The chill in in the air is picking up, pointing the way to November. 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.
The calendar shows how we’re slightly more than two weeks away from Rhode Island’s November 6 election. But time is fast slipping away. Barring a sensational development, not much will make an impression in the final weekend before voting. Republican Allan Fung staged a series of events this past week to hit Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo on issues including DCYF and UHIP. But defeating an incumbent in good economic times can be a challenge, and polls suggest voters may be largely fixed in their views (unlike 2010, when Republican John Robitaille gained momentum in the campaign’s waning weeks, without being able to surpass then-independent Lincoln Chafee). Fung’s team has reacted by suggesting the candidate remains within striking distance of winning. Raimondo’s campaign team is keeping its foot on the gas, just as it did ahead of her unexpectedly big win in the September primary. (An analysis by FiveThirtyEight found that Raimondo has a high likelihood of winning a second term.) Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether recent news media attention about a neighborhood dispute in 1975 has helped or hurt independent candidate Joe Trillo. (Ahead of that story, internal polling by one RI Democrat showed that Trillo’s support had climbed to 13 percent.) In his latest move, Trillo picked up where Raimondo’s top primary rival, Matt Brown, left off, vowing to restore an upward cost of living adjustment if he wins election. Trillo also pledge to put former Rep. Spencer Dickinson, a Democrat, to chair an investigation into state pensions.
2) Almost 42 percent of Providence primary voters picked someone other than Mayor Jorge Elorza in the September primary. That’s a way of quantifying the dissatisfaction expressed toward Elorza in some corners of the city since he took office in 2015. During an appearance on Bonus Q&A on The Public’s Radio this week, Elorza described some level of opposition as par for the course and he touted his firs-term record: “When you look at the last four years, the level of investment we have in Providence – we have cranes in the sky, we have people back to work. When you look at the city’s finances and the turnaround that we’ve had – the city’s in much stabler condition than we’ve had in a very long time. The most violent forms of crime are way down in the city of Providence, almost 30 years lows.” But difficult problems persist in the form of under-performing schools and the city’s poorly funded pension fund, to name two. Meanwhile, TV ads run by and for independent challenger Dee Dee Witman argue that it’s time for different leadership. Witman got a relatively late start, but her campaign offers another guage for how Providence voters view Elorza.
3) Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and GOP challenger Steve Frias having been fighting their race by speaking with voters in House District 15 and firing a series of mailers against one another. Now, in an unusual development, two left-leaning groups, RI NOW and the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, are effectively siding with Frias by actively opposing Mattiello. The two groups have committed $5,000 as part of a new effort, Citizens for a Corruption-Free RI, presumably to add to the mailer battle playing out in the district. The effort is led by former Democratic rep Linda Finn. In announcing the organization’s active opposition to Mattiello, Finn cited how lawmakers who’ve run astray of the law, including Ray Gallison and John Carnevale, have been part of Mattiello’s leadership. She also cited a lack of progress on some issues, including heightened efforts to prevent harassment at the Statehouse. (Mattiello’s campaign responded by defending the speaker’s record on issues affecting women, and by describing the RI NOW and RICAGV as “extreme progressive groups.”) Of course, seen House District 15 leans conservative, it’s open to debate whether opposition from these kind of organizations hurts or helps Mattiello in his re-election fight.
4) A poll done for The Public’s Radio, The Providence Journal and ABC6 shows that 71 percent of respondents support efforts to strengthen protection for abortion-rights in the state. During an interview with this radio station earlier this year, Speaker Mattiello famously rejected the idea of bringing such a bill to a House vote; he said it would be sharply polarizing, and he questioned the need to address the issue at a time when Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land. Choice activists see the matter very differently, of course, and it remains unclear how things may change in the next legislative session. Meanwhile, activists who support reproductive rights plan a speak-out in Providence this Sunday, October 21, at First Unitarian Church.
5) This Saturday, October 6 (6 p.m.), Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and GOP challenger Robert Flanders will take part in a debate staged by URI, The Public’s Radio and The Providence Journal. Seating in Edwards Hall is on a first-come, first-served basis. The Public’s Radio will broadcast the debate at 89.3 FM, and the ProJo will stream it on its web site.
