progressive primary push, check item #5.
3. Rep. Chris Blazejewski (D-Providence) was elevated as a House majority whip in May 2015, signaling how he was back in House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello‘s good graces after siding with Rep. Michael Marcello (D-Scituate) during the 2014 post-Gordon Fox fight for the speakership. A Cumberland native and Harvard Law School grad, Blaz is among the likely front-runners in the race to succeed John DeSimone as majority leader, along with Rep. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Warwick), a savvy longtime player in state politics. The short list could also include Rep. Cale Keable of Burrillville, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Ken Marshall of Bristol.
4. State Senator Frank Ciccone‘s (D-Providence) second victory in two election cycles over primary challenger Doris De Los Santos offers an instructive counter-narrative to DeSimone’s defeat. Like DeSimone, Ciccone is an old-school Italo-American. But Ciccone has steadily courted new voters in his increasingly Latino district, supporting DMV privileges for undocumented immigrants, for example, and calling on Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza to support the Community Safety Act. That kind of outreach helps explain why Ciccone enjoyed an eight-point victory over De Los Santos this time around.
5. How big was the progressive victory in Tuesday’s primary? All four of the challengers endorsed by the aforementioned RI Working Families (Ranglin-Vassell, Moira Walsh, Jeanine Calkin, and Jason Knight) won their races. In total, RIWF claimed victory in 7 of 10 primary fights. Meanwhile, six of 14 candidates endorsed by the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats won their races. “This election was a direct rebuke of the way the machine has been running our state into the ground for far too long,” the Progressive Democrats’ Sam Bell said, in a typical rhetorical broadside. “… Voters proved they support progressive values. And Rhode Island Democrats are ready to vote out machine conservatives.” Then again, 11 of the candidates backed by House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello went on to win their primaries, including Reps. William O’Brien in North Providence, Anastasia Williams in Providence, Patricia Serpa in West Warwick, and David Coughlin in Pawtucket. (The latter was a particular leadership priority since challenger David Norton, a leader in the fight against the PawSox’ proposed move to Providence, was seen as a likely thorn in Mattiello’s side.) It’s also true that some of the progressive victories were due in part to factors other than progressive values. Walsh, for example, defeated Rep. Thomas Palangio, who had been largely sidelined by illness, and Knight‘s victory over Rep. Jan Malik (D-Warren) came in a Barrington-heavy district. Mattiello-backed Ramon Perez won the primary race for the seat being vacated by Rep. John Carnevale. So, sure, the House may move in a bit more of a progressive direction next session. But this will probably be more of a slight reset than a remake of the chamber’s overriding direction. First, of course, Speaker Mattiello faces a re-election challenge ….
6. RI GOP Chairman Brandon Bell and some other Republicans are pointing to John DeSimone‘s defeat in suggesting Speaker Mattiello will be the next to go. “Obviously, leadership needs to worry about November,” Bell said, in an interview. Certainly, DeSimone’s loss is a win, perceptual and otherwise, for those taking on the Smith Hill status quo. Yet there are also some clear differences between the races in House District 5 and House District 15. For starters, Mattiello has been a rep since first winning election in 2006; that doesn’t suggest the same entrenched quality as someone first elected in 1992. Supporters insist that Mattiello has remained in touch with his district, and in contrast to the more media-shy DeSimone, the speaker is an able communicator who has consistently made himself available to reporters. Then again, Republican rival Steven Frias‘ challenge to Mattiello promises to be the most-publicized contest of the fall campaign season. And it’s worth noting that Frias’ 477 votes (79.6 percent of the vote in his contest with GOP rival Shawna Lawton) compares favorably with the roughly 250 tallies received by Ken Block in that district during the 2014 GOP primary. Frias is articulate, skilled at framing issues, and he can be expected to bring the fight to Mattiello. “He’s got work to do,” Frias said, “and I’m working hard to get out my message that the status quo is not good enough.”
7. All four of the candidates backed by RI For Gun Safety, the new group funded by former Hasbro CEO Alan Hassenfeld — Teresa Tanzi, Jason Knight, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, and Linda Finn — won their races. Kate Coyne-McCoy, who gave some initial advice RI For Gun Safety, said the results show that Rhode Islanders support stronger measures to fight gun violence. But state Rep. Michael Chippendale (R-Foster), a gun rights supporter, said on this week’s RI Public Radio Bonus Q&A that RI For Gun Safety cherry-picked races with a shot of success. “Alan’s not a stupid man,” Chippendale said. “He’s not going to invest money in someone who does not have a chance.”
8. Rep. Chippendale doesn’t buy the view that truck tolls, just because their implementation is off in the future, won’t be a factor in fall elections. “I have to say in my experience, even in the far west of our state, right up against the Connecticut border, people are livid,” he said during Bonus Q&A. “I think primarily it is because they feel like they were not listened to. There was such an outcry. I can’t think of an issue where in such a short time so many people organized to be against something, and so many people were against something, and were ignored.” For more from Rep. Chippendale, check his appearance on Political Roundtable.
