Dan Harrop – RI Future

March 6, 2015March 8, 2015

Legislators say it’s time to tax and regulate marijuana

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Representative Scott Slater introduced a bill (H5777) in the RI House of Representatives yesterday to tax and regulate marijuana. Senator Josh Miller introduced identical legislation in the RI Senate. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, both legislators were optimistic that this might be the year the legislation passes.

Though a pair of cranks attempted to hijack the press conference by insisting that the speakers use the word “cannabis” instead of “marijuana,” Jared Moffat, executive director of Regulate Rhode Island, a coalition of groups in support of marijuana regulation, showed remarkable poise and kept the presentation on track.

Representative Slater said that Colorado, the first state to tax and regulate marijuana, “has one of the fastest going economies in the country.” Money spent on legal marijuana products is money denied to organized crime, says Slater, who asked, “Do we allow criminals to control the market? Or do we want the sales to be regulated and taxed?”

Senator Miller cited justice, public safety and revenue issues as reasons for a growth in support for the idea. Many more groups have joined the call for regulation, and the governor, the Senate president and the speaker of the House have all said that they are open to considering such an idea.

Dan Harrop, the recent Republican candidate for mayor of Providence, was to speak at the press conference, but an auto accident, in which Harrop was unharmed, prevented his attendance. Instead Dr. James Crowley spoke about the current laws regarding marijuana prohibition as being “fundamentally wrong, and a tremendous waste of resources.”

Crowley also spoke of the “first mover advantage.” The first state in New England to tax and regulate marijuana, Crowley maintains, will have early and sustainable marketing advantages that should last even as other states follow suit. Massachusetts activists have already managed to get legislation onto the ballot, and Rhode Island has “a small window of opportunity” if we want to be first, and reap the financial rewards.

Senator Miller says that a majority of Rhode Islanders are in favor of taxing and regulating marijuana, saying, “I think this is the year to do that.”

October 23, 2014October 23, 2014

Providence mayoral candidates agree on almost everything

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More than 200 people watched as the Providence mayoral candidates took the stage at the Southside Cultural Center on Broad St for The People’s Forum. The candidates were asked about their responses to a questionnaire prepared by various* community groups that addressed three issues of major concern to citizens interested social and economic justice.

The three parts of the questionnaire were:

1. Providence Community Safety Act, an ordinance submitted to the City Council on June 19 that makes our communities safer by protecting civil and human rights and addressing the tension between police and community.

2. Public Money for the Public Good, a policy proposal from community groups and labor unions to make sure that when corporations get tax breaks, workers and the community get concrete benefits like living wage jobs and apprenticeships, money for affordable housing, and accountability.

3. Community Agenda to Address Violence, a comprehensive set of principles and action steps by Concerned Citizens of Providence to address the root causes of violence in our communities by strengthening youth recreation, targeting workforce development initiatives, and improving police-community relations.

The candidates, Democrat Jorge Elorza, Republican Dan Harrop and Independent Buddy Cianci, gave remarkably similar answers to all the questions and largely supported all the suggestions the community groups proposed. Even when the candidates disagreed with the ideas presented by the community, they mostly agreed with each other.

When talking about a living wage, for instance, all three candidates initially opposed the idea, with Elorza saying that raising the minimum wage citywide is impossible under state law, but he would be willing to partner with community leaders to pressure the state to change the statute.

Cianci said that he agrees with Elorza, and thinks a $15 minimum wage is fine, at least for companies that employ more than 3 or 4 people. Harrop rejected the idea of a living wage outright, focusing instead on job creation and tax breaks. This represented the only real policy difference among the three candidates.

Despite being the most controversial figure running for any office in New England, Buddy Cianci got the biggest applause and cheers of the night, just for walking up to the microphone. From my vantage point in the balcony of the theater, it seemed that Cianci supporters were scattered throughout the crowd and ready to rise in applause at a moment’s notice. Whether they were planted there or sincere followers was impossible to tell.

Dan Harrop made the biggest impressions of the night, making the crowd furious by attacking Cianci. “If you want to decrease violence in this city, you cannot have a mayor at City Hall who has a continuous history of violence…” was all Harrop could get out before he was booed and drowned out by the crowd.

Harrop, who is a distant third in the race, has nothing to lose by speaking the truth, and he lately seems to be not so much running for mayor himself as he is working against Cianci. Harrop went so far as to practically endorse Elorza outright, offering to give up 30 seconds of his speaking time so that Elorza might discuss details of his housing plan. When told he could not give up his time, Harrop said that Elorza has a great plan for reclaiming abandoned houses in Providence, one Harrop will steal if elected mayor.

In a race in which the Republican candidate stumps for his Democratic opponent during a campaign event, we’re no longer talking about about issues and ideas. Instead, we’re talking about personalities and public perception, and that gives an advantage to Cianci.