6) On the surface at least, there have always been some similarities between Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia and Buddy Cianci, the storied Providence political Bigfoot. Like Cianci, Correia is full of self-confidence and brio. And like Buddy, Correia has attracted the interest of federal law enforcement – a likeness that got even more emphasis after the young mayor was arrested earlier this month and charged with fraud. (Correia maintains his innocence.) In another similarity, Correia this week rejected calls to step down – just as Cianci did after his indictment in 2001. But there’s one big difference between the pair. Cianci took lots of questions during a packed City Hall news conference after learning of the indicment from WPRI-TV’s Jack White. It was there that Cianci uttered his famous line about there being “no stains on this jacket” (a declaration that held up until a jury convicted him of one count of racketeering conspiracy in 2002). By contrast, Correia presided over his own packed news conference this week, but he refused to take questions from reporters, and the mayor’s supports tried to down out questions with cries of “fake news.”
7) Mayor Jorge Elorza, a former law school professor at Roger Williams University, on whether embattled Fall River Mayor Correia should resign. “He knows whether what he did whether what he’s charged with, he’s guilty of or not. I don’t have all of the details, but what I would say is that the FBI doesn’t bring loser cases. And especially in a case like this, all the evidence that would be presented is documents and you’re not relying on a witness remembering or forgetting what happened months ago. So it definitely doesn’t look and if he actually did what he’s accused of, he should absolutely step down. This is a distraction and it’s bad for the city.”
8) State Rep. Julie Casimiro (D-North Kingstown) faces a write-in campaign from independent Gregory Ferland. According to his campaign web site, Ferland has been a sales associate at Banana Republic, part of the team behind Providence Monthly, and an online banking specialist. “My experience and background enables me to find solutions that many others simply cannot see,” he writes on the site. “As an Independent, I will stand up for you against the cronyism and partisanship that permeates the political machine.” Casimiro, the executive director of the Kent County YMCA, was first elected in 2016 when she beat Republican Michael Marfeo. On her legislative web site, she claims credit for creating a study commission to examine start times for public high schools, expanding the eligibility of license plates for Gold Star families, and backing an effort to gather more information about the number of RI children who face risk factors known to impair their development.
9) As of their most recent campaign finance filings, the three GOP candidates for down-ballot state general offices, LG candidate Paul Pence, general treasurer candidate Michael Riley, and secretary of state candidate Pat Cortellessa had less than $1,000 between them.
10) With New York developer Jason Fane’s controversial 46-story tower proposal set to get a hearing Monday in the Providence City Council’s Ordinance Committee, Mayor Elorza remains non-committal on what it would take to win his support for the project. “There are a lot of things. It has to make sense for the city, both design-wise and also at the street scape. You got to go through all the steps of the process, and what I’m open to as well is, let’s find the right site for it. And I know the developer has said time and again that he’s not willing to consider another site, but all of these conversations are always fluid and they always evolve, so I’m keeping an open mind about it.” While Senate President Dominick Ruggerio has made clear his concern about the project, a number of East Siders and other local residents oppose it. Elorza said he rejects the idea that the Fane tower is a critical litmus test for development in Providence.
11) Media notes: Congratulations to Chris Rowland, former West Bay and Statehouse reporter for The Providence Journal. He’s moving on from his gig at Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe to take a new job, reporting on the business of healthcare at The Washington Post. (Rowland’s significant other is Politico reporter Nancy Cook, who formerly worked at what we now call The Public’s Radio.) … A great nugget about the late, great Jack White, father of WPRI-TV’s Tim White, from Jim Taricani’s Twitter: “A lot of people don’t know this. Jack White , was sent a $10 Thousand dollar reward check from the IRS , for proving Nixon cheated on his income tax returns, He never cashed the check. We were best friends. Any success I had was from what I learned from Jack.”
12) While Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s challenge to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has generated lots of attention, there are other fascinating congressional races playing out around America. In Nebraska, for example, Democrat Kara Eastman, a one-time punk rocker who supports single-payer health care is squaring off against Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, who plays on his name (“Everybody loves bacon”) and touts his background as a decorated former Air Force general.
13) State Rep. Ramon Perez (D-Providence), who lost a September primary to Mario Mendez (for the seat once held by John Carnevale), indicates on Facebook he’s running a write-in campaign. House leadership is standing behind the primary winner.
14) Last week, this column noted how a web site was picking odds in a series of political contests, and we posited how political bets might vie with spots betting as a new sensation. Departing Ward 2 City Councilor Sam Zurier was kind enough to drop a line indicating how betting on political contests has been around for a long time. In fact, Zurier said, the first very decision published by the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Martin v. Stoddard, in 1828, involved just such a wager. “The case involved a $50 bet between two gentlemen about who would be elected by the General Assembly to serve in the US Senate,” Zurier tells me via email. “Martin won the bet, but Stoddard refused to pay. A jury found in favor of Martin, but the Supreme Court threw out the judgment on appeal based on the principle that gambling contracts were not enforceable because they violated public policy. The Court went even further, stating, “With these principles, as well as those quoted from the other authorities, whether binding on this court as authorities or not, we fully concur, and have no hesitation in saying, that all bets on elections, whether by the people or the general assembly, and all bets on judicial decisions, are of immoral tendency, against sound policy, and ought not be sustained, especially in this state, where all our officers, judicial as well as others, are of annual appointment.”
