When Speaker Fox faced the progressive voters of the East Side in November, they were angry—angry at the bevy of red-state legislation Fox had actively pushed for.  Fox promised to change.  He promised to sunset the ALEC-backed voter ID law he supported, a law he passed even though the chairwoman of the national Democratic Party called him to beg him to reconsider.  He promised to consider not bailing out Wall Street on the 38 Studios deal he helped orchestrate.  He promised to work with progressives on scaling back the tax cuts for the rich, tax cuts he had once promised would create jobs.  He promised, in essence, to govern like the Democrat he once was.  It has now become clear that he does not intend to honor those pledges.  Jolting sharply to the right, Fox has launched a campaign against Democratic values.  Here is a sample of his recent right-wing moves:

• He is handing Newport Grand a million-dollar bailout.

• He is forcing through a much, much larger bailout of the 38 Studios bondholders.

• He is throwing 6,500 Rhode Islanders off Medicaid.

• He is skipping a pension fund payment, in a gratuitous middle finger to labor.

• He is refusing to roll back some of the tax cuts for the rich and instead raising taxes on the middle class through steep tolls on the Sakonnet River Bridge.

• He is paring back Chafee’s already minuscule municipal aid package, forcing the City of Woonsocket into receivership.

• He is blocking the family planning expansion under ObamaCare.

• Like the US Senate’s filibustering Republicans, he is refusing to let an assault weapons ban or background checks reporting get a vote.

• Finally, not only did he break his promise to sunset the voter ID law, he snuck in a provision to tighten voting restrictions even further.  Telling the members of the Judiciary Committee that they were voting to freeze the current law to prevent the harsher 2014 restrictions from coming into effect, they refused to release the actual bill in time for everyone to read it.  A violation of the trust the statehouse runs on, this move tricked many pro-voting committee members to vote for this red-state-style assault on our democracy.

When she was the Executive Director of the Rhode Island GOP, Ann Clanton famously admitted, “We have a lot of Democrats who we know are Republican but run as a Democrat — basically so they can win.”  Progressives cannot help but look at Gordon Fox’s recent record and conclude that he is indeed one of those Republicans hiding in the Democratic Party.  We urge the General Assembly to stand up for Rhode Island values and stop this conservative onslaught.

We are not the only ones who are angry.  We have heard from a large and growing body of furious Representatives that there will be a serious effort to vote down the budget to stop the 38 Studios bailout.  If the progressive bloc in the House breaks away from leadership on this issue, we can block this right-wing budget and force something a little more reasonable.

So we call on progressives to vote this budget down.  We understand the power of leadership and all the practicalities that entails, but if any progressives are forced to vote against their conscience, we sincerely hope that it is in exchange for a more moderate budget.  And we call on Gordon Fox to return to the principles he ran on.

It was never fully implemented, and it won’t be fully repealed either.

Instead Rhode Island will keep its controversial Voter ID law as it is now: identification is needed but it doesn’t have to have a picture. As a result, the Ocean State remains one of the 19 states that require a non-photo id to vote, rather than one of the 11 that requires a photo id. The remaining 20 states don’t require identification. (see map)

It leaves in place obstacles to voting, but won’t effect voter fraud. Rhode Island also retains the onus of providing free id cards to anyone who may need one (this is a Constitutional requirement so voter ID laws don’t serve as a de facto poll tax). If it’s true that a good compromise is one in which neither party is happy, this is a good compromise.

The Providence Journal reports that Rep. Larry Valencia’s bill that would repeal the voter ID law has been amended and enjoys the “backing from House leadership.”

The law, passed in 2011 amidst much controversy, was championed by Woonsocket conservative and ALEC minion Jon Brien, who proudly referred to himself as the “godfather of voter ID” in Rhode Island. It was co-signed by House Speaker Gordon Fox – read the Phoenix’s great history of the local voter ID saga here.

In October, as both Fox and Brien, both Democrats, faced spirited electoral challenges from the left, Fox promised to introduce a bill that would reconsider voter ID.

“Should I be fortunate to be re-elected, I will be sponsoring legislation to include a ‘sunset provision’ in the law. The sunset would force a ‘re-look’ at the law, which means legislative hearings would be held to learn the effectiveness of the law and whether modifications need to be made. That would include looking at the more restrictive provisions set to be enacted for the 2014 election cycle.”

Fox beat independent Mark Binder and Brien lost to labor-backed Democrat Steve Casey, who voted against marriage equality this year and sponsored an awful bill that would punish truancy by holding back social services.

To that end, Binder deserves a big giant thank you for helping Rhode Island hold the line on voter ID. Larry Valencia, too!

House Speaker Gordon Fox is open to the idea that the time has come for tax equity in Rhode Island. But he still needs to be convinced it’s the economic tack for the state.

“Major changes to the state’s income tax code were enacted only a few years ago, and he needs to be convinced that there is a compelling reason to alter that reform effort which makes Rhode Island much more competitive with our neighboring states,” said Fox’s spokesman Larry Berman in an email to me yesterday.

