There are lots of things cooking in the Biggest Little, even with lawmakers taking off for their spring break. So thanks for stopping by for my weekly column. As usual, your tips and comments are welcome, and you can follow me through the week on the twitters. Here we go.
1. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello attracted favorable attention when he introduced a line-item veto bill at the request of Governor Gina Raimondo this week. Ken Block, the leading force in raising attention on this issue, was effusive: “This is a very big step forward for good government reform in Rhode Island,” Block said in an email. But line-item veto isn’t exactly on a fast-track. Mattiello spokesman Larry Berman said the speaker’s “goal is to establish a study commission in order to conduct a comprehensive review of the issue during the off-session.” Meanwhile, there’s another reform that could arguably have a bigger impact on state politics: spot audits of elected officials’ campaign finance accounts. Raimondo supported that idea in a recent good-government op-ed, but she appears to be soft-pedaling the concept. But there’s ample evidence of the need for a tighter watch: Back in 2015, RIPR reported on how Rhode Island doesn’t require routine audits of state lawmakers’ campaign accounts. The story was prompted by state Rep. Joseph Almeida‘s arrest in a campaign finance case. More recently, Providence City Council President Luis Aponte and his former majority leader, Kevin Jackson, have come under law enforcement scrutiny for campaign finance issues. And then there’s former House speaker Gordon Fox, who remains in federal prison due to his misuse of campaign funds. Instituting routine audits of campaign accounts would require increasing funding for the state Board of Elections — where Richard Thornton is known for doing strong work — although legislative leaders seem less than enthusiastic about that prospect. So maybe Rhode Island voters will have a chance to vote in 2018 on approving a line-item veto. More than 40 other states have it, so there’s no reason why the Ocean State shouldn’t; the LIV might have a greater effect before the budget lands on the governor’s desk. Yet without random audits of lawmakers’ campaign accounts, recent history suggests that at least some elected officials will violate the law.
2. Providence Equity Partners, the majority owner of Ascend Learning LLC, is in advanced talks to sell the maker of educational software for more than $2 billion, Reuters reports.
3. “RI Promise Builds Momentum” That’s the headline on an email from Governor Raimondo‘s office at week’s end. It goes on to say: “Just ask the business groups who offered their endorsements this week. Or, look at two independent polls that show a vast majority of Rhode Islanders—three out of five—support the proposal.” One finding, by Bryant University’s Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership, showed stronger backing for Raimondo’s college tuition plan than for Speaker Mattiello‘s car tax phaseout. Another, by RI Working Families, also showed strong support for Raimondo’s proposal. Yet the speaker seems unmoved by the polling information, based on a statement issued by his office. It’s true, too, that the Hassenfeld details can be interpreted in different ways, since respondents strongly favored conditioning college assistance on economic need and high school academic performance. There are some mixed messages from out of state: New York just approved a new college tuition plan, but it includes strings like requiring beneficiaries to remain in-state for a period of time. New York Times columnist David Brooks isn’t a fan, writing that the initiative could worsen gaps between rich and poor, among other adverse effects. Back in RI, Raimondo’s comms director, Mike Raia, said the governor is continuing to press the case: “The governor is out and about around the state every day, talking with local community leaders. She’s meeting each week one-on-one with rank and file members.” Yet with her office indicating Raimondo is open to changes, the question now is, how different her original proposal will be if and when it gets passed by the General Assembly? A second question: would the $175,000 being spent on pro-RI Promise TV ads by an affiliate of the Democratic Governors Association have been better spent on a field operation aimed at winning support from lawmakers?
4. With a re-election fight looming next year, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse seems to be sketching out a more nuanced explanation of why he won’t take a stance on Invenergy’s controversial proposal for an energy plant in Burrillville. “I think that is a decision that the state needs to make,” Whitehouse said on this week’s RI Public Radio Bonus Q&A. “It’s one that is the area where it’s really not appropriate to try to bring political influence to bear. It is in a quasi-judicial body,” the state Energy Facility Siting Board. “…. We can’t win the battle that we need to fight one facility at a time, I don’t believe …. In the Senate, I have the ability, I think, to actually find a way to tip the discussion towards a solution to the climate change problem that will make the Invenergy project and a lot of others have a whole different aspect to them once you’ve got a proper price on carbon and once you’re no longer subsidizing these big fossil fuel plants.” Whitehouse’s lack of willingness to take a stance on the Burriville project has rankled opponents of the project. It also stands in contrast to the senator’s opposition to another controversial energy proposal, an LNG facility in Fall River in 2011. At the time, Whitehouse said he would work with other lawmakers to try to defund the project.
