There’s an interesting – and small – mix of conservatives, moderates and populists who seemingly aren’t supporting Gordon Fox’s effort to be re-elected speaker of the House. His detractors from the left – Reps Scott Guthrie of Coventry and Spencer Dickinson of South Kingstown – have a disdain for pension cuts in common.
Guthrie may seem like the smartest progressive at the State House if and when the pension reform lawsuit gets decided. The retired Coventry fire fighter has long contended that Rhode Island was breaking a contract with its employees by changing the deal. As for Dickinson, I like him a ton, but I won’t be calling him a progressive until he can better support civil liberties. Unlike Guthrie, Dickinson doesn’t support marriage equality.
There’s a similarly diverse coalition that nominated Fox, reports Ted Nesi. Rep. Edith Ajello is the most influential progressive legislator in the House and Rep. Doc Corvese is the single biggest detractor of the liberal agenda in the chamber. Lady MacBeth, what some progressives jokingly call the religiously anti-abortion Rep. from Cumberland, also seconded Fox’s bid.
By the way Scott MacKay chastised the ProJo for buying into the hype that Fox’s reelection as speaker was in any doubt. Sometimes in journalism it’s hard to separate a good narrative from actual real life events and consequences; doesn’t mean both aren’t newsworthy.
Rhode Island has the fourth most student loan debt in the nation … so let’s all focus on how our corporate tax rate is causing our economy to sputter…
Jack Reed is right: Liz Warren should be on the banking committee. There was an excellent quote by MIT prof Simon Johnson in an excellent piece in Sunday’s New York Times about the optics of not doing so for Democrats: ““Not putting her on banking would make the Democratic Party look like a creature of Wall Street, which, by the way, it is. But they don’t like to be too explicit about it.”
Here’s how Patch not-so-subtly shills for Walmart in a story posted to most sites in RI (emphasis mine): “Shoppers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island will have to wait until after Thanksgiving to take advantage of Black Friday sales at retail giant Walmart.” (Or you can !)
Speaking of Patch, the company reports it cut costs by 30 percent in an effort to become profitable. Local editors have seem their freelance budgets literally disappear and some are being asked to take on second sites, like Joe Hutnak who now oversees both Johnston and Smithfield Patch. No wonder they gush about Walmart … they share the same business model!
Puerto Rico is moving closer to becoming our 51st state, says the ProJo editorial page. I’m sure the GOP would prefer the Bahamas or Bermuda…
Twin River is hiring! Reason enough to be glad that full casino gambling is coming to the Ocean State … though I wish Newport was getting table games too. The City-by-theSea could have had one of the classiest and coolest destination resort-style casinos in the country. Twin River, on the hand, might be able to compete with the other regional gambling parlors that will soon be sprouting up all over New England…
Speaking of Newport …. did you hear that Carolyn Rafaelian, Alex and Ani designer, owner and founder, bought Belcourt Castle. On one hand, it’s pretty cool that Rhode Island’s most successful businesswoman will own one of the state’s most well-known mansions. On the other hand, old Newport miss the Tinney family, who were kind like the Adams Family of Aquidneck Island! Trivia: Rafaelian won’t be the first jewelry designer to call Belcourt home!! In the late-1980’s it served as a sort of haunt (pun intended) for local artists…
On this day in 1974, Karen Silkwood dies in a mysterious one-car accident on her way to meet with a New York Times reporter and a union organizer about the nuclear plant where she worked and was poisoned with plutonium.