While it’s certainly not a ringing endorsement of legislation that would raise income tax rates slightly on those who make about a quarter of a million dollars a year, it’s a stark contrast to what Fox, who sponsored the most recent bill that lowered taxes to the rich, has said in the past.

Fox still sees “tax stability and predictability” as being attractive to business owners, said Berman, but his statement comes as the legislature grapples with how to plug a $51 million deficit after years of cuts to services to balance the state’s budget and Rep. Maria Cimini, a champion of the tax equity movement, sent a letter to House colleagues last week imploring them to support her bill that would raise about $66 million and prevent the state from having to cut more services.

She said years of austerity has left the state with little left to cut – as well as dangerously dilapidated roads and bridges and a workforce that is meeting the demands of a 21st century economy.

When I spoke to Cimini yesterday, she made a point of saying that the proposed legislation doesn’t seek to reverse the 2010 tax code changes, but rather than many tax breaks the legislature has given the affluent in recent years.

Much evidence has been presented over the past three legislative sessions that shows tax cuts to the wealthy didn’t stimulate the economy. While the evidence doesn’t prove the tax cuts caused the recession, it does show that the tax cuts didn’t stimulate job creation, as politicians and conservative pundits said they would.

We’re revisiting this topic so often because WPRO, one of the most influential forces in Rhode Island, has effectively declared a biased and manipulative media war on Gov. Chafee’s decision to ever-so-slightly separate the state from the church.

This is not about a war on Christmas, as Fox News and WPRO suggest, this is about a war on religious freedom.

It’s alright for WPRO to take a strong stand on this or any other issue. It’s not alright for the long-standing and well-respected radio station to allow its employees to lie over the public airwaves about it. In fact, it’s a violation of Cumulus Media’s published code of ethics.

It’s not alright for the self-anointed “station of record” to blatantly and deliberately ignore and stifle views that differ from their own. Indeed, its bad for ad revenue, too.

And it’s not alright when any actor in the local marketplace of ideas goes unchecked. In fact, it’s one of the worst things that can happen to public debate.

Calling a dead fir tree draped with knickknacks a holiday tree is in the best tradition of Rhode Island, a state proud to be founded on the idea that the government should be independent of organized religion. It’s also a more inclusive way to honor everyone during the holiday season.

Furthermore, Rep. Art Handy, a progressive Democrat from Cranston, made the point yesterday that the original notion of a holiday tree is something Christians initially borrowed from pagan solstice celebrations.

The Christian Science Monitor has no problem making such reasonable points in a great piece on the controversy. Rev. Barry Lynn, of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State tells The Monitor:

As a religious person, this idea that somehow anything that government does or what it calls a conifer – Christmas tree, holiday bush – that any of this has any effect on the integrity of the religious impact of Christmas for believers is just shocking, and really meaningless drivel in comparison to all kinds of other matters that do impinge on the sense of the season and the good spirit that may flow from it.

I pulled out that quote because it probably mirrors what the average Rhode Islander thinks about this story. But listen all you want, you’ll never hear these ideas taken seriously on WPRO. Not even during news reports. The closest News Director Bill Haberman could muster up this morning was to say, “we do strive to be different here in our little state.”

He said this just before declaring John DePetro, the meanest, loudest and most disingenuous actor in WPRO’s annual holiday hate spree, as being “Rhode Island through and through.”

The other talk show hosts don’t seem very interested in presenting another point of view either. I called in to discuss this yesterday with Dan Yorke and he kept me waiting through two segments during which he solicited additional callers and replayed audio of the governor. He took my call at 1:43. Some 10 minutes earlier I told his producer that I had a 1:45 appointment. Maybe it was a miscommunication, but maybe Yorke didn’t want to admit he didn’t want to take my call after I have been critical of his colleagues.

That’s why it’s a little useless to continue to put all the blame on John DePetro, though he is the easiest and most obvious target. At this point, blaming DePetro for inciting hate through lies and manipulation is a little bit like blaming a bull for making a mess of a China shop. There’s no reason to expect anything less.

However, as a former employee, a loyal listener and a Rhode Islander who wants to preserve the station’s position in our heritage, I do expect more from WPRO. More news consumers and advertisers should too. I can virtually promise that savvy Station Manager Barbara Haynes and her bosses at Cumulus will listen to us if we make a compelling argument.

Haynes knows well that Salty Brine rolls over in his grave every time DePetro opens his mouth.

Imagine what Salty would think of a WPRO personality using his influence to lead a flash mob at the State House interrupting signing children? You can watch video of DePetro doing this here. At that same State House rally last year, a co-worker said DePetro made an unwanted sexual advance that eventually led to her filing suit against him and WPRO. You can read about that here.

Even his coworkers are now publicly chastising him for his actions last year. Read this from a Ron St. Pierre blog post:

Note to the usual media opportunists who will once again seize the moment to get their pusses on the tube….this time how about you don’t drown out the innocent kids asked to provide the carols at the tree lighting ceremony. You can make your point…and get your mugs on TV….WITHOUT ruining their day.

Rhode Island would be well-served if more people stood up to DePetro’s war on religious freedom. WPRO would do a lot to boost its reputation, as well as its market share, if it led that charge.