*Groups such as: DARE- Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Providence Youth Student Movement Prysm Fam, RI JobswithJustice, Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association (MHNA), Ona Vecinos de Olneyville/Olneyville Neighborhood Association, AFSC Sene American Friends Service Committee, Unite Here Local 217, Comité de Inmigrantes en Acción, Black PAC, and the National Lawyers Guild RI Chapter

September 30, 2014October 3, 2014

Cianci didn’t win debate, neither did Elorza; Harrop had best lines

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Buddy Cianci was the biggest presence on the stage, but that doesn’t mean he won the WPRI/Providence Journal mayoral debate Tuesday night. Or picked up many undecided voters, which is probably the only definition of ‘winning’ that really matters.

Cianci stuttered at times, he misspoke – or perhaps lied? – often and raised the ire, at one point or another, of nearly everyone on the stage. He’s never been one to care much for rules, and moderator Tim White had his work cut out for him in keeping him in line.

When talking about crime, Cianci suggested there were 15 shootings in 19 hours over the weekend. In fact there was 1 stabbing and 5 shootings. He claimed community policing thrived when he was mayor, but Ian Donnis of RIPR quickly tweeted a link to a 1999 Phoenix article of his that indicates it was “marginalized.” When panelist Ted Nesi asked, “Do you agree your failure to fund the pension system” is part of Providence’s fiscal problem, Cianci stammered his way through an answer.

He seemed like an old man, quite frankly, past his prime. But like Derek Jeter, Buddy Cianci has the potential to hit a walk off in his last home at bat.

Jorge Elorza, on the other hand, was more like a young Jeter: crisp and on message. He harped often on moving the city beyond Buddy. “Let’s leave behind the corruption,” he said. Mentioning incentives to help police officers live in the city and transforming school buildings into neighborhood community centers, he said, “I want Providence to be a city of opportunity.”

Elorza certainly had fewer gaffs than Cianci, but he had fewer winners, too. When Elorza mentioned increasing exports from the waterfront, Cianci retorted, “What are you going to export, used cars?”

But if one-liners determined victory, then Republican Dan Harrop was the hands down winner. When asked if he would drop out, he spun one of the biggest unknowns of the election into a Republican talking point. “I could fall, break my hip and [the Republican chair] could appoint Bob Healey to run in my place”

Harrop also may have made the most progressive statement of the night when he said, “I think it is immoral that we are asking our children to enter these” school buildings.

Elorza said he wants “be remembered as the person who turned around these schools.” But in order to do that, he’s first going to have to be remembered as the one who beat Buddy Cianci.

March 27, 2013March 27, 2013

Breakdown In RI GOP

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In case you haven’t heard, the election for Rhode Island Republican chair has turned into a mess. And let’s remember, this wasn’t a paid position or even a position of much influence or power. After invalidating the 94-93 vote by the party’s central committee to make Warren Republican Town Committee chair Mark Smiley chair of the Rhode Island Republican Party, the missing voter has been found, and it was all a clerical error; this led Smiley’s opponent Dr. Dan Harrop (who last challenged David Cicilline for mayor of Providence) to challenge the result.

But then, of course, it got worse. After an anonymous email from a hitherto unknown (and probably non-existent) Republican faction blasted the Smiley loyalists as bigots, former state senator Beth Moura left a semi-cryptic anti-GOP message on Harrop’s Facebook timeline. And finally, over at WPRO, Kim Kalunian has all the reactions from various Republican Party factions as of the end of Tuesday, including my personal favorite line refuting accusations of bigotry:

“We have friends and members that are Hispanic or black,” [Raymond] McKay [president of the Rhode Island Republican Assembly] said.

It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Not a promising start to a position which is vaguely the de facto leader of the Rhode Island Republicans (at least in years without a Republican governor). Not a promising way for a chair who might need to “restore credibility” to the Republican Party in Rhode Island to win the position.

I don’t think the 94-93 split is as divisive as it seems. For one thing, the candidates don’t seem to be that distinguishable on issues (as even outgoing chair Mark Zaccaria said). Smiley supposedly is the conservative wing and Harrop is supposed the moderate wing. Another thing is that political parties’ central committees are rarely representative of the actual voters that make up a party; those feelings are more accurately gauged by the party primary for party purposes. 187 people probably do not represent all of Rhode Island’s roughly 80,000 registered Republicans. Central committees tend to be made up of the most active of the activists, not of the rank and file voters.

So while Republicans can probably put away any fear of a public defection of their moderate wing (it has been quietly defecting for years), this vote doesn’t bode well for their prospects. After all, if not a single General Assembly incumbent lost a seat in 2012 (the year 38 Studios collapsed), it seems unlikely that the GOP could make significant gains in the 2014 cycle (certainly not large enough to weaken Democratic control of the state). What this will do is create bad blood between party factions, and in a small state like Rhode Island, you need your party to at least be able to work together in a general election to share data, assist with voter registration and outreach, and cooperate during get-out-the-vote. If there’s too much tension, the lackluster effort the GOP already puts into those fields could be easily diminished.

Indeed, it seems likely that between General Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras that the Democratic Party has two highly-popular and well-known figures to run for the state’s top office. The GOP’s top contenders seem to remain Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian. If the Democrats can seize the governor’s office, they might easily be able to hold it for the foreseeable future until the Republicans or another party finally emerge as a credible alternative.