Has anger dissipated over the Washington Bridge fiasco? Does a low unemployment rate mask weaknesses in Rhode Island’s economy? And hey, since we reporters are people too, we’re also revealing our favorite summer food and most eagerly anticipated summer activity in the Ocean State. This week on Political Roundtable, I’m going in-depth with the senior reporter for the Rhode Island Current, Nancy Lavin, and politics/economics editor for WPRI-TV, Channel 12, Ted Nesi.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Ian Donnis: Ted Nancy, thank you both for being here. Let’s dive right in. It was more than three months ago, back in March when Governor Dan McKee promised a day of accountability on the Washington Bridge. Two lawyers hired by the state continue digging into what happened and how. But answers and accountability remain elusive for now. Ted, what’s your sense of how much this will change once the legal team for the state presents its findings?
Ted Nesi: I’d say it’s just very unclear right now, Ian. They’ve brought in Max Wistow, as you say, one of the lawyers who got a lot of money back on 38 Studios. I can see why the administration, the McKee administration is arguing that the focus should be on ‘do what the lawyers say,’ because there could be money, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if you follow their advice. But I do think, you know, we just saw that Salve Regina/Pell Center poll come out with dismal numbers on how the public feels about the governor’s handling of the crisis. And I do wonder to what extent part of the frustration is people look around and no one’s lost their job. There’s been no big announcement of a, you know, a day of reckoning or even just a we figured out what went wrong we’re going to do this instead. So, until that day comes, I think there’s going to be a lot of public frustration.
Donnis: Nancy, what’s your sense of whether public anger and frustration about the highway and the bridge has kind of dissipated, or does this remain a very volatile issue for Governor McKee as he looks at a potential reelection campaign in two years time?
Lavin: I mean, my sense, just from what I hear, and full disclosure, I don’t really take the Washington Bridge because I don’t have to, is that the sort of traffic congestion day to day is not so bad since they’ve added that extra lane. I do think, and we were just talking prior to recording about Cape Cod traffic and what that does to the bridge traffic over the summer. I think people’s day to day ability to get to the beach, to get to work, to get to wherever they’re going, if it’s over the bridge, if that gets worse or continues to be not good, that’s really what’s gonna drive frustration. I think the reporters like us who are talking about “what does this do to Mickey’s ratings,” I don’t think most people really think about it in those terms. They think about can I get to where I need to go efficiently and without a huge headache.
Nesi: I do think the other question Ian, just briefly, is what is it all going to cost right? We just had the demolition contract come out that was I think like 57 percent larger than DOT hit estimated, and that’s just for demo. What are the numbers going to look like when we finally get the bids in for reconstruction of the bridge
Donnis: And what the timeline is and whether it can actually be completed before the 2026 political calendar with the primary in September? Well, let’s switch gears and talk about the economy. I think we all got whiplash with how quickly House Speaker Joe Shekarchi acted to muster through a bill to change taxes for financial institutions like Citizens Bank. This seemed justified based on keeping Rhode Island on a level playing field with Massachusetts. But it was another instance in which Rhode Island was playing defense on the economy. We see how Speaker Shekarchi champions the effort to build a life sciences sector. But that’s an area where Massachusetts is miles ahead and has been for years. So Ted, it’s kind of the same old story that we don’t have the new engines of job growth.
Nesi: You’re right. And I have come to think, Ian, in recent years. Maybe different from how I thought about this when I was a younger reporter when I was a business reporter at the Providence Business News a million years ago now. Is that you know, we talked a lot about the housing crisis in Rhode Island and I think the housing crisis is actually holding back job growth probably. Because there’s no elasticity to Rhode Island’s housing supply, we just don’t build a lot even when there’s demand like right now, well then if new companies wanted to come in and add tons and tons of jobs, where would we put those additional people? So I think it might be that we’ve been putting the cart before the horse around talking about jobs when first the state needs to figure out housing, if it wants that kind of growth.
Donnis: Nancy, you’re also a former Providence Business News reporter. So I’ll ask you to put your fiscal advisor hat on. We see how CCRI is hoping to develop a cyber technology sector. Do you see other areas that the state is not exploiting that it might to build a more robust economy?
Lavin: I mean, I think one of the things we hear about over and over again is the need for more health care workers, both as a service to our residents, but also as a form of employment. And you know, there was a study commission created in the legislative session to explore the idea of a public university medical school at URI. So I think those kind of opportunities, you know, because what we’re seeing right now is we do have Brown University, we do have, you know, some other sort of health related field degree programs in Rhode Island, but those people are not staying in Rhode Island. And obviously part of that is the provider rates and kind of the litigious nature, I think, also of Rhode Island. And I’ve read some stats that in Rhode Island, you’re more likely to be sued as a doctor. The medical malpractice protections are not as good. But I also think that sort of capitalizing on the healthcare, the need for a healthcare workforce as a service and as an economic engine could be beneficial.
Donnis: On a related note, the issue of the underperforming public schools in Providence has been around for so long that it sometimes fades into the woodwork. But we do know that this is closely tied to the economy for graduates to have future economic opportunities. Now, for the first time, there will be five elected members of the Providence School Board, and those elections will be decided later this year. Nancy, do you think that this will really bring some meaningful accountability to the effort to improve the Providence schools?
Lavin: It’s hard to say whether five members of a school board for a school district that’s under state control is really going to like bring the kind of high level change that is needed. I do think the level of interest in what is a first time elected position, for kind of a high profile, but a lot of work and maybe low payoff job shows that the community is paying attention. And I think that having some of those community members on the school board may galvanize that a bit more.
