nick kettle – RI Future

March 31, 2014March 31, 2014

Margaux Morisseau will run for Nick Kettle’s Senate seat

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Progressive activist Margaux Morisseau, best known for leading the charge against payday loans in Rhode Island, is running for state Senate District 21, the seat currently held by Republican Nick Kettle.

“I am running because I want to be a part of the solution that helps improve our state for all people,” she said. “With my background in small business and community development, I know I can bring people and resources together to work on creative solutions and actually get initiatives accomplished. District 21 deserves a public servant who is dedicated to improving communities and is passionate about helping people move up the economic ladder.”

Morisseau is the director of Community Building and Organizing for Neighborworks Blackstone River Valley, a nonprofit Community Development Corporation which builds homes and communities for low-to-moderate-income families in Northern Rhode Island. She’s also the founding director of the RI chapter of New Leaders Council, a national non-profit that works to train and support progressive political activists.

And she’s already shown her political chops at the State House by going head-to-head with former speaker-turned-lobbyist Bill Murphy over payday loans.

On April 14, she is having a campaign kick-off event at the Corner Bistro in North Scituate (1115 Hartford Pike). You can support her campaign here.

District 21 includes parts of Coventry and West Warwick as well as Foster and Scituate, which is Morisseau’s hometown. She lives in the Clayville hamlet which straddles Foster and Scituate.

February 7, 2014February 8, 2014

Fake Facebook page costs Chuck Newton job and role with EG GOP Committee

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Not only did GOP operative Chuck Newton lose his State House job for helping Senator Nick Kettle mock a Democratic colleague with a fake Facebook page, but the move also cost him his position with the East Greenwich Republican Town Committee. He resigned from his position as chairman earlier this week, according to East Greenwich Town Council President Michael Isaacs.

Newton (a former employer of mine) is still listed as the chairman on the group’s webpage.

“Chuck accepted responsibility,” said Isaacs, who has advocated for less anonymous political attacks on the internet. “I think the whole thing, it was almost sophomoric. Unfortunately it’s indicative of the negativity that pervades politics on both sides.”

Senator Dawson Hodgson, a Republican who represents East Greenwich and is running for attorney general, agreed.

“I thought that was appropriate [that Newton be fired] because he created that in his state office on state time and we as a Republican Party stand for wise use of public resources and that is not consistent with how we operate.”

Hodgson said he did not believe a crime was committed. Steve Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU, agreed.

In a letter to Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, Brown wrote, “Indeed, as you are aware, the courts have set a very high standard for public officials to pursue even civil actions against political invective. If the broadsides on this Facebook page constitute unlawful “harassment,” then The Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and dozens of other political web sites engage in criminal activity every day.”

Amy Kempe, spokewoman for Kilmartin, said the Attorney General’s office is still waiting for a complete report from police. “It underscores the loopholes in current statutes,” she said. “We’re trying to add in online impersonation.”

Kempe said the AG’s office will consider stand alone legislation for online impersonation this year instead of bundling it with other provisions.

Rep. Scott Guthrie said he is considering bringing federal charges.

February 5, 2014

State House cyber-bullying: not illegal, just childish

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It doesn’t appear as if the Republicans involved in the cyber-smear campaign against Rep. Scott Guthrie have committed a crime when they made a fake Facebook page to lampoon the Coventry Democrat. (Here’s the applicable state law) But it doesn’t seem like they took much effort to ensure the public would know that their gag was in fact a farce.

That’s maybe worse than cyber-harassment. It’s cyber-deception. According to the Providence Journal Attorney General Peter Kilmartin “has tried – and failed – to convince the General Assembly to pass legislation creating a new category of crime for ‘online impersonation.'” According to this TIME post, such activity is against the law in nine states.

Worth noting, though, that Rhode Island holds our public school students to a higher standard than our public officials. Here’s the applicable section from RIDE’s 2012 cyber-bullying policy:

Forms of cyber‐bullying may include but are not limited to: a. The creation of a web page or blog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person; b. The knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages; or c. The distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of materials on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons, if the creation, impersonation, or distribution results in any of the conditions enumerated in clauses (a) to (e) of the definition of bullying.

So, to recap: not criminal but for reference we expect better conduct from children. And for those who will confuse this as a First Amendment issue, this isn’t the issue:

This is: