David Norton

The downside, as reported extensively in GoLocal.com, is that Robbins has a reputation as “the worst slumlord in L.A. history, ” and his local reputation, with some business owners, is no better. Three of those business owners, Rosinha Benros, Phyllis Arffa and John Arcaro, spoke at the protest, and their stories are troubling. Each claim that their businesses were destroyed by the actions of their landlord, Lance Robbins.

Also speaking at the protest were Independent candidate for Mayor of Pawtucket John Arcaro and Independent candidate for State Rep Lori Barden.

Two races of special importance to Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello are being influenced through mailers sent out by a not-so-mysterious group calling themselves “Progress RI” which is funded by the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers (RIBCO).

As can be seen in the screenshot below, Nicholas Mattiello has made contributions to both Jan Malik and David Coughlin. This is in itself not unusual. Both are loyal members of Mattiello’s base and both received contributions of $1000, the legal limit. Coughlin received contributions in excess of the legal limit, but the extra $500 was refunded, essentially a $500, interest free, three month loan.

Mattiello awarded Coughlin a second over-the-limit and later-refunded $500 campaign contribution/interest-free loan through his PAC, Fund for a Democratic Leadership, as seen below:

As Ted Nesi tweeted last evening, the Progress RI PAC, (a name that invokes the Rhode Island Progressives Democrats of America (RIPDA) though they have no affiliation), has reported spending $9,348 on mailers against five candidates, including Jason Knight who is challenging Jan Malik and David Norton who is challenging David Coughlin. All the money for Progress RI comes from RIBCO, to the tune of $9,500.

Richard Ferruccio is the president of RIBCO, and lobbies extensively at the State House on that union’s behalf, often arguing for tougher sentences and longer periods of incarceration for offenders and against legislation that might reduce sentences.

RIBCO is a strong supporter of Speaker Mattiello, as seen from this list of campaign contributions:

There seems an alignment of interests between Ferruccio and Mattiello. Both are working against Knight and Norton and for Malik and Coughlin. The ACI, where most of Ferruccio’s prison guard membership works, is in Mattiello’s district in Cranston.

Ferruccio generally opposes changes in the law that lead to early release of prisoners. Mattiello was singularly uninterested in passing Governor Gina Raimondo’s criminal justice reform package of bills, saying “The justice reform package was never a priority for the House. I was never convinced Rhode Island should be a test case for a national model on criminal justice.” Sam Bell suggested that the alignment of interests might be a “thank you” for “killing prison reform” though

Ferruccio did not respond to a phone message left at his office. Following Matt Jerzyk‘s advice on Twitter, I also reached out to Nick Horton at Open Doors, but was unable to connect.

The 12 candidates, in alphabetical order, are: Jeanine Calkin, Nick Delmenico, Doris De Los Santos, Bill Deware, Susan Donovan, David Norton, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, Jim Seveney, Jennifer Siciliano, Lisa Scorpio, Teresa Tanzi and Moira Walsh.

Tanzi was the only incumbent on the list.

The news release contained narratives for 8 most recently-endorsed candidates:

1) We are thrilled to endorse Marcia Ranglin-Vassell of District 5 in her challenge against the House Majority Leader, John DeSimone. A special education teacher in Providence, Marcia is hoping to challenge established politicians that continue to put their own needs ahead of the people. Marcia has deep roots in the community, and she has also received a Woman of Achievement award from the YWCA for her work on education. DeSimone is an extremely conservative politician who has fought against core Democratic values, even once voting to ban Providence from raising the minimum wage.

2) We are delighted to endorse Lisa Scorpio from District 13, who is taking on John Carnavale. Lisa is both a community leader and true progressive. Her rival John Carnavale, who has been under police investigation before, finds himself in a similar situation after being probed by the reporters at Channel 12 News. Due to the ongoing investigation, it is unclear whether or not Mr. Carnavale’s name will appear on the ballot. Lisa is highly engaged within her community and lives within the heart of her district on Sterling Ave.

3) Our endorsement of Nick Delmenico against Pat Serpa should come as no surprise, due to Serpa’s endorsement from the NRA and record of championing the machine’s anti-middle-class agenda. Nick cites the dismal record of the Rhode Island political establishment and the need for change as his primary reasons for entering the race.

4) We would like to endorse the incumbent from District 34, Teresa Tanzi. Teresa has been one of the strongest advocates for gun control, reproductive rights, and economic justice in the General Assembly. She has held her position since 2010.

