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Kennedy, Culpo Are Against Marijuana Legalization


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While Rolling Stone magazine may have called us the , two high profile Rhode Islanders are killing the buzz.

Former CD1 Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who now lives in Jersey, is lending his political star power to a group called SAM, or Smart Approaches to Marijuana, that will advocate for lowering sentencing instead against legalization.

And, perhaps of greater political significance, Miss Universe Olivia Culpo of Cranston told Fox News that she isn’t an advocate of ending pot prohibition, though she said she supports medical marijuana.

Not that I think either member of this odd couple will have an effect on the debate locally, but I did say it would be just retired cops and school drug counselors fighting against legalization and so I stand corrected. Add to the list a recovering Oxycontin addict and a beauty pageant winner. Stiff competition indeed.

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Recovery Caucus Pushes for Mental Health Parity


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From left: Carol Dhue, David Wellstone and Patrick Kennedy. (Photo by John McDaid)

CHARLOTTE, NC — Former RI Representative Patrick Kennedy was a guest speaker at this afternoon’s Recovery Caucus meeting at the Democratic National Convention and he brought his message of full mental health parity to a standing-room-only session.

The panel was chaired by RI delegate Tom Coderre, who works for Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed. It also featured David Wellstone, son of the late Senator, and former cable network anchor Carol Dhue.

Coderre recognized the work of Kennedy in backing the Recovery Caucus, which is sponsoring recovery rooms every day in all of the DNC’s venues. “This is the most recovery-friendly convention ever,” he said, and praised the 2012 Democratic platform which “recognizes recovery as the public-health crisis that it is.”

But Coderre and the other speakers also stressed how much work remains to be done.

Although legislation ensuring parity in mental health coverage was signed into law, Kennedy argued that it was time for the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue the final rules that would enable enforcement.

“We expect implementation that will not have any loopholes,” he said. “Right now, these issues affect a new population: veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.” Kennedy expressed outrage that more veterans are now dying  by suicide than enemy action.   “Our vets are being caught behind the enemy lines of addiction and depression,” he said.

Closing potential loopholes is especially critical, Kennedy said,  for those members of the National Guard and Reserve returning to their jobs after deployment.

And veterans are only part of the “besieged minority” affected by these diseases, said Wellstone, quoting his his father, who was an early advocate. “It is not just the right thing to do, it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do,” Wellstone said, given the estimated $400B yearly cost of untreated addiction and mental health issues. Without the final HHS rule, said Wellstone, “we don’t have the teeth.”

“If your father was here,” Dhue told Wellstone, “we’d already have teeth in the bill.”

She lamented the fact that unlike other diseases, addiction and mental health are improperly overlaid with moral attributes.

“It comes down to science,” she said. “I was wired to be an addict.”

Carol McDaid, a DC-based advocate, asked caucus-goers for their support in launching a petition to fight for the final regulations, and announced a web site for the effort, parityispersonal.org.

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Progress Report: Hard Knock Life in Middletown, Kennedy Chides Gemma, Patch on ALEC and Woody Guthrie


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Greenwich Cove (Photo by Bob Plain)

The Providence Journal describes the conditions of a Middletown group home for children that caused the state to inspect all of its 76 facilities around the state: “broken glass littering the floor, trash strewn in different rooms, and a foul odor in the air, according to the police report.”

It might not be a story that attracts much attention, but it’s an important one none-the-less. The very least fortunate among us, literally orphans and other at-risk kids, are living in conditions described by police as being “deplorable.” If, as a community, we don’t want to afford these tremendously disadvantaged children a suitable home simply because it’s the right thing to do, then we should at least do so because the alternative is surely much worse for Rhode Island in the long run.

While I linked to a clip from Annie yesterday, it’s important to note that there is rarely a wealthy industrialist like Daddy Warbucks who swoops in from the private sector to rescue these kids from state care. It’s up to us to ensure that they grow up to be healthy productive members of society.

Seems like we weren’t the only ones to find Anthony Gemma’s lack of support for Democrats a bizarre. Former congressman Patrick Kennedy chided the increasingly irrelevant candidate for his comments on the Buddy Cianci Show, reports WPRI and RIPR. “This is about Rhode Island, not about each candidate, and I don’t think Mr. Gemma understands this,” Kennedy said. Ian Donnis makes an interesting observation about Kennedy carrying this message for Democrats: “Kennedy, now out of elective office, allows the current members of RI’s congressional delegation to avoid the fray while simultaneously delivering a sharp message that will draw considerable media interest.”

Woonsocket Patch reports on CVS dropping out of ALEC and lets Rep. Jon Brien, the local face of ALEC, get away with a pretty disingenuous description of the far-right wing bill mill.

“ALEC is described by board member and Woonsocket Rep. Jon Brien (Dist. 50, Woonsocket), as a bipartisan group that puts lawmakers together with businesses to come up with ideas (ultimately, legislation) “That will foster a free-market society,” reads the article. ALEC is roughly about as bipartisan as the Rhode Island General Assembly and I’m not quite sure how voter ID and Stand Your Ground laws help “foster a free-market society.”

Speaking of voter ID laws, Vice President Joe Biden continued the White Houses assault on the often-disenfranchising election laws.

A blog that bills itself as being “home of the most self-aggrandizing commenters” details a Twitter exchange with Portsmouth Rep. Dan Gordon. The author of the post describes the Twitter exchange as “pretty odd behavior from an elected official, but Dan Gordon is no ordinary state representative.” True that!

