Democrats – Page 3

April 23, 2012April 23, 2012

Vote Progressive for Dem Convention Delegates

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Democrats don’t have as much at stake in Tuesday’s primary vote as does the GOP, who don’t have all that much at stake actually, but they do have an opportunity to send progressives and liberals to the party convention in August rather than the old-guard, moderate Democrats who usually get to go.

First, you need to know where to vote. Type your address into this Google gadget and it’ll spit out not only where, but it’ll give you directions there too:

And if you need a hand knowing who’s a progressive and who isn’t, we made a little cheat sheet for you. The progressives are listed in bold, with a short description. Both Districts vote for 11 delegates … and don’t forget, you don’t have to vote for 11. And if you’re trying to send a progressive slate to the convention you may not want to since a vote for a non-progressive could make a big difference when the votes are tallied.

CD1

Onna A. MONIZ-JOHN – According to EastBayRI.com, she’s ” a retired Affirmative Action and Welfare director for the City of East Providence” who was recently honored by the Rhode Island Black Heritage society for her “outstanding contributions to the African American community in Rhode Island.”
Julie E. MEYERS – A Leadership RI alum and a vocal advocate of marriage equality.
Jeffrey M. PADWA – He’s got Providence Mayor Angel Taveras’ endorsement as city solicitor, so he’s got ours for delegate.
Terri-Denise CORTVRIEND
Myrth YORK– A three time gubernatorial loser, who considered running for mayor before endorsing Taveras, she used to represent the East Side in the General Assembly.
David A. SALVATORE
June S. SPEAKMAN – The president of the Barrington Town Council, she is considering running for a seat in the state Senate against Republican David Bates, who has held the seat for 20 years.
Brett P. SMILEY – He was Charlie Fogarty’s campaign manager and has been an outspoken activist for marriage equality in Rhode Island.
Douglas W. GABLINSKE
Anne W. CONNOR – A longtime liberal in the tradition of the Farmer-Labor Party, Anne is an advocate of the process rather than a political insider. See our story on her here.
Mary A. GASBARRO
Tom CODERRE – Works for Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed, an all-round good guy.
Joseph R. PAOLINO, JR.
Herbert P. WEISS
Rebecca Kim MEARS – Watch for this Brown University freshman in the years to come.
Gerald Pedro CARVALHO – Not necessarily a progressive, but he’s a longtime Newport fisherman.

CD2

Joshua MILLER – As a state senator, he’s sponsoring the high-profile tax equity bill that would temporarily raise taxes on Rhode Island’s richest residents and another that would decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. For a day job, he owns the Hot Club, Trinity Brewhouse and Local 121. Forget about delegate, we should elect this guy president.
Frank G. FERRI – Another staunch State House progressive, Ferri is the sponsor of legislation that would curb payday lending.
Patrick T. FOGARTY
Thomas J. IZZO
Michael A. SOLOMON
Elaine PRIOR – She helped to run the Downcity Farmers’ Market, reason enough to send her to the convention.
Andy M. ANDUJAR – Works for David Cicilline, an occasional visitor to Drinking Liberally.
Hecmy A. JOSE
David J. GRAZIANO
Mark S. WEINER
Elisa M. POLLARD
Paul H. ARCHETTO
Teresa TANZI – As one of the most progressive members of the House, this year she has stood up for local fishermen, local beer and wine makers and women’s rights.
Helen S. TAYLOR
L. Susan WEINER
Zoe I. WEINER
Ryan Patrick KELLEY

March 20, 2012March 21, 2012

Gemma’s Suspicious Facebook Followers

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Anthony Gemma is running for U.S. Congress as a Democrat. He hasn’t formally announced yet, but it’s pretty clear.

For instance, type “Anthony Gemma” in any search engine. See the first result? “Anthony Gemma for Congress 2012.” He’s also taken a leave of absence as CEO of Mediapeel after selling it to Alex and Ani. Mr. Gemma needs to stop beating around the bush and announce already. The ongoing speculation feels like it’s being used as an attempt to drum up buzz, and it’s not helping him. He has been running since he lost in 2010. We know this. I saw Facebook advertisements back in 2011. Mr. Gemma has been attacking U.S. Congressman David Cicilline since the latter took office, every chance Mr. Gemma gets. It’s long past time for him to announce.

Unfortunately for Mr. Gemma, Democrats don’t want him. Maybe it’s the fact he only affiliated with the Democrats when he decided to run for U.S. Congress the last time. Maybe it’s that, as WPRI’s Ted Nesi put it on Newsmakers, “he’s sounding more like a Governor or an EDC chairman” than a congressional candidate. Joe Fleming also makes clear in that video that Mr. Gemma has almost no support from the left or the establishment wings of the Democratic Party, and even his support among its right wing will be shaky. The Party will lock shields around Mr. Cicilline.

