Question of the Week: Will Bernie Sanders run the table on Super Tuesday? 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) All other things being equal, Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung can be expected to run a competitive race against House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello in his Cranston state rep district later this year. RI GOP National Committeeman Steve Frias almost unseated Mattiello in 2016, losing by just 85 votes, and he ran another respectable campaign in 2018. Fenton-Fung shares a familiar name with the well-known mayor of Cranston and she’s built her bona fides as a Republican activist. She can count on strong support from people opposed to abortion rights. But Mattiello, despite the many controversies on his watch, can point to his support for more education aid, generally good economic conditions in Rhode Island, and his championing of the car tax phaseout. Looking ahead, the big question, of course, is whether indeed all other things will be equal. The grand jury probe of the Convention Center audit ordered by the speaker has sparked lots of speculation and ongoing rumors regarding what former speaker William Murphy dubbed “the House of Ambition.” For now, the status quo appears likely to hold at least until the grand jury concludes its work.
2) On a related note, here’s Rep. June Speakman (D-Warren), during an appearance on Bonus Q&A this week, explaining why she did not sign onto the recent letter/news release by the “Gang of Five,” calling on Speaker Mattiello to stage a caucus to answer questions: : “We have conversations all the time. I am free to walk into the speaker’s office – most of us are, free to walk into his office and ask him questions about this all the time. I’m not going to ask him about ongoing investigations, of course. But I would prefer just to keep on doing the business of legislating – that’s why my voters sent me there.”
3) The coronavirus offers a stark reminder of how unexpected events can have an outsized impact on the economy and politics. While the toll so far pales in comparison to the Spanish influenza of 1918, the stock market remains in free fall – and the virus could prove a significant leadership test for Donald Trump’s presidency. Democrats such as U.S. Rep. David Cicilline have lambasted the White House response, while some of the president’s defenders fault the politicization of the issue. It’s impossible, of course, to take the politics out of an emotional issue with such far-reaching effects. For one somewhat recent example of an unexpected event signaling worsening problems for a GOP president, just consider Hurricane Katrina and George W. Bush.
4) Two special elections are coming up on Tuesday, March 3. In Central Falls, Democrat Joshua Giraldo is the only declared candidate for the state representative seat vacated by Shelby Maldonado. And in Providence, three candidates – Nick Cicchitelli, John Goncalves, and Anthony Santurri – are running in a primary for the Ward One (parts of downtown, the East Side and the Jewelry District) city council seat formerly held by Seth Yurdin. Polls will be open for both elections from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea’s office recommends that voters check online for their polling place.
5) Speaking of elections, the Democratic presidential race is about to shift into high gear, with the South Carolina primary on Saturday, and then Massachusetts and 13 other states voting on Super Tuesday. Bernie Sanders remains in a strong position, and a new poll shows him leading in Elizabeth Warren’s home state. State Rep. June Speakman (D-Warren) epitomizes some of the mixed feelings among Democratic voters. She’s skeptical about whether Sanders can beat President Trump, and remains undecided about her preferred candidate. “Pretty much everything I want in a policy president has been said, but by different people,” she said on Bonus Q&A this week. “If I could take a bunch of pieces of all of the candidates and put them together in one candidate, then I would find my person. I like Amy Klobuchar, the details that she presents about policy. I like Elizabeth Warren and her plans. I do think Medicare for all is not doable. There is a branch called the Congress of the United States that has to approve all of these proposals. And while I do think we will get to Medicare for all, not next year or the year after, so Medicare for those who want it. And again as a proud union member, I worked very hard at the bargaining table to get my union its package, so I do understand why union members are hesitant about Medicare for all.”
6) The push for delegates is actively taking place in Rhode Island, ahead of the state’s April 28 presidential primary. The RI Democratic Party is staging events on Saturday, February 29 at two locations, for those interested in running as delegates: at Sprout, 489 Main St., Warren, from 11 am to 1 pm, (for registered voters in CD1) and at the RI Democratic Party office, 200 Metro Center Blvd, Warwick, from 9 am to 1 pm (for registered voters in CD2) …. Republicans are staging an event to get delegates backing President Trump on the ballot, Monday, March 2, from 7-8 pm, at High Tides Island Grille and Tiki Bar, 373 Richmond St., Providence … The campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have also been staging efforts to get their delegates on the ballot.
7) Rhode Island legislators have reignited the debate about tax policy in the state. Rep. Gregg Amore (D-East Providence) and Sen. Ryan Pearson (D-Cumberland) propose a one-percentage point hike in the top tax bracket, for income earned over $500,000, with the additional money going to improve education. Meanwhile, Senate Finance Chairman William Conley (D-East Providence) and Rep. Karen Alzate (D-Pawtucket) call for hiking the upper rate by three percentage points, for income over $475,000 with no restrictions on where the additional money would go. Conley calls the proposal an attempt to raise revenue while lessening what he calls a disproportionate tax burden on working families. Critics counter by saying the real problem is what they see as excessive state spending. Regardless, the outlook for either tax proposal appears uncertain at best, given the general reluctance of state leaders in recent history to support broad-based tax increases.
8) Christopher Young’s political coming out party came during a Providence mayoral forum in 2002. According to a report in the ProJo: “Fifteen minutes before the program was scheduled to end, Young stood, began screaming, then overturned the table with a loud crash. Papers flew. ‘You’re so deceived! Wake up! Just wake up!’ Young shouted. After someone yelled at Young to ‘show some courtesy,’ Young kept screaming. ‘I don’t care! I don’t have to show any courtesy I’m fighting for truth, I’m fighting for justice . . .’ That brash, impassioned approach typified Young as he ran for multiple offices and advocated against abortion in the ensuing years. He died this week, at age 51, from heart disease, not long after testifying at the Statehouse.