5. RI-PBS is reaping a whopping $94 million from the sale of part of its spectrum. (There’s no business affiliation between RI-PBS and RIPR, in case you were wondering.) RI-PBS President David Piccerelli said the windfall could boost local programming. “We serve a culturally rich community and we plan to invest in content that highlights the assets of our community,” Piccerelli said in a statement. “There is no shortage of great ideas and topics; however, until now we have been financially constrained from delivering on these,”
6. Meanwhile, the Providence Journal made news with two stories this week — only one of which got covered by the paper. Dave Butler is leaving Fountain Street in June, after less than two years as executive editor. Butler’s tenure coincided with a punchier presentation of the ProJo and also the increasingly frequent job cuts widely associated with the newspaper’s owner, GateHouse Media. Staffing keeps shrinking on Fountain Street and that will continue with the latest buyout at the ProJo. Among those heading out the door is Deputy Executive Editor Peter Phipps. That could help explain why Butler will be succeeded by managing editor Alan Rosenberg, with Michael McDermott, managing editor for features, moving up to take Rosenberg’s post. Back when Gatehouse bought the ProJo in 2014, a local group of interested people took a shot at acquiring the statewide daily, but were not selected. We can only wonder whether local ownership would have fared better in preserving a more robust level of newsroom staffing. Meanwhile, if GateHouse ever decides to sell, maybe RI-PBS could make an offer.
7. Who knew? Rhode Island is seen as a rival of Delaware’s reputation as a leading HQ of incorporation. According to a news report there, RI and Nevada “have vowed to challenge Delaware’s reputation as the nation’s incorporation capital. More than 1.2 million business, including 66 percent of Fortune 500 companies, have formed under the state’s incorporation laws.” The funny thing is, this seems to be news to RI officials. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea‘s office said it’s not involved in pushing RI as a incorporation capital. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor was reportedly amused by the news from Delaware; the thinking is that DE may be responding to one of the recommendations formulated by Brookings for RI.
8. Cable giant Comcast has been among the largest contributors to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in recent years, donating more than $25,000 to Rhode Island’s junior senator. “I honestly don’t know,” Whitehouse said when asked why Comcast would emerge as one of his top contributors. But Whitehouse is among the senators overseeing the Comcast-Warner deal who have collected money from both sides. Comcast’s PAC didn’t stint, giving money to every senator involved in looking at the deal.
9. State Police confirmed this week an investigation into Providence City Council President Luis Aponte. Aponte’s lawyer, Artin Coloian, declined comment when contacted by RIPR. One of the council members critical of Aponte’s majority bloc, David Salvatore of Ward 14, offered this comment on the situation: “The latest news about a grand jury looking into some of the issues swirling around the Council President is a disturbing reminder that there is a cloud hanging over the Providence City Council leadership, and by extension, the entire council and Providence city government. For too long, the City Council’s ‘leadership team’ has dismissed concerns about the failure of the Council president to be forthcoming about his financial dealings and his refusal to file basic campaign finance disclosure forms …. Those of us who serve in city government have an obligation to be transparent and accountable, to operate in a manner that respects the public interest and advances the public good …. We need to clean up this mess and change the way we do business going forward.” In a statement, Aponte said, “Throughout this process I have fully cooperated with every request made of me. It’s important for my constituents to know that I will continue to cooperate willingly and completely. At the same time, this does not distract from my attention to matters before the City Council, nor does it distract me from representing my constituents on issues of critical importance to them.”
10. Rhode Island could use more and better polling. That situation came into clear view this week when Morning Consult released a poll this week — the first public details on Governor Raimondo‘s approval rating since Morning Consult’s most recent previous release last September. Some take the results cautiously, questioning the methodology of the DC firm. Meanwhile, details of a Bryant University Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership poll dribbled out Wednesday, after Institute head Gary Sasse had talked up the forthcoming release. But the poll was tucked away on the institute’s web site. It wasn’t sent directly to the media. And Sasse initially declined to release details about the methodology before later relenting.