5) We are excited to endorse Doris De Los Santos in Senate District 7. She faces the NRA-endorsed Frank Ciccone, a very conservative Democrat. In 2012 Govenor Chaffee appointed Doris as the director of the Office of Municipal and External Affairs. Her opponent, Frank Ciccone, has been involved in several scandals, including threatening a police officer who had pulled over conservative Senate Majority Leader Dominic Ruggerio for drunk driving.

6) We are pleased to endorse Jim Seveney, of Senate District 11. A long-time Portsmouth resident, Jim only lost by a small margin in the last election cycle. He is currently the leader of the Democrats on the Portsmouth Town Council. He will be challenging John Pagliarini, who just last month led the fight to stop an increase in the minimum wage.

7) We are thrilled to endorse Susan Donovan, of District 69. A long-time community activist in Bristol, Susan is running to restore honor and integrity to the District 69 seat, which was recently vacated by scandal-tarred conservative Ray Gallison, after an FBI investigation. Susan is running such a strong campaign she scared the machine out of putting up a candidate in the race.

8) We would also like to endorse Moira Walsh in District 3. A waitress, community activist, and single mother, Moira will bring her perspective to a statehouse that has devastated low-income communities. Moira, who remembers having to choose between heat and electricity, will be a fierce advocate for the people of Smith Hill, who have so long been ignored by the politicians at the other end of Smith Hill.

In addition to these eight, we have already endorsed Jeanine Calkin, Jennifer Siciliano, Bill Deware, and David Norton. We will be continuing to announce more endorsements throughout the campaign cycle.

The tolls issue is not a case of supporting infrastructure projects or tax policy, or even an attempt at solving our problem of crumbling bridges and roads. Everyone agrees that Rhode Island’s roads and bridges are in need of repair. The tolls issue is really a case of trust in our elected leaders and the way the State of Rhode Island operates.

One fact becomes plain to anyone that has observed Rhode Island politics for more than 5 minutes: Rhode Island does not have a truly representative democracy. Legislators often vote against the wishes of their constituents. State leadership, and in particular Speaker Mattiello, force legislators to vote for bad legislation over and over again because legislators fear losing legislative grants, powerful committee positions and or having their own legislation quashed by the Speaker. In fact, three legislators have lost their committee positions because they voted against the tolls.

I also believe that it is fair to assume that house members that voted against the tolls will lose legislative grants and not have their critical legislation voted on. The reality is that legislation is controlled by Speaker Mattiello and his influence over the votes of legislators (via legislative grants, committee positions and other things) can not be denied.

I do not feel bad about my opposition to the tolls legislation because I am an adult with an opinion and a position on this very important matter. To be clear, I find this notion of social or group conformity tied to the label “progressive” to be pretty immature. I do get why legislators felt they had to vote yes on the tolls legislation. However, voters in my district are against the tolls, without a doubt. It isn’t even close. I would have voted no on the tolls and I would have forced a very serious debate about it.

As a resident of Pawtucket, I am reminded daily of the importance and significance of public works and infrastructure projects. Everyday, I walk my daughter to school, and beneath my feet are sidewalks made by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. When I go to Slater Park I can see a beautiful man-made pond with small bridges and a gazebo which is frequented by wedding photographers that was built by the WPA. In fact, the Pawtucket city hall was built by the Works Progress Administration. So, residents in Pawtucket are more than aware of the significance and success of public works projects, but that does not change the fact that we are against the tolls scheme.

To sum it up, this is not a progressive issue, or liberal issue, or a conservative issue. This is a trust issue. I understand that some legislators are upset with me for my position, just as they were upset about my position on the PawSox, but that does not change my position at all.

But the evidence presented in the story below the headline points toward a progressive wave, not a conservative one.

Of the 12 races mentioned in the article, only three concern Republicans challenging incumbent Democrats. Conversely, 8 of the races mentioned concern progressive or liberal Democrats running against conservative Democrats or Republicans.

If there’s any kind of wave evidenced by the ProJo post, it looks like a down ballot Bernie Sanders effect to me: no fewer than seven of the Democratic challengers mentioned in the ProJo post identify as progressive Democrats, and all eight challengers from the left mentioned seem likely to win support from the RI Progressive Democrats.

