October 10, 2012 – RI Future

October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Doherty Declines Invite to Debate Civil Rights

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Evidently a debate on civil rights isn’t something Brendan Doherty thinks would be helpful to his campaign.

The Republican ex-cop is the only CD1 candidate not to accept an invitation to a debate being hosted by the Rhode Island Civil Rights Roundtable, billed by the group as “an opportunity to hear these candidates debate issues related to civil rights and equality, as they respond to a questions about current federal matters and legislation.”

Both Democrat David Cicilline and independent David Vogel will discuss these issues.

Said Democratic Party spokesman Bill Fischer about Doherty’s dodge, “It’s astounding that a candidate running for U.S. Congress would avoid an opportunity to discuss issues of importance to so many Rhode Islanders, including minorities and women: affordable housing, education, the DREAM Act, health care, the Violence Against Women Act, and discrimination.”

I disagree. I don’t think it’s astounding at all. In fact, I would have been surprised if Doherty had accepted the invitation as he against what a majority of Rhode Islanders believe in on these issues.

Just look at some of the topics, provided by the Roundtable group, that they will ask candidates about: affordable housing; Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); education; the Dream Act; the Affordable Care Act; End Racial Profiling Act; Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); and voter ID laws.

That’s like a greatest hits list of topics Brendan Doherty doesn’t want Rhode Island to know where he stands on!!

Also, it’s interesting to note that one of the policy issues, the Violence Against Women Act, has been a source of sparring between the Cicilline and Doherty campaigns. Cicilline has accused Doherty of not supporting the bill and Doherty’s campaign has said he doesn’t because it offers protections to transgender people.

The debate is tomorrow morning from 9:00am to 10:30am at the Casey Family Services at 1268 Eddy St. in Providence.

October 10, 2012

Brown Poll: Good News For Progressive Candidates

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There’s a lot of good news for progressive candidates for Congress in Brown’s new poll that came out today. The biggest is probably that Abel Collins, an independent running for the second congressional district, garnered high enough support to be included in WJAR’s debate.

Collins campaign manager Dave Fisher said he “absolutely” thought his candidate would poll better, but critiqued the methodology of the poll, saying it relies on people who have landlines and thus overly-samples conservative voters, a theory pollsters deny.

“I would have liked to have seen us in the high teens,” Fisher said, noting that if internet users were better represented, Collins would be doing much better.

Incumbent Jim Langevin received 49.4 percent support in the poll and conservative Mike Riley got 31.5 percent support.

While Collins only got 4.7 percent support, that’s enough to be included to the WJAR debate. The poll has a margin of error of 6.3 percent. WJAR’s debat inclusion rules require a candidate get at 10 percent support.

“Once people see Abel on stage next to his opponents, a lot of people will change their minds,” he said.

The Brown poll is the fifth since the primary to show Congressman David Cicilline enjoying a 5.5 percent lead over his Republican opponent Brendan Doherty.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse did the best among congressional candidates getting 58.6 percent support. His challenger Barry Hinckley only got 29.7 percent.

“Voters also favored President Barack Obama (58.2 percent) over Republican Mitt Romney (32.3 percent) with 9.5 percent of voters still undecided in that race,” according to a press release on the polls results. “Among all registered voters, Obama received a 53.7 percent approval rating, with 45.6 percent disapproving of his performance. A similar number, 55.2 percent, approve of the way Obama is handling the economy, while 39.5 disapprove.”

Here’s a link to the full list of questions for the poll, and the responses.

October 10, 2012

Collins Didn’t Debate But Showed Voters His Style

Abel Collins would have been a great addition to WPRI’s CD2 debate last night, but how he handled his exclusion also gives voters a good glimpse as to how he might govern.

He organized a fantastic grassroots effort to petition the station to change its mind and include him on the stage. He also came up with a smart idea to effectively add himself to the debate by using free internet technology to stream live his debate answers after WPRI had spent probably tens of thousands of dollars to prerecord their debate.

In Collins’ live-streamed response, he spoke mostly of doing more for the middle class, government gridlock and holding Wall Street barons, like his Republican opponent Mike Riley, accountable for the damage their industry has inflicted on the working class. So did Jim Langevin. On big picture economic issues, he and Langevin are not that all that far apart – which makes them several universes removed from Riley, who’s more akin to Ron Paul than John Chafee.

He not only talked the talk of sticking up for regular Rhode Islanders, Collins also showed he knows how to walk the walk and use people power and proletarian tools to take on corporate interests.

That said, his campaign delivered their more than 1,100 signatures to WPRI after it held the debate, which took a some air out of the rally’s sails. And his live-streamed response was at best clunky (thanks in no small part to its media partner on the project – me!). It looked, as it was, homemade (so did Riley’s campaign productions in his pre-TV days). And his staff forgot to record his response, so there is no evidence of it.

Collins is perfectly in pitch with the progressive platform, and his would be a fantastic voice for Rhode Island in Congress, but he might not be ready for prime time. His energy and ideas would have been better used on a run at a State House seat.

October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Progress Report: Langevin Wins Debate; Cranston Considers Outsourcing; Gambling and the Economy

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Jim Langevin easily won the head-to-head between he and Mike Riley last night. He did so by giving coherent answers and not being rude. As out-of-step as Riley’s policy proposals may be – he talked about returning to the gold, or an index-based, standard for valuing currency – his big political baggage will prove to be his attitude: he seems to have a hard time being nice to people. Even debate moderators!

The ProJo’s Randal Edgar summed up the contest between the two nicely by comparing it to the Cicilline/Doherty campaign. “The 2nd Congressional District candidates weren’t as combative or argumentative as their 1st District counterparts, but their responses during the WPRI-TV encounter showed that the political divide between them is just as wide.”

You can watch the full 60-minute debate here.

The news magnet that is the Cranston School Committee will consider at a meeting tonight outsourcing bus driver jobs in order to save money on buses, says Cranston Patch.

Speaking of downward spirals … the worse the economy gets, the more the state makes in gambling revenue.

David Cicilline is not only a GoLocal “mindsetter,” he’s also a US congressman … this morning he writes about how to bring manufacturing back to Rhode Island.

The Journal should be commended for its Publick Occurrences forum, the second in the series on the local economy is tonight. In fact, there’s been lots of good brainstorming about RI’s economic woes – which is great. While actions always speak louder than words, words can often incite actions … let’s hope that’s the case here in Rhode Island.

And here’s an economic development idea from a Wickford art gallery owner that would foster the kind of growth everyone in Rhode Island wants.

We’re the seventh most energy-efficient state! Last year we were fifth…

The state is trying to make it harder for patients to get access to medical marijuana, but the ACLU is trying to stop it from doing so.

Great headline, terrible story: Billionaire CEO Threatens To Fire Employees If Obama Wins.

Great editorial on the right wing conspiracy culture. By the way, the left isn’t immune from this either.

Today in 1917, improv jazz legend Thelonious Monk is born.

And in 1957, President Eisenhower apologizes to an African diplomat who was denied a meal based on his race at a Delaware restaurant … the rest of the black community is still waiting for its apology…