I just had to share this gem I found. This was a high school project by Jennifer Huang, a student in Canada. She nails it on the head and does so interestingly and with a sense of humor. If I was her teacher, she’d get an “A”!
‘Lifelong New Englander’ or One-Time Floridian?
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First he was accused of running for office just to boost his professional profile. Now, Democrats say Barry Hinckley may have moved to Rhode Island just to run for office.
“…now Democrats are questioning whether Hinckley simply chose Rhode Island because it is relatively affordable to run for a Senate race in the Ocean State,” reports Dan McGowan of GoLocalProv.
The accusation stems from the fact that Hinckley was lived in and was registered to vote in Florida as recently as 2010 and launched his campaign to represent RI in the Senate in early 2011 … given that he also “spent much of his adult life in Boston” he sure hasn’t spent a lot of time with the people he now wants to represent.
On Hinckley’s website, he refers to himself as a “lifelong New Englander.” Either that isn’t entirely true or welcome to New England, Florida!
Progress Report: Why Don’t Local Pols Tweet; Harrop Tears Apart Tea Party; Angel for Gov Rumor Mill
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Rhode Island really does have a great twittersphere: we’ve got journalists, activists, business leaders, union officials and a plethora of other people all engaged in active debate in 140 characters or less. What we don’t have in that mix is a lot of local politicians, as Ian Donnis of RIPR points out. It’s too bad, because having more elected officials join the fun would certainly help inform the marketplace of ideas.
I would add that I happen to think Rhode Island also suffers from a lack of progressive voices on twitter … sure, a bunch of us have accounts and some of us even use it to push out relevant stories or respond to or offer critiques, but our counterparts on the right have made much more effective use of twitter than we have.
Interestingly (probably only to me!), the ones who do use twitter seem to like to pick on me there: I’m pretty sure I’m the reporter Ian refers to when he writes that Rep. Dan Gordon tweaks reporters for having more followers than them, and Rep. Jon Brien often included me in his missive tweets to the old grey lady. To follow me on twitter, click here. To follow @RIFuture, here.
Froma Harrop tears apart the Tea Party today on the Projo’s op/ed page: “The Tea Party movement has become the dead bad-luck bird hanging around the GOP establishment’s neck. Its anger-fueled energy has forced moderate Republicans off ballots in places where moderates tend to win. It has burdened otherwise centrist Republicans with radical positions that don’t go well with a general electorate. The Grand Old Party is being taken over by an ideological fringe with unclear motives, a loose grasp on reality and little interest in actually governing.”
Seriously, even Republicans are starting to implore Mitt Romney to stick up against the fringe elements of the GOP.
Keeping on the topic of low moments in the history of the GOP for just a moment, today in 1974 Richard Nixon becomes the first American president ever to quit the gig.
WPRO’s morning tag team of Tara Granahan and Andrew Gobeil are the first to get Providence Mayor Angel Taveras on the record about the potential of him running for governor in 2014. As we’ve noted, a Taveras vs. Gina Raimondo gubernatorial contest would be the ultimate referendum on how to handle pension reform: unilateral cuts, as Gina did at the state level, or concerted negotiations, as Angel did at the municipal level. Those two playing fields may not be equal, but have fun waiting around for politics to become fair…
Usually the national media comes to Rhode Island when poor cities and towns are going broke or when we’re taking retirement security away from working class people … but recently the Wall Street Journal came to Newport to answer that age-old question that so many are asking themselves in this era of austerity: is buying a yacht a good investment?
Vote For Gene Dyszlewski, Not Frank Lombardi
Those of you familiar with the case of Ahlquist v. Cranston might well recognize both the candidates running for state senate in Cranston’s District 26.
First there is Frank Lombardi, a member of the School Committee who voted in favor of keeping a prayer on the wall of Cranston West High School three times, citing his Catholic Faith as one of his main reasons for doing so.
When questioned recently about marriage equality, an important issue in the upcoming legislative session of which Lombardi hopes to take part, Lombardi replied that he couldn’t switch off being a Catholic. In other words, he would vote against marriage equality, vote against reproductive rights and vote against church/state separation. It should be noted that Lombardi has the endorsement of outgoing State Senator Bea Lanzi, a solid yes vote for marriage equality. Why she should endorse a candidate so opposed to her values is a mystery.
Listen to Lombardi at a school board meeting in March of last year where he talks about the “three hats” he wears as an elected official. He speaks of being a lawyer, an elected official and a “practicing Catholic,” saying that all three roles come into play when he makes decisions as an elected official. Lombardi is simply unable to separate his religion from his politics, and this is bad for Rhode Island.
Later, Lombardi discusses a DVD he watched about the history of the United States. The video was a documentary by pseudo historian David Barton, and Lombardi’s take away is chilling. He learned that “religion is inevitably intertwined with our government and has been for… over two hundred years…” adding, “I learned about all the religious references in that DVD, and I paid attention.” That’s right, Lombardi has learned his history from a fringe right-wing Christian crackpot.
If this were all there was to Lombardi, that would be bad enough. After losing the case and exposing the taxpayers of Cranston to a potential $173,000 loss in defending the prayer banner, Lombardi used his three minutes of opening comments at the next school committee hearing to go after an anonymous social media poster who called the school board “dumb.” Lombardi’s public tantrum was an embarrassing display of defensive pettiness, and unbecoming of a public official.
It’s clear that Frank Lombardi is not suited to any elected position, and especially not the important role of state Senator where he will be voting on and introducing legislation of real importance and consequence to the lives of thousands of Rhode Islanders.
Fortunately, there is an alternative running for the Democratic Party nomination on September 11th, Gene Dyszlewski, he of the difficult to pronounce last name and the campaign website justcallmegene.com.
Gene supported the removal of the prayer banner at Cranston West, and after the judge ruled against the banner and in favor of Jessica Ahlquist, and the ugly death and rape threats against the sixteen year old student began, Gene was one of the many members of clergy who publicly stepped up and defended her. He was also a very visible and vocal presence at the school committee meetings where he challenged the expectations of the pro-banner crowd as a minister in support of church/state separation.
Gene’s take on issues of church/state separation fly in the face of his opponents. Rather than rely on the revisionist history of Tea Party zealots like David Barton, Gene reflected on the real accomplishments of Rhode Island’s visionary founder, Roger Williams, declaring, “The separation of church and state is one of those interesting paradoxes: In order to have freedom of religion, Roger Williams developed a secular society.”
Gene served on the board of Marriage Equality Rhode Island, and is a full supporter of equal rights for LGBTQ people. He recognizes the importance of reproductive freedom, and has earned the endorsement of Planned Parenthood, Marriage Equality Rhode Island, the Rhode Island National Organization of Women and the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats.
Unlike his opponent, a petty bureaucrat plugged into the political machine here in Rhode Island, Gene is a believer in higher ideals. He wants to make Rhode Island a better place for all its citizens, tackling real issues of real importance.
For anyone interested in challenging business as usual politics here in Rhode Island, the choice could not be more clear.