Mr. Gemma doesn’t belong in politics. He belongs in business, where he can at least hide somewhat from public view and people are less inclined to challenge him openly. Unfortunately for the all-but-declared primary contender, politics is a public process, where scrutiny comes at you whether you want it to or not. Which is why it’s interesting to see that the candidate’s campaign page on Facebook suddenly leaped up in likes during the month of February.

gemma fb screen2 — A sudden jump in Anthony Gemma for Congress' number of likes; apparently, he's popular in Germany

Just as interesting are the subscribers to his personal page. Who are the 20,000+ people subscribed to Anthony Gemma’s Facebook? And here’s a better question: what’s up with many of their unusual names? And why do most like “Unicorn City Film” as a movie? Or why do Kevin Ubtryvh and Heideo Uthrdl have the same 16 friends (and only 16 friends), the exact same likes in sports teams, music, books, movies, and television, and yet somehow aren’t friends and grew up and went to schools in completely different places? Why are a large majority of their friends sporting the last name “Hic” or else some slight variant on that? Is Penix Jermainebrianne even a real person, or should her parents (assuming they exist) simply be examined for naming her such? Why do so many of Mr. Gemma’s Facebook subscribers follow this basic pattern of an odd first name followed by a last name made up of two names which are usually first names?

Mr. Gemma is about to go up against David Cicilline, a well-financed opponent who has a strong base of support among the Democratic Party apparatus. But Mr. Cicilline may have the money and ground games ready, he doesn’t have anything like Mr. Gemma’s Facebook numbers; totaling a mere 3,456 likes (this is comparable with numbers put up by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse). Mr. Gemma racked up 41,764 likes on February 23rd alone (a date he issued a press release attacking Mr. Cicilline; this doesn’t usually brings tens of thousands to click “Like” on one’s Facebook page). Looking just at his Facebook numbers, Anthony Gemma should be Rhode Island’s most popular politician. Which is why he sits 13 points behind Republican candidate Brendan Doherty in the latest WPRI poll (in comparison, Mr. Doherty has only 5,523 likes).

Now, there’s no conclusive proof that Mr. Gemma is not popular in Germany, Spain, Indonesia, and Dubai; countries where many of his subscribers are from. There’s no conclusive proof that Corinem Yers doesn’t exist (he’s also a fan of Unicorn City Film). But these people don’t show up on a Google search in any other place except Facebook. In contrast, most people tend to at least show up somewhere other than Facebook, because they have lived full lives. Examples include websites for their colleges, or their jobs, or in newspapers, or even the online white pages. Maybe those following the not-yet-a-candidate are merely people who are so cloistered from modern society they’re only allowed limited Facebook access. And maybe Anthony Gemma appeals to those people. In which case, he should be applauded to reaching out to a forgotten segment of our society.

But alternatively, people (especially those who are a bit tech savvy) could take a look at this and come away thinking one thing: Anthony Gemma is utilizing bots to inflate his social media numbers. Even if that’s not true, the appearance is what matters. Anyone looking for big numbers is going to think that more likes on Facebook equals a better candidate. But therein lies a problem. If your social media followers aren’t dedicated, if they aren’t real, then you’ve just lost a social media battle. To technologically competent people, nothing’s worse than a social media phony. People might begin to think like Facebook user Alex Avalos, who put it thusly to Anthony Gemma:

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Updates: RIFuture has attempted to contact Mr. Gemma for a response, but so far, he has not yet responded.

Sadly, an astute reader has pointed out that the Facebook account Penix Jermainbrianne no longer exists.

We also have been getting some emails and Facebook responses about this story. Readers have pointed out that Mr. Gemma’s Twitter followers are likewise odd, and he seems to be able to rally online support in online polls. Last election cycle, the Providence Journal‘s PolitiFact was unable to conclusively evaluate claims made by Mr. Gemma’s campaign about his status on LinkedIn. Likewise, a couple of readers have said this recalls late last year when Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was revealed to have followers who were roughly 80% dummy or inactive accounts. However, that was evaluated to be not far off from a standard political account. The second-to-last paragraph of that story leaves us with the idea that we should apply caution to all online interactions and not take things at face value.

So there is no smoking gun to suggest that Gingrich, or any of these politicians, bought any of their followers. But what this kind of analysis also reveals, says Topsy [a social media search company], is how hard it is to say which Twitter accounts are for real and which aren’t. Spam bots are getting more sophisticated; many now have fake profile pictures, fake bios and generate fake tweets. “The fact is, a large proportion of all Twitter accounts are inactive anyway,” says Ghosh [Topsy co-founder].