Donnis: Ted, it seems like Providence Mayor Brett Smiley has won credit with a lot of people by focusing on the basics. Good schools are a pretty basic need in cities. How do you see the outlook?
Nesi: It’s sad to me, frankly, the whole conversation because we, you know, the Johns Hopkins report that kind of lit the fire for the state takeover when Gina Raimondo was still governor. That was, I think, five years ago, maybe approaching six now. And you know, it seems like most of the problems, many of the problems cited there, have not been solved. And you have 10, 20 plus thousand students I think are in these schools and this is their one chance to get an education. So, I think you see it again, a lot of the adults failing to get on the same page. And in the end, the students are the ones who pay the price.
Donnis: This is an election year, of course. And in some cases, the volume of candidates who are not running is very noteworthy. Nancy, you and I both reported on how almost 50 percent of general assembly races will go uncontested this year. Your story in the Rhode Island Current had a very interesting anecdote from Brian Newberry, a longtime Republican representative. And he says that when John Chafee, the late U. S. Senator and former governor, died in 1999, Republicans really lost kind of a lodestar, a meaningful role model on the big stage. What are some of the other factors contributing to this situation?
Lavin: One thing that struck me that I did not realize is Rhode Island is one of only three states where a party endorsement Influences a candidate’s position on a primary ballot. So in Rhode Island, if you get your district committee or your state committee endorsement, you’re first on that primary ballot. So especially in Rhode Island, where we have, you know, Senator Josh Miller’s seat is going to have six candidates vying on the Democratic primary, whoever gets the party endorsement gets top spot. And there is a lot of sort of research to indicate that that’s an advantage. And when you have a, not a good example with Josh Miller’s seat, but when you have an incumbent running against a challenger, who’s not a sitting lawmaker, usually the incumbent gets the party endorsement. So the kind of structural system in Rhode Island inherently favors incumbents perhaps more than even Most states are most sort of election environments do. And that kind of, I think, wards off challengers to some degree.
Donnis: Sure. And Ted, in case you haven’t heard, Democrats are in disarray about Joe Biden’s…
Nesi: First time for everything.
Donnis: That’s right. Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance in his first debate with Donald Trump. You spoke with members of the congressional delegation this week. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed are saying very different things. Tell us about how you, what they were saying.
Nesi: Yeah. So I caught up with Senator Whitehouse on Monday of this week and you know, he was, and he’s at pains to say, you know, he thinks Trump is worse. You know, he hated what he said in the debate. He felt he made many false statements, et cetera. But, Whitehouse acknowledged he was horrified also by Biden’s performance by the state of the president. And he said to me, that President Biden and his team need to be candid, that’s a quote from Senator Whitehouse, about the President’s condition. Is he like this all the time now? Which first of all reveals that even a fairly senior Senate Democrat does not feel fully confident he knows the President’s day to day condition. But then, on Tuesday, I caught up with Senator Jack Reed as well, and Senator Reed was pretty insistent that President Biden’s the nominee. I’ve been with him behind the scenes. He’s cogent. and reading between the lines, I think Reed is also alarmed, but I think he just looks at the situation and thinks they have to gut it out because there’s no other path. But it’s just, we can’t overstate what an extraordinary situation this is.
Donnis: Indeed. Well, it is summertime. And although each of us lives, sleeps and breathes politics, even we grizzled political reporters occasionally take some time off and try to enjoy summer. So we’re going to close on a lighter note with a favorite Rhode Island summer activity and favorite Rhode Island summer food experience. Let’s start with Ted.
Nesi: Well, I have to pick the Crescent Park Carousel in Riverside is a great summertime spot. Always fun to see all the families there. And, when I became a Rhode Islander, after college and my wife is a lifelong Rhode Islander introduced me to Saugy dogs. So we always have Saugy dogs on the 4th of July.
Lavin: I am a beach lover, with plenty of SPF, so beach trips for sure. Narragansett Town Beach was the family beach of choice growing up, but now I opt for the state beaches. I like East Matunuck. And as an East Providence native, Just over the line from Seekonk. It would not be summer without a soft serve twist cone from Sundaes in Seekonk.
Donnis: I love it. I am partial to South Shore Beach in Little Compton. It used to be pretty tough to find because the locals seem to take the side signs down to confuse the out of towners. Now we have navigation, but a lot of people gather around the parking area. But if you walk down the beach a little bit in the direction of Westport, it’s very sparsely populated and really lovely. And of course, the late George Germon of Al Forno is credited with conceiving grilled pizza. There are few things better than a grilled pizza on the patio outside at Al Forno, maybe with some squash blossoms. And that’s just pure summer right there. All right, we’ve got to leave it. Thank you so much. Senior reporter for the Rhode Island Current, Nancy Lavin. Thank you for joining us. And political and politics economics reporter for WPRI TV, Channel 12, Ted Nesi. Thank you.
Nesi: Good to be with you, Ian.
Lavin: Thanks, Ian.
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Is Rhode Island going to get left in the dust when it comes to celebrating the 250th anniversary of America two years from now? One local history expert says the state could be missing out on an opportunity to land a visit by the Tall Ships. You can read more about that in my TGIF column, posting around 4 this afternoon at thepublicsradio.org/TGIF and on what used to be known as Twitter @IanDon.
That’s it for our show. Political Roundtable is a production of The Public’s Radio. Our producer this week is James Baumgartner. I’m Ian Donnis, and I’ll see you on the radio.