9. The primary was the only threshold to election for these 13 candidates who lack a general election opponent: Moira Walsh of Providence; Rep. Anastasia Williams (D-Providence); Rep. Grace Diaz (D-Providence); Ramon Perez of Providence; Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-South Kingstown); Rep. William O’Brien (D-North Providence); Rep. David Coughlin (D-Pawtucket); Helder Cunha (D-East Providence); Ana Quezada (D-Providence); Sen. Harold Metts (D-Providence); Sen. James Doyle (D-Pawtucket); Sen. Elizabeth Crowley (D-Central Falls); Jeanine Calkin of Warwick.
10. David Butler, executive editor of The Providence Journal, tells me the paper will fill the political columnist position being vacated by Edward Fitzpatrick. Although he didn’t elaborate (and it’s unclear if the new hire will be strictly a columnist or engaged in some other kind of political coverage), the decision is noteworthy since GateHouse Media-backed management has mostly cut newsroom positions since the company completed its purchase of the ProJo in 2014. Fitzpatrick said his decision to take a job as the head of media of public relations at Roger Williams University is mostly due to his appreciation for RWU. Still, it’s hard to ignore the uncertainty facing newspaper jobs, both in Rhode Island and elsewhere. The ProJo increasingly leaned on Fitzpatrick to do some of the paper’s straight political reporting in recent years, although that could also reflect how, next to Katherine Gregg, he was perhaps the longest-tenured staffer with political reporting experience on Fountain Street …. Meanwhile, in other ProJo news, the paper is slated to roll out the newest iteration of its web site next Thursday.
11. Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza helped craft an agreement to reduce minimum-manning in the Fire Department, and the deal ratchets down the mayor’s conflict with the firefighters’ union. Yet the issue of unpaid overtime spending hangs in the balance, so it’s unclear if the projected savings ($15 million over the next five years) will materialize.
12. Rhode Island is the least of Hillary Clinton‘s worries, according to 538.com, which gives her a 79.9 chance of winning the Ocean State. Meanwhile, Clinton’s RI campaign is staging a fall kickoff on Saturday, September 17, from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., at 200 Metro Center Boulevard, Warwick. Governor Gina Raimondo and the state’s congressional delegation is slated to make the scene.
13. On a related note, local Jewish Republicans and Jewish Democrats are set to recount this Sunday (9 am, at Temple Torat Yisrael in East Greenwich) their respective experiences at the major party conventions in Cleveland and Philadelphia. Here’s the rundown on the participants, according to a news release: “Republican REBECCA SCHIFF, from Jamestown, is an expert on civilian/military relations, and speaks on national security issues. She is active in the anti-BDS movement. She is a candidate for State Representative in Middletown and Jamestown. Republican DAVID TALAN, former candidate for Mayor of Providence, is Vice-Chairman of the R.I. Republican Party. He is the Administrative Assistant to newly-elected Democrat State Rep. Ramon Perez (Providence/Johnston). Democrat Representative AARON REGUNBERG, from Providence’s East Side, is Director of the Providence Student Union. Democrat Senator JOSH MILLER, from Cranston, owns the Hot Club and several other night spots in Downtown Providence.”
14. Former Pawtucket State Rep. William San Bento died this week after an illness at age 69. Former US Representative Patrick Kennedy, who now lives in New Jersey, offered this remembrance of the former lawmaker: “Not only did Bill and I become friends while serving together in the State House for six years, we collaborated on many issues facing the General Assembly. I am also proud to count him as one of my earliest supporters when I ran for Congress in 1994. Bill then served as my campaign treasurer for 16 years, and was a steady hand in the often tumultuous world of politics. Through it all, he always kept his sense of humor. In fact, Bill would often joke that if there were any issues with my campaign finances, he’d be wearing the stripes, not me! It was his easy laugh and that drew people to him, and his fierce loyalty and friendship that kept them close, including me. He will be deeply missed …. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Joanne, and his three children, Todd, Chad, and Heather. He was a deeply dedicated father, husband, and Rhode Islander, championing issues important to the people of Pawtucket, as well as a strong and vocal advocate for Portuguese-Americans. I had the honor of traveling with him to Portugal and the Azores in 1994, which left me with more than great memories, but a deep appreciation of Portuguese culture and history, something I relish to this day.”
15. Congrats to Jim Hummel on his being named the new host of RI-PBS’ “A Lively Experiment,” starting next week. Former WJAR-TV political reporter-turned-PR person Dyana Koelsch has hosted the program since 2011. According to a news release from RI-PBS, “The show’s freshened format will now include two to four panelists discussing local politics. New to the format will be introduction of a pre-produced interview or story package featuring content to be discussed by the panel. ‘I’m excited to be an integral part in the next chapter of A Lively Experiment’s nearly 30-year history,’ Mr. Hummel said. ‘Our team will continue to produce a must-see weekly premier political affairs program and, with the new format, more in-depth discussions to build on what makes Lively so unique.’ “
16. After a long odyssey, local freelancer Phil Eil got a big victory Friday when US District Court Judge Jack McConnell ordered the US Drug Enforcement Administration to release thousands of pages from a major drug-prescription trial in Ohio. In a news release distributed by the RI ACLU, Eil said, “Courtroom transparency is a pillar of American democracy. And, from my very first requests for these exhibits after the [Paul] Volkman trial ended in 2011, I had a simple goal in mind: make this historically significant trial as accessible to the public as possible. After all, Dr. Paul Volkman was prosecuted and convicted in our name, and with our tax dollars. We, the people, have a right to see who we are sending to prison for life, and the evidence that led the jury to that decision. I am overwhelmingly grateful to Judge McConnell for making this decision, and to the Rhode Island ACLU and my attorneys, Neal McNamara and Jessica Jewell from Nixon/Peabody, for their invaluable help with this fight for transparency. Today is a long-overdue victory for journalism, transparency, and government accountability.” For more background on this story, listen to an interview that Eil recorded with me last March.
17. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is slated to speak at Rhode Island College next Friday, September 23. She’ll also be at Wheaton College on Sunday, September 18, from 2 to 4 p.m.
18. Michael Sepe, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung‘s Democratic challenger, has staffed up, adding Kristina Fox as his spokeswoman and senior field adviser. Fox previously served as Jorge Elorza’s field director in 2014, and she’s the first vice president of the Young Democrats of America. Michael Napolitano Jr., the son of the former Cranston mayor, is deputy campaign manager. Former city councilor Ralph Ciunci is serving as Sepe’s campaign treasurer.
19. Jamie Fulmer, senior VP of public affairs for Advance America — and no stranger to Rhode Island’s debate over payday lending — is using J.D. Vance‘s much-lauded book “Hillbilly Elegy” to defend payday loans. In a recent email, Fulmer pointed to a related article in Forbes. “According to the article,” Fulmer writes, “Vance recounts a time when he used a short-term loan: ‘On that day, a three-day payday loan, with a few dollars of interest, enabled me to avoid a significant overdraft fee. The legislators debating the merits of payday lending didn’t mention situations like that. The lesson? Powerful people sometimes do things to help people like me without really understanding people like me.’ Like Vance, millions of Americans prefer short-term loans to the exorbitant fees associated with bank overdrafts and the inflexibility of other credit options. Yet too often, bureaucrats who have no need for payday loans lead the charge to eliminate them, while dismissing the rational actions of those who value the service.” On the other side of the issue, critics of payday loans say they result in high fees for the people least capable of paying them.
20. The great Jack Shafer on Why Print News Still Rules: “As a more rudimentary form of media, newsprint has the power to focus me. It blocks distractions. Give me 20 minutes with the newsprint version of the Times and I’m convinced I could clobber anybody in a news quiz who used the same time reading from the Times website. (Make no mistake, I like the Times website!) What accounts for print’s superiority? Print—particularly the newspaper—is an amazingly sophisticated technology for showing you what’s important, and showing you a lot of it. The newspaper has refined its user interface for more than two centuries. Incorporated into your daily newspaper’s architecture are the findings from field research conducted in thousands of newspapers over hundreds of millions of editions. Newspaper designers have created a universal grammar of headline size, typeface, place, letter spacing, white space, sections, photography, and illustration that gives readers subtle clues on what and how to read to satisfy their news needs. Web pages can’t convey this metadata because there’s not enough room on the screen to display it all. Even if you have two monitors on your desk, you still don’t have as much reading real estate that an open broadsheet newspaper offers. Computer fonts still lag behind their high-resolution newsprint cousins, and reading them drains mental energy. I’d argue that even the serendipity of reading in newsprint surpasses the serendipity of reading online, which was supposed to be one of the virtues of the digital world. Veteran tech journalist Ed Bott talks about newsprint’s ability to routinely surprise you with a gem of a story buried in the back pages, placed there not because it’s big news but because it’s interesting.”
21. Scott MacKay looks at how RI is faring on the issue of income inequality.
22. An entity linked to Fortress Investment Group (which owns GateHouse Media, which owns the ProJo) has a $40 million stake in Beverly House, the costliest real estate listing in California. The property may be best-known as the home of the movie producer who wound up with a horse’s head in his bed in “The Godfather.” William Randolph Hearst once owned the estate — now valued at $195 million, although bogged down by millions of dollars in loans — and President and Jackie Kennedy honeymooned there.