15) Roll Call reports on U.S. Sen. Jack Reed comments on the suspected death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi: “Reed’s assertive stance on Saudi Arabia shows the hardening of congressional views on the country in the wake of Khashoggi’s disappearance. In March, Reed joined with most Senate Republicans on a procedural vote that killed an attempt to bring up a joint resolution that would end U.S. involvement in hostilities in Yemen, where the U.S. has provided limited aid to Saudi Arabia. Referring to Khashoggi’s disappearance, Reed said: ‘It appears this was a grotesque and obscene act committed by elements within Saudi Arabia,’ a reference to Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s crown prince and de facto leader, who is known as MBS. Reed suggested that President Donald Trump’s often cozy relationship with brutal rulers such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin has sent a message across the world about U.S. acquiescence to barbarity. ‘That message, I don’t think was lost on MBS,’ Reed said. In contrast to his March vote, Reed on Wednesday called for a halt to U.S. military refueling operations in Yemen, one of the key ways that American armed forces support the Saudi war effort against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, a country nestled against Saudi Arabia’s southern border.”
16) The overall number of reporting jobs has declined precipitously and that’s very bad. But there also some exciting new approaches to covering the news, like Chalkbeat, “a nonprofit news organization committed to covering one of America’s most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education.” Chalkbeat reports from seven communities, ranging from New York and Chicago to Indiana and Tennessee. The site also partners with a number of other web sites and newspapers to publish its stories.
17) Mayor Elorza, a Harvard Law School alum, on the affirmative action lawsuit case against Harvard: “I haven’t followed the details of it, but what I do know is that folks have been trying to weaken the extent to which these affirmative action programs work. That is something that from a value standpoint I’m very much opposed to. The only reason I got into the University of Rhode Island, I was a middling student, I had been rejected from all the universities that I applied to … I got into URI through an affirmative action program. Had it not been for that, there’s no chance that I would be here today, and I don’t know where my life would be. There’s a big difference between, you know, cracking the door open for someone and slamming the door shut in their face. And what affirmative action does, it cracks the door open, so that then kids who have potential can realize it.”
18) Give a listen: Rhode Island GOP National Committeewoman Lee Ann Sennick, Rhode Island Democratic Party Executive Director Kevin Olasanoye, and RIC professor of political communication Valerie Endress recently joined me for a spirited panel discussion at the Providence Athenaeum. We discussed the current election season in RI, internal splits within the state parties, the confirmation fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and other topics.
19) Via PBN’s Mary MacDonald: “Rhode Island housing has become significantly less affordable to many state residents over the past year, due to rising real estate values and other factors, according to the 2018 Housing Fact Book. Released Friday, the Fact Book illustrates why so many residents of the Ocean State are cost-burdened. Both renters and those seeking to purchase homes have lost ground in affordability between 2016 and 2017. More than 145,000 state households, or 35 percent, are considered cost-burdened in that they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing expenses. Only one city – Central Falls – had a median sale price for a single-family home in 2017 that could be comfortably affordable for a family with a budget under $50,000. And renters have been affected as well. Only four communities – Central Falls, Burrillville, Woonsocket and Pawtucket – have a median rental for a two-bedroom apartment that is affordable for households earning $30,000 or less. Higher incomes have also been impacted. Homebuyers with incomes of $70,000 – well-above the state’s median – are now restricted to seven cities or towns. The measure of affordability identified in the report is a homeowner who spends no more than 30 percent of their income on housing, including utilities.”
20) Once again, we see how baseball is like life. The Red Sox came into the ALCS as underdogs against a formidable Houston Astros team. It wasn’t a cakewalk, but the Sox wound up dominating the Astros in the five-game series, setting the stage for Boston’s first appearance in the World Series since 2013. Some of the best narratives emerging from the ALCS? How about how gifted center fielder Jackie Bradley, who struggled with his hitting for months, emerged as Mr. Clutch at the plate? Or how shaky flamethrower Craig Kimbrel persevered and got the job done (even though he felt the need to apologize to Sox fans for almost inducing ‘heart attacks.’) The Sox feature standout talents like Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez, but Boston’s march through the post-season could only be due to a team effort.