Progressive activists assure me this is only the first wave of lefties who will be challenging the neoliberal status quo at the State House this year:

• Evan Shanley won’t have to do much to tack to the left of incumbent Joe Trillo, but I expect this labor lawyer will govern more like Aaron Regunberg than Doc Corvese.
• Moira Walsh is a young mom who became politically engaged while working to raise wages for tipped workers last year. She also worked for Jobs With Justice.
• David Norton has already proved his chops as a grassroots organizer fighting to keep the PawSox in Pawtucket. He’s vowed to represent his district, not leadership, if elected.
• Camille Vella-Wilkinson is a Warwick City Councilor and a member of the Warwick Progressive Democrats.
• Linda Finn was one of the best progressive Democrats in the General Assembly. That’s worth virtually zero help from leadership when running for office.
• Lisa Tomasso might not consider herself to be a progressive Democrat, but I think she’s proven to be pretty progressive on many issues.
• Margaux Morrissaux has been the chief activist fighting against payday loans in Rhode Island.
• Cathy Cool Rumsey. Like Linda Finn, Cool Rumsey was a one-term progressive legislator who lost to a Republican who is now campaigning to win back her seat.
• Jim Seveney won the endorsement of the RI Progressive Democrats in the special election he lost earlier this year.

David Norton has a strong track record of success. He created the ‘Organizing for Pawtucket’ group which launched the “Keep the PawSox in Pawtucket” campaign – a feat that no one thought could be won. It was David’s leadership, talent, and passionate dedication that ultimately led to the demise of the proposal that taxpayers fund a new stadium in Providence! This campaign confronted the powerful conservative political machine that runs the Rhode Island Democratic Party—and won.

David is a true Democrat. He is fighting for working families and is committed to the Democratic party’s basic priorities like ethics reform, a woman’s right to choose, common sense gun safety regulation, and repealing the tax cuts for the rich—priorities that many Rhode Island legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, sadly oppose.

Norton has already been raising important issues. He has called out the General Assembly’s shameful move to raise car taxes on the middle class to help pay for enormous tax cuts for the rich. He is pushing for a fair tax structure that will provide relief to the middle class by asking big corporations and the wealthy to simply pay their fair share.

Norton is also highlighting the culture of backroom corporate welfare deals. He is committed to fighting for real reform, including the roll back of the massive expansion of the agency, Commerce RI, that is largely responsible for the failed 38 Studios venture.

Most importantly, David is willing to stand up to the State House leadership to fight for what is right. He has already proven that he can be effective, and we know he will be a powerful leader in the fight to bring Democratic values back to the state Democratic Party, the General Assembly, Pawtucket, and Rhode Island.

It takes courage and conviction to stand up to the establishment, and we couldn’t be prouder to stand with David Norton. We are sending him the maximum allowable campaign contribution under state law ($1000), and our members are eager to hit the ground in Pawtucket and knock on doors, make phone calls, and do what we can to help David win the primary in September.

[From a press release]

David Norton, one of those most responsible for preventing the new owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox from moving to a proposed new stadium in Providence, has announced his intention to run for the District 60 House seat against incumbent Democrat David Coughlin.

“Today, I announce my candidacy for State Representative of District 60 Pawtucket,” said Norton in a statement, “I have many reasons for running for State Representative. My primary reason is the way in which Pawtucket was insulted and ignored by Rhode Island House Leadership during the PawSox fiasco.”

According to Norton, Rep. Coughlin, “has a total of $26 dollars in his campaign account. He has not held a fundraiser in years. He doesn’t attend events in Pawtucket. He has no presence and is not known by his own constituents in the community of District 60 Pawtucket.”

Norton went on to say,

“David Coughlin, essentially, was handed District 60’s seat by Rhode Island House Leadership. Let me be very clear on one point, the Rhode Island Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, not David Coughlin, is in control of District 60’s seat, as is the case in so many other House Districts in Rhode Island.

“In the 2014 election, David Coughlin ran UNOPPOSED for House District 60’s seat, and was given a favored position on the powerful House Judiciary Committee as a freshman legislator, which is likely the reason that he votes as Speaker Mattiello tells him (as so many other Rhode Island legislators are forced to.) I would like to make clear, again, that this is the case in many other House Districts in Rhode Island.

“In reality, I will not be running against David Coughlin, because David Coughlin hasn’t got the resources, organization or independent leadership to run against me. The unfortunate reality is that I will be running against Speaker Nicolas Mattiello and the State political machine. Like so many other seats in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, the Speaker owns District 60’s seat by way of doling out favors in the form of legislative grants and favored committee positions, as is the case in District 60.

“The only way Speaker Mattiello can keep District 60’s seat as his own is to pour money into my opponent’s campaign. The only way the Speaker can hold District 60’s seat is to send an army of anti-McCoy Stadium door knockers or other House Leadership Members to invade Pawtucket to win this race for David Coughlin.

“I like David Coughlin. He is a nice guy, as far as I know. This isn’t personal: this is political. Politics is a fight. I am a fighter. I want the people of District 60 to have an independent voice at the Rhode Island State House. I want to be that voice.”

…but the pressure needs to be kept on.