11. Senator Whitehouse doesn’t think Republicans will push for simple-majority votes even after exercising the nuclear option on Neil Gorsuch‘s nomination. Trump voters are sticking with their man, based on this WBUR report on Central Massachusetts (a place where Bernie Sanders performed well, outside of Worcester). But Whitehouse believes that an anti-Trump backlash will help Senate Democrats as they face a tough landscape in 2018, having to defend 25 seats (with 10 in pro-Trump districts), while Republicans only have to defend 9. “What we’re seeing is such a tidal shift in the electorate against Trump and such an animation of our side of the aisle that we actually, I think, stand a reasonably good chance of holding our own,” Whitehouse said on Bonus Q&A. The Democrat points to how a Democrat gave a close challenge to a Republican in a special U.S. House race in Kansas this week.
12. More problems related to UHIP.
13. The inside view from the Statehouse is that marijuana legalization is not happening this year, despite the many hours of testimony offered for and against earlier this week.
14. Will Big Beer crush micro-brewers in Rhode Island and elsewhere? Sam Adams kingpin Jim Koch offered this warning via The New York Times: “These distributors are free to favor their primary suppliers over independent craft brewers when it comes to promotion, visibility, shelf space and marketing support. Laws passed in the 1970s to protect small ‘mom and pop’ wholesalers from the big brewers are now obsolete and have the unintended consequence of creating an unfavorable balance of power — unfavorable to craft brewers and people who enjoy their beers. The Department of Justice is allowing the damage to continue by greenlighting these two big brewers to extend their duopoly into craft beer by acquiring craft brewers. For example, in December the department approved AB InBev’s acquisition of Karbach, one of the largest craft brewers in Texas, a state where AB InBev already controls 52 percent of the beer market. Drinkers buying cute-sounding brands like Goose Island or Terrapin or Ten Barrel are often unaware that these brands, some of them once independent, are now just subsidiaries of AB InBev or Molson Coors, which are not transparent about disclosing their true ownership anywhere on the bottle.”
15. Best wishes to Kristin Gourlay, who’s moving to the Chicago area to be closer to family after spending five years as RIPR’s healthcare reporter. She was out front in covering Rhode Island’s opioid crisis and has done a lot of stellar reporting on a range of issues. Kristin is a lovely person with a great sense of humor, so we’re going to miss her and wish her the best in her new adventure. In a farewell post, she highlights six healthcare issues to keep a close eye on in Rhode Island. Kristin also spoke this week with Elizabeth Burke Bryant about RI Kids Count’s latest Fact Book.
16. Jake Bissaillon is moving from deputy communications director in the Rhode Island House to special assistant to RI Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey of Warwick.
17. Also on the move: Sophie O’Connell is leaving as director of executive communications at the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services, after eight years with the state. She said she’s headed off for “new opportunities.”
18. Noted: The March for Science is coming to the Statehouse next Saturday, April 22, at 1 pm. Via news release: “The March in Providence is connected to science marches across the country, all for the same purpose and all taking place on Earth Day. We come together to celebrate the importance of science in our lives and in the futures of our communities in a time when science, truth, and good policy are under attack by those who offer ‘alternative facts.’ If there was ever a country in which promotion and support for science should be a national passion, it is the United States. From the beginnings of the Land Grant University system, which we celebrate with the 125th anniversary of the University of Rhode Island this year, our government has promoted science in agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, defense, and many other areas that lead to progress in our nation. Our investments in, and reliance on, science has made this country the best place on Earth to live. To continue the progress of our nation, we advocate for publicly-funded scientific research and policies that are evidence-based rather than subject to politics and ideology at the expense of the American people. Solid data and publicly available information are critical for leaders to make sound decisions at the local, state and federal levels.”
19. Congratulations to C.J. Chivers of The New York Times, ex of the ProJo, and other Pulitzer winners announced this week. Read his prize-winning story here.
20. Scott MacKay on the PawSox issue: “Anyone who thinks that Raimondo, who is gearing up for reelection, will embrace any stadium plan that looks like a bad deal for taxpayers believes in the Easter Bunny. Ditto for House Speaker Nick Mattiello, who barely won reelection in his Cranston district last year. The Paw Sox are a civic treasure, great baseball at affordable prices. Yet a ballpark does not generate many good jobs; pumping beer taps and cooking fries does not a living wage make. So the owners must understand that they won’t get the same state incentives as say, General Electric. But Rhode Islanders have to realize that the Paw Sox are not a charity and that Ben Mondor is not walking through that turnstile. Owners want a new ballpark, not a renovated McCoy Stadium, that will draw more paying fans and provide space for more functions.”
21. Weekend Reads: how Brian Stelter became a top reporter on the media beat; “CNN had a problem. Donald Trump solved it“; “The United Airlines fiasco. How game theory could help“
22. Nice Slice is on the move, the latest sign of the changing nature of Thayer Street.
