Question of the Week: What is overlooked when one topic dominates public discussion? Read on for more on that, and 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) The high-stakes fight between IGT and Twin River has become a tense drama, with lobbyists collecting heaps of cash, the House and Senate taking sharply different approaches to the issue, and Marc Crisafulli and Brett Smiley debating whether the state threatened Twin River. “We don’t know what was said between the Administration and Twin River,” Senate President Dominick Ruggerio responded in a statement this week, in an attempt to refocus attention. “What we do know is that both Twin River and IGT are valuable partners for our state, and will continue to be well into the future no matter what happens with the pending legislation. We need to stop the finger-pointing and work together to find an amicable resolution for all parties for the benefit of the people of Rhode Island.” That statement points to the possibility of a compromise. But for now, the House plans to pay for an outside study of the proposed $1 billion no-bid 20-year IGT extension, while the Senate – whose Finance Committee conducted its own thorough and probing analysis of the proposal through 24 hours of hearings – does not intend to seek further evaluation. In other words, the issue of whether to use open bidding (a cause supported by such critics as Steve Frias) will not get resolved until after the start of the new General Assembly session in January. Meanwhile, although gambling is one of Rhode Island’s top revenue sources, some lawmakers lament the overwhelming focus on the IGT-Twin River battle, with relatively scant attention for such important issues as housing and transportation.
2) The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats plan to unveil a plan next Wednesday, November 6 to fight climate change by powering Rhode Island will 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. “The proposal will include a blueprint for the Rhode Island’s first renewable energy utility in Cranston that shows how the city can meet 100% of its energy needs by 2030 with solar, wind, a decentralized micro-grid, energy storage, and improved energy efficiency,” according to the Progressive Dems’ Wil Gregersen. The unveiling of the plan is set for 7 pm Wednesday at the Buttonwoods Brewery in Cranston. One top question is where the money will come from to pay for such an ambitious effort. At the same time, with a rising tide of young people pressing for action against climate change, this proposal bears watching.
3) The gridlock in most of Rhode Island’s five general offices will change in 2022. That’s when term limits will prevent Gov. Raimondo, Lt. Gov. Dan McKee, General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, and Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea from seeking re-election to their current posts. There’s still a long way to go until then. But some potential candidates are starting to signal their plans. One is state Sen. Ryan W. Pearson (D-Cumberland), who is increasingly seen as a candidate for treasurer in 2022. “It could make sense,” Pearson tells me. “I might be interested in it some day, but 2022 is a long way away.” The Cumberland Democrat denies talking up this run during his fundraiser Monday at Venue 131 – “The word ‘treasurer’ never came out of my mouth” — but someone who was there tells TGIF that Pearson was clear about his intentions. Pearson serves on the Senate’s Finance Committee and his resume includes working for one of Rhode Island’s best-known banks as a vice president. The field for 2022 remains in a nascent stage, but some of the names to watch for treasurer (or a possible run for lieutenant governor) could include Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien, Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, and perhaps even former treasurer/gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio.
4) Do the world champion Washington Nationals have connections to Rhode Island? Of course they do. Manager David Martinez’ agent is Alan Nero, who was born in Providence to first-generation Italian-American immigrants and later excelled at scholastic sports while dreaming of becoming a coach. A member of the URI Sports Hall of Fame, Nero took a last in its division university wrestling team to three New England championships. He went on to become a prominent sports agent, managing the baseball division for Octagon, although Nero still spends summers in Rhode Island, according to his bio. So what’s it like dealing with high-priced athletes and baseball executives? In a 2015 interview, Nero attributed his success to how he once cold-called Bud Selig, who would go on to become MLB commissioner. “Though I was only an insurance agent, I was able to get the Milwaukee Brewers and Bud Selig as a client,” he said. “This background ultimately proved to be the primary catalyst to becoming a success in the sports-agent world.” …. Meanwhile, the voice of the Nationals since 2006, Dave Jaegler, is a former PawSox broadcaster who still spends time residing in Barrington.
5) Speaking of sports, is a new soccer stadium in Pawtucket’s future? The committee vetting RFPs for the reuse of McCoy Stadium and other parcels this week approved negotiations for one or more of the six proposals filed earlier this year, according to Commerce RI spokesman Matt Sheaff. Two of those six concepts involve soccer; one is from Brett Johnson, a 1992 alum of Brown University, whose Fortuitous Partners Opportunity Fund “invests in professional sports-anchored multi-asset developments in opportunity zones throughout the United States.” That’s noteworthy since Pawtucket Mayor Grebien has been touting an opportunity zone encompassing a relevant swath of the city. Johnson serves as co-chairman of Phoenix Rising, a minor league soccer team.