In a rally at the corner of Hope St and Doyle Avenue in Providence, 25 people turned out over the course of two hours to hold signs in an event that was described as not “a protest of any kind, just outreach the public!”

At least three anti-stadium groups, from a variety of political perspectives, were represented at the rally, spurring organizer David Norton to exclaim on Twitter, “Unite the Clans!!!”

A similar rally held last week had just five participants. Organizers hope for even more participation next Tuesday at 4:30. They see signs that Governor Gina Raimondo‘s position on the stadium is evolving, and at least one of the signs echoed a new talking point out of her office, “Take a fresh look at Pawtucket.”

“This effort goes beyond baseball,” said Tim Empkie. “It’s not about just one stadium. It’s about the use of public money for the public good.”

Despite what appears to be recent victories for stadium opponents in the form of RI Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello‘s admission that a deal with Brown University and the City of Providence seems unlikely, organizers Tim Empkie, Sharon Steele and David Norton all feel that the pressure needs to be kept on.

Murray Scott says that the video made today will be premiered in a couple of weeks on the Motif Magazine and GoLocal Prov news sites. In the meantime, below is a preview.

In Ms. DiCola’s letter to Norton, she wrote the following:

Please be aware that, pursuant to Chapters 22-10 and 42-139 of the Rhode Island General Laws, all lobbyists and organizations they represent must register with the Rhode Island Department of State. Furthermore, all lobbying activity must be reported using our LobbyTracker online portal (lobbytracker.sos.ri.gov).

Organizations and their members must register if they are “promoting, opposing, ammending, or influencing in any manner the passage by the general assembly [sic] of any legislation or the action on that legislation by the governor.” RI Gen. Laws § 22-10-2. Registration is similarly required when organizations and their members promote, oppose, or influence “(A) any policy-making decisions or policy-making actions of the executive branch of government or of public corporations; or (B) any decisions or actions on the part of the executive branch of government or any public corporation involving the sale, lease, or other alienation or encumbrance of any real property owned or leased by the state or any public corporation.” RI Gen. Laws § 42-139-1(1)(i).

First, while Mr. Norton has named his group Organizing for Pawtucket, he actually does not fit the definition of a lobbyist.  According to state law, the term lobbyist denotes

[A]ny person who engages in lobbying as the appointed representative of another person. A person is “appointed” by another if he or she receives compensation for lobbying or pursuant to a mutual understanding or agreement engages in lobbying. “Compensation” means any remuneration received or to be received for services rendered as a lobbyist, whether in the form of a fee, salary, forbearance, forgiveness, reimbursement for expenses or any other form or recompense, and any combination thereof. Where lobbying is incidental to a person’s regular employment, his or her compensation for lobbying shall be reported as such and the lobbyist shall record the dollar amount of that portion of his or her compensation that is attributed to the time spent pursuing lobbying activities. In such instances, it shall not be necessary to disclose one’s total salary or the percentage of one’s time spent on lobbying. The lobbyist shall be required to disclose only his or her best good faith estimate of the dollar amount which corresponds to the portion of his or her time spent on lobbying activities.
Person means an individual, firm, business, corporation, association, partnership, or other group.

In the case of Mr. Norton, his efforts have been self-financed and driven by passion, not corporate dollars.

Second, while PawSox owner Larry Lucchino has registered as a lobbyist, his spokesman Dr. Charles Steinberg, as well as his various handlers and assistants, are not registered lobbyists.  In all likelihood, Lucchino may claim that his registration with the Department of State is meant as an umbrella to cover his workers also, something Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea may allow to pass because the various owners are also major donors to the Democratic Party.  But the hypocrisy is still obvious.

Third, one is forced to wonder based on these developments just what is going through the mind of Gina Raimondo if this is being allowed to fly.  On June 3, Raimondo’s office told WPRI News that they had received a 98% negative reaction from constituents.  Activists in this issue have noted this and see it as a signal from the Governor.  In terms of political ideology, there is much to discuss, but it terms of political strategy, she is obviously no fool.  This issue may prove to be one of her first major tests in office and she cannot afford to drive away that many votes, especially if she intends to make a bid for either a second term (probably) or an office in Washington DC (definitely).  Speaker Mattiello has no higher office to gain, he has alienated a large swathe of Democrats with his policy moves and statements that refute the basic planks of the National Democratic Party platform, such as choice, gun control, and the social safety net.  Raimondo is a different story and knows she is on thin ice, she had no electoral majority, she came to office with no mandate, and people voted against her by casting their ballot for Bob Healey, whereas Allan Fung was basically a catered offering to the die-hard Republicans.

It remains to be seen if such a similar epistle will be dispatched to the PawSox lobby.