In EG, DePetro, RI Future’s Hometown, It’s a Holiday Tree

The decorated tree in front of East Greenwich Town Hall, like the one on the State House rotunda, is called a holiday tree, reports East Greenwich Patch.

“Was this a Christmas Tree lighting?” wrote editor Elizabeth McNamara. “Not according to the notation on the town’s calendar, which referred to a ‘holiday tree lighting.'”

Ironically enough, East Greenwich is the hometown of both John DePetro, who has repeatedly attacked Gov. Chafee for continuing the tradition of terming the State House decoration with a secular monicker, and me, who has defended the governor for doing so.

Who would have thought East Greenwich, with its all-GOP Town Council, would side with progressive RI Future over conservative WPRO!?!

Well me, actually … not only did I tip off EG Patch to this last night, but also as was reported in Patch earlier in the week, East Greenwich is actually a lot more liberal than the local elected officials would have people believe. This dynamic is evident on this very issue: the town calls it a holiday tree but Council President Michael Isaacs says it’s a Christmas tree after the fact.

It will be telling if this goes unreported on WPRO today as that would lend credence to the criticism that the station is using the issue to beat up on Chafee, who generally snubs WPRO talk show hosts.

Maybe the holiday tree issue has something to do with the 02818 zip code area. Not only do DePetro and I live here, but Chafee lives in nearby Potowmut, which is technically part of Warwick but closer in geography and demographics to East Greenwich. Former Governor Don Carcieri lived here in East Greenwich when he called it a holiday tree as governor, too.

It’s also interesting that this issue would bubble up at the municipal level here in the 02818 zip code, as Chafee is also a neighbor of me and DePetro. He lives in the Potowomut section of Warwick that is actually closer to East Greenwich than Warwick.