March 18, 2012March 21, 2012

Why Vote Republican?

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Whenever I want to take a break from reality, I go and read a column by RI “Young” Republican Chairman Travis Rowley.

Now, if you’ve managed to avoid the writings of this Brown graduate, I applaud you. But to give you the idea of his writing, it’s just the right balance of out-of-touch, denigrating, arrogant, and elitist opinion that Brown has a reputation for producing (yes, Brown produces it on the left as well as on the right; their centrists are the same as well).

In Mr. Rowley’s mind, Democrats are socialists. No. Wait. They’re Republicans. Obama’s election? A “far-left takeover of Washington“.

It’s not hard to see why Republicans have been marginalized in this state, only electable in traditional strongholds and where Democrats are failing. With Rowley attempting to channel Glenn Beck, their now-former leader in the House being twice arrested for drug use, their former party chairman lying to them about the state of the party’s coffers, and their candidates for national office flubbing interviews, it’s no wonder few Rhode Islanders trust the Republicans to handle the state’s affairs any better than Democrats have. What are they offering?

Indeed, what are they offering that Democrats can’t also provide? There are Democrats who are just as conservative as any Republican. Social conservatives in Rhode Island are quite happy to vote Democrat; especially given the state’s Catholic nature. Rhode Island’s Democratic Party, largely thanks to its willing embrace of immigrant and Catholic communities during the 19th Century, managed to combine social conservatism and economic interventionism and marry it to pro-interventionist social liberals. When it wants to, the Party embraces free-market principles as well, such as implementing the flat tax.

Republicans paint themselves further into a corner when they lob attacks at the cities. However mismanaged they may be, referring to the metro area where the largest swathes of Rhode Islanders live and work as a “black hole” isn’t a way to make oneself beloved to the voting public. Republicans increasingly portray themselves as the party of country elites (as they long have been). Outflanked by Democrats from the left and right, Republicans have further removed themselves right, a strategy tailor-made to increase their already dangerously poor irrelevance.

Another problem is that they’ve begun mistaking Democrats losing for Republicans winning. John Robataille came in a close second in 2010 when Frank Caprio managed to piss off not only the progressive wing of his own party, but also loyal Democratic partisans with his now infamous “Obama can take his endorsement and shove it.” If there’s one thing Rhode Islanders hate, it’s bad national publicity about our state, and we punish those who bring it on us; alternatively, bring us good publicity, and we reward you. Brendan Doherty, who has revealed himself as a currently-inept candidate, is up in the polls only because U.S. Congressman David Cicilline is so poorly regarded in Congressional District 1.

I think largely this type of thinking is because Republicans in Rhode Island look at the national party and say “we must follow their lead.” But Rhode Island despises the national Republican Party. If Lincoln Chafee had not had an “R” next to his name like a scarlet letter, he would still be a senator in Washington, D.C. today. Tea Party politics may have energized the Republican base in 2010, while the Democratic base was depressed by two-year shellacking during the healthcare debate that failed to win anything beyond a Heritage Foundation-inspired healthcare system, previously supported by Republicans. This was a one-time opportunity for the Republicans. They picked up four seats in Rhode Island’s House and four in the Senate while losing the Governor’s office. The strategy simply doesn’t work.

It would be mean of me to lay out the problems without suggesting up solutions, and I aim to do as much. Simply put, the best way to win is to outflank the Democrats. Ironically, two of the Republican-elected officials pointed out the way to do this, albeit inadvertently. Sen. Bethany Moura (R-Cumberland) and Rep. Dan Gordon (Libertarian-Portsmouth)* blasted Attorney General Peter Kilmartin for joining the robo-signing settlement (although Mr. Gordon made a mistake which undermined the central point). Did anyone take the lawmakers seriously? No. But plenty of progressives have been criticizing this settlement since its inception. Maybe this part of a new Republican strategy to penalize the banks and win populist support. Pat Robertson seems to be getting liberal with age, suggesting bankers should’ve been arrested. In which case, that would be an outflanking of the Democratic Party.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Official Photo Portrait — President Eisenhower

Republicans have abandoned their pedigree in favor of a conservatism that’s radically new. Let’s not forget, the Republican Party freed the slaves, joined in fusion with the Populist Party in some states, gave birth to a the Progressive Movement and even some socialist ones. Republicans busted trusts and warned us of the dangers of the military-industrial complex. Their northern wing joined northern Democrats in passing the Civil Rights Act. Even Mr. Conservative himself, Barry Goldwater, has an award named after him for his pro-choice policies.