6) Is there more to the lawsuit filed against the legislature by Gov. Raimondo over regulations for marijuana and hemp? The governor says the issue is involves important principles, and it’s worth noting that Common Cause of RI wants to pursue a friend of the court brief on the separation of powers question. Still, some observers question if the governor’s unusual legal tack stems in part from the sour state of relations between her and House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello. Asked about the net effect of the nadir in the relationship, Rep. Mike Chippendale (R-Foster) said this on Political Roundtable this week: “That’s a double-edged sword. Because there is that schism, they’re not being apprehensive in pointing out what they perceive as flaws, whereas before – if everyone’s happy together – they’re going to be inclined to [be more private about disagreements]. We’re seeing these issues now because of that schism. That’s good. That’s daylight on issues for the people to see. Where it becomes bad is when the working relationship between the executive and the legislative starts to fall apart and become focused more on personal back and forths, rather than the business of the people. So there’s goods and bads. Overall, I hope we come out of this better off.”
7) John Sullivan, President Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Russian – who was questioned by U.S. House Democrats this week about Ukraine – is a 1981 alum of Brown University …. Meanwhile, in other Trump-RI connections, savor this excerpt from the time ahead of a 1997 visit by Bill Clinton to the Block Island home of developer Jerry Zarrella, recently named as co-chair (with Doreen Costa) of the president’s 2020 re-election campaign in the Ocean State. As Scott MacKay wrote in the ProJo, Zarrella made a big splash in Democratic politics in East Greenwich after winning election as town chairman in 1989, but he sometimes rubbed politicos the wrong way: “Inviting [then-Gov. Edward] DiPrete to a Democratic meeting put Zarrella in the doghouse with state leaders of the party, such a former Gov. Bruce Sundlun. One Democrat who cemented a good relationship with Zarrella in 1990 was Jack Reed, then an obscure state senator from Cranston. Some last-minute cajoling by Zarrella helped swing to Reed the endorsement of the East Greenwich committee in the congressional primary that year. The endorsement was a bit of a surprise because supporters of Charles Gifford, from neighboring North Kingstown, thought they had the inside track. Reed went on to win the four-way primary for the party’s nomination to the 2nd District seat, won the seat that fall and won the U.S. Senate seat in 1996.”
8) New York developer Jason Fane’s proposed 46-story luxury residential tower continues to spark strong reactions, as I describe in an overview on the status of the project. The next key date to watch is December 1, described by the I-195 Development District Commission as the final deadline for Fane to submit a tax stabilization agreement to the City of Providence.
9) Highlights from my colleagues at The Public’s Radio: John Bender talks with University of Virginia professor of education policy Beth Schueler about how the school takeover worked out in in Lawrence, Massachusetts …. Alex Nunes and Ana Gonzalez from the Mosaic podcast team report on how triple-deckers, a signature element of the landscape in southern New England, were once a symbol of anti-immigrant sentiment.
10) And don’t miss the in-depth multi-part look at foster families in Rhode Island, by our talented morning producer Sofia Rudin.
11) Best wishes to Rhode Island Senate Whip Maryellen Goodwin in her fight with cancer, a situation she first publicly discussed this week at the Statehouse, as Kathy Gregg reports in the ProJo.
12) As WPRI-TV’s Tim White reports in this 24-minute documentary, the FBI’s recording in 1989 of a Mafia induction ceremony in Medford, Massachusetts, marked a turning point for organized crime in New England. That was due to turncoats, RICO, and how the ceremony — which included Junior Patriarca — contradicted the vow in Congress of old-school mobsters like his late father, Raymond L.S. Patriarca, that there was so such thing as the Mafia. In one other generational change, it’s worth noting how homes in Medford, Somerville and other working-class communities near Boston have moved beyond the reach of at least some former occupants; The Medford residence where mobsters took vows of omerta 30 years ago now has an estimated value north of $600,000. (In other TW news, the adaptation of The Last Good Heist, about Bonded Vault, is moving ahead.)
13) I like how The Boston Globe is revealing the story behind the story on such topics as what it was like being married to Buddy Cianci, and how a spouse is caring for her partner, Charles Ogletree, a renowned Harvard Law School professor, as he suffers the effects of Alzheimer’s.
14) “The Mavening of Sportswriting”
15) When you go to the Great Beyond, is cremation or burial more environmentally sound? Possibly investigates, in response to a question from former ProJo columnist M. Charles Bakst.