9) Making the rounds with Gov. Raimondo: She’ll be part of a recognition event for Melinda Gates at Harvard on May 29 …. Meanwhile, Raimondo visited Boston this week in her capacity as the national co-chair of Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. Via Shira Schoenberg’s coverage in Commonwealth Magazine: “Asked how the US got to a place where democratic socialism is vying with capitalism as an appealing model for some Democratic voters, Raimondo acknowledged that capitalism, as it is playing out today, is not working for lots of Americans. ‘Too many people are working 60, 70 hours a week and living in poverty, don’t have health care, don’t have security,’ she said. ‘There’s way too much economic insecurity and that has I believe bred a certain amount of anger, resentment and frustration, which you then see playing out in our politics.’ But Raimondo said she believes the right path to fix the economy is one Bloomberg believes in: Higher taxes on the wealthy used to fund big investments in public education, higher education, infrastructure and health care to improve opportunities for everyone.”
10) Speaking of Mike Bloomberg, his dual status as a media mogul and Democratic presidential candidate has caused some contortions in how his news organization covers him, or more specifically, doesn’t. Media organizations usually do a poor job of reporting on themselves. But the late Abe Raskin remains a rare and shining example of how a news organization can aggressively and impartially report on itself: “One of his most notable performances in the 1960’s was his lengthy account of the 114-day New York newspaper strike of 1962-63, which appeared in the news pages of The Times in its first issue after the strike ended. The effort was a journalistic tour de force that provided New Yorkers with a candid appraisal of what the strike had been all about. And although it was critical, in some respects, of some Times executives, it was printed without editorial deletions of sensitive material.”
11) E.J. Dionne Jr., Fall River native, NPR contributor and columnist for the Washington Post, is set to headline a lunch event at Grow Smart Rhode Island’s Power of Place summit on March 27. Grow Smart says Dionne “will share his perspective on the state of our national politics and his evolving thinking about which groups with different views most need to focus on their shared goals and aspirations. The New York Times bestselling author has devoted many of his writings and much of his career to the ambition of finding common ground among Democrats and Republicans. However, in his latest and just published book, Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country, Dionne instead focuses on the shared goals that should unite moderates and progressives. He’ll then bring the discussion back to the type of methodical consensus building that has worked so well in producing the many community benefits associated with smarter growth. It’s exactly this commitment to finding common policy ground that is the best hope for restoring the American Dream for millions of Americans, particularly those in our post-industrial cities such as Fall River, Woonsocket, Pawtucket and so many others which are in various stages of reinventing themselves as stronger, more vibrant and opportunity-rich places.”
12) Odds and Sods: The sagacious Scott Molloy will deliver Providence College’s annual Irish history lecture at 6 pm, Thursday, March 5, in the Slavin Center. The topic: “Green Ink: When the Irish Controlled the Providence Journal and Sparked a Local Irish Literary Renaissance After World War II.” The event is free and open to the public …. It’s tough to beat that Providence Phoenix talent. The RI Commerce Corp’s new Blue Economy podcast is hosted by none other than media entrepreneur/biz journalist David Hirschman, who interned for me on Chestnut Street back in the day (writing a stellar story on the past and present of boxing in Rhode Island). Commerce bills the pod as “the first podcast solely dedicated to covering the big-picture happenings of the world’s burgeoning ocean economy.” …. A ribbon-cutting and reception is set for 10 am, Monday March 2, for Rhode Island’s first LGBTQ health clinic, at 7 Central St., Providence. According to a release, “Open Door Health will improve the health and quality of life for LGBTQ Rhode Islanders, many of whom face disparities in access to health care and health outcomes, by providing high-quality, culturally congruent health care to RI’s LGBTQ population.”
13) Don’t look now – the Yankees have some injury problems ahead of opening day. Of course, the Red Sox have their own worries.
14) Longtime Democratic staffer Ann Gooding has resumed work on an interim part-time basis at the RI Democratic Party. This follows the departure of Cyd McKenna, who took a job with the Bloomberg campaign, as executive director.
15) Via NPR – How insurers sank a public option in Connecticut: “[T]he stunning 2019 defeat of a plan to implement such a policy in Connecticut — a solidly blue, or liberal-leaning, state — shows how difficult it may be to enact even ‘moderate’ solutions that threaten some of America’s most powerful and lucrative industries. The health insurance industry’s fear: If the average American could weigh a public option — Medicare or Medicaid or some amalgam of the two — against commercial plans on the market, they might find the latter wanting. That fear has long blocked political action, says Colleen Grogan, a professor at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, because ‘insurance companies are at the table’ when health care reform legislation gets proposed.”
16) An arts story out of Providence: “Dan Wood Finds A Creative New Use For Linotype, The Machine That Revolutionized Printing”
17) Welp – no more Providence Newspaper Guild Follies. So just sing the “Venus Song” to yourself while in the shower or during dinner prep: “People, I was once in your shoes/I was hung up on those Rocky Point blues/I got ptomaine at the 1025/And the Biltmore’s still a cheap dive …. That’s when Smokey came up to me and said, Newsboy/There’s a place in Swansea/It’s got plastic statues from Italy/and the humor’s always sleazy …. It’s Follies time at the Venus de Milo/Veeeeeeeeenus de Milo/By the big neon sign/At the old bowl-a-drome/We will sing you the news/People feel right at home/Venus de Milo, Venus de Milo ….”