Republicans in Rhode Island should be drawing on these legacies. Instead of insulting the electorate as “anti-American” whenever it votes against them (saying it doesn’t make it true), Republicans need to embrace an all-Rhode Island strategy. This does not mean throwing aside their libertarian and conservative wings, but rather running candidates to the left of Democrats in districts where that’s feasible. This means, yes, running candidates who will oppose their dogma on immigration policy. Those who will oppose them on tax policy.

This means running on a platform of pro-people values. Radical Randian Objectivism only inspires the greedy. The argument should be that the Republican Party can allow people to transcend their current circumstances. But if the argument is that the poor are leeches and the rich are fleeing the state, well, it’s clear why that argument dooms Republicans to irrelevance. Rowley-style bile isn’t what people respond to. We respond to values we want to associate ourselves with. Republicans can’t win running as the anti-Democrats. They have to stand for values Rhode Islanders want to associate with.

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*Dan Gordon’s political affiliation varies from source to source.

January 30, 2012January 30, 2012

How To Confront a Candidate, or How to Drink Liberally.

It is often bemoaned that candidates only talk about certain issues, only debate the same topics, and hardly ever disagree on anything of true substance. “My economic package is better than yours.” “I’m tougher on our enemies than the other guy.” Blah, blah, blah. When we consider that Obama, Bush, and McCain all agreed on (1) the Bailout of the banks, (2) hundreds of thousands of American soldiers patrolling multiple Middle Eastern nations, (3) the Patriot Act, (4) maintaining the Drug War, (5) paying mercenary armies like Blackwater, (6) appointing industry insiders to regulatory positions, (7) accepting billions of dollars in campaign donations, and so many other things… what do they have left to disagree about?? The level of discrimination against gay people. A few percentage points on the tax bill.

So the key to getting your issue on the map is to ask the candidate in public, with voters and media in the room. Even if you are creating your own media, the key is to get them “on the record.” Wait in line for the microphone and ask away. Obviously this is easier to do in a local race than a big national one, but those interactions are going to have more impact anyway. People need to see that the president is, in many ways, inconsequential because there is little difference between candidates.

Go look in the mirror and practice how to load up a question. Here, try these on for size:

“With prison spending exceeding education spending, and legal discrimination against 200,000 people in our state due to their felony record, where they are barred from employment, where computers are deleting applications that reflect a felony record, where public housing is denying the reunification of families… do you think we should continue to use prisons as a solution for mental illness, homelessness, and substance abuse? Or do you think we should find an alternative?”

Check out the tactic of leading in with some facts. Frame the question. Make it so they must agree… in public at least.

“Considering that education is the oldest form of self-empowerment and the only known pathway for stability, not only for an individual but for a community, do you think prisoners and former prisoners should be allowed to get an education?”

Follow-up: “And what do you say to the person who feels that a former prisoner’s education is taking a classroom seat away from someone who was not in prison, and more deserving?”

Who can be against education?

“In a society where defense attorneys are sometimes earning millions of dollars each year defending drug clients, do you find any conflict of interest for a legislator, who has ties to the defense attorneys through their own firm or their close associates, to make laws that create more clients?”

“With all the failed results from rehabilitation and re-entry programs designed without the input of those who have direct experience, do you think it is time to listen to former prisoners (those who are truly the primary stakeholder in rehabilitation) about what works and doesn’t work… or should we keep giving money to so-called experts and the politically connected entities?“

“Do you think people released from prison should be encouraged to get more involved in their community by voting, holding jobs, and raising their children… or should they be pushed into the shadows of an underclass where drugs and violence are essential for survival?”

Here’s one I have for Attorney General Eric Holder, who is coming to do a talk on voting at my law school. Let’s see if he selects it, and answers….

“In Louisiana there are 66,000 people on probation and parole who cannot vote, and over 10% of New Orleans is barred from voting. Considering as Felony Disenfranchisement laws have a disparate impact on People of Color, do you believe theJustice Department should consider enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in states, such as Louisiana, that are covered under Section 5 of the Act?”

Film it, post it, share it. Let the follow-ups begin, and let the candidates show their knowledge, intelligence, leadership, and compassion for all their constituents shine… or not.

What question would YOU ask?

August 10, 2011January 7, 2012

Rumor of the Day: Cicilline to face Democratic Primary challenger?

Rumors abound that Merrill Sherman, a cofounder of BankRI, is considering a run against incumbent Democratic Congressman David Cicilline. She would run as a Democrat in the September 2012 Democratic Primary. Another Democrat has already announced the possibility of a run against the vulnerable Cicilline – former CD-1 candidate Anthony Gemma. Interestingly, Sherman was recently selected as a possible candidate to serve on the powerful I-195 commission. If she is appointed to that, would that make it less or more likely that she would run for higher office?

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