Gordon wasn’t the only Rhode Islander whose handiwork was featured on an out-of-state website yesterday. Freelance photographer and RI Future contributor Ryan Conaty had a . His pictures will be in Sunday’s print edition.

The Boston Globe reports that Mitt Romney worked at Bain for three years longer than he has claimed in the past.

Tomorrow is Woodie Guthrie‘s birthday. It’s also the nine-year anniversary of Rhode Island’s most embarrassing moments in recent memory: when Governor Don Carcieri had the State Troopers raid the Narragansett Indian Reservation because they weren’t paying taxes on cigarette sales.

So let me get this straight: Mitt Romney avoids paying taxes and Republicans call his actions patriotic. But when a Native American tribe does so, well send in the troops.

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Rethinking the Cicilline and Doherty Race


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With the recent announcement that Loughlin has decided not to run for Congress, I’ve been putting some thought into the upcoming CD1 race between Cicilline and Doherty.  It seems that the campaign has gotten slightly more difficult for Cicilline, but I don’t see it nearly as much of an uphill battle as some others do.  Granted, Doherty will no longer be subject to a primary campaign, but I just couldn’t imagine Loughlin and Doherty being involved in a significantly hostile and antagonistic primary campaign, despite their previous barbs.  The main advantage for Cicilline would have been the Republicans spending their money fighting each other.

Also, even though there has been some speculation about Gemma and Segal jumping in, I can’t imagine either of them being candidates this year, so I think Cicilline won’t have to go through a primary fight either.  Let’s review the circumstances leading up to the 2010 election to explain why:

Some may say this proves that Segal and Gemma have plenty of time to announce, but the situation this time around is different.  CD1 is no longer an open seat; now it is occupied by Rep. David Cicilline.  While Gemma or Segal are still wildcards, and could possibly announce, any Democrat who wants to run a strong challenge against Cicilline probably should be in the race by now.  This is why I think the race will be between Cicilline and Doherty.

And I think Cicilline wins.  Here’s why:

Cicilline’s message will be (and should be): vote for me so Republicans don’t have another seat in the House from which to advocate the destruction of the lives of middle-class Americans.  I know that is hyperbolic, that was my intention, especially considering Obama using the legacy of Republican intransigence as the perfect weapon against Republicans.  Judging by the post Rep. Cicilline submitted to the blog, Standing Together for Progressive Values, he has laid out his main key campaign themes for the election season:

  • Protect Social Security and Medicare from Republicans who want to destroy them
  • Protect the Environment from Republicans who want to destroy it
  • Tax People Fairly to pay for these things that Rhode Islanders actually want (that’s pretty important to remember – Cicilline is talking about things that Rhode Islanders care about)

In contrast, Doherty and the Republican and Conservative groups that will be supporting him will look back on Cicilline’s experience as Mayor of Providence (since he is a freshman Congressman in the minority party, there are no accomplishments in Congress to scrutinize).  They’ll bring up the financial problems facing Providence (ignoring the rest of the country) and blame it all on Cicilline.  But this has already been covered and discussed to death after he was elected, and I’m not sure how much airtime rehashing this theme will get.

Moreover, all we have to do is look to Central Falls, East Providence, West Warwick, and to some extent Pawtucket, and realize that Cicilline didn’t cause all these other problems either.  The financial collapse that has destroyed budgets all over the country, and the notable decisions made at the State House to defund cities and town (including Providence), were all far beyond the control of Cicilline.  Also, in spite of what one might think about the way Mayor Angel Taveras handled the “Category 5 Hurricane” Providence faced last year, he handled it.  I don’t believe there will be the same crisis mode environment this year, and Taveras’s decisions will have largely mollified the degree of panic and anger that was being directed at Cicilline last year, to Cicilline’s benefit.  Politically speaking, it happened too soon for it to be as compelling an issue in November as Doherty and his supporters would like.

Two additional thoughts:

  • Does Loughlin come out and actively support Doherty?  With a campaign account of about $13,000, there’s not much financial support Loughlin could offer, but there must be more than a few names on his email list from the 2010 campaign.  When you read Loughlin’s press statement, he doesn’t even mention Doherty.  I find that strange and wonder if there is resentment stemming from Doherty jumping in the race and stealing Loughlin’s thunder while he was in Iraq.
  • RI redistricting will technically help Cicilline’s victory chances by shifting more “liberal” voters into the CD1 district while moving some “conservative” voters out, but will it come with a backlash of unintended consequence?  Will there be a significant number of voters offended by something that appears to be politically motivated?  I still think the net impact is a positive for Cicilline, but one has to wonder.
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Anthony Gemma is running for Congress

As first reported here on RI Future, Anthony Gemma, president of Gem Plumbing & Heating, was considering a run for Congress.  For the past (at least) few weeks, he was making his fundraising calls, contacting some RI Future readers.

And this confirms it. Anthony Gemma is running for Congress.  His campaign website isn’t live yet, but will be soon.

Gemma describes himself as a “conservative Democrat,” and the impact on the race for Segal, Cicilline, and Lynch is still to be determined, although it’s likely that Gemma damages Bill Lynch’s camapign to a greater degree than Segal or Cicilline.  Could Gemma’s political inexperience be the ultimate rallying cry of an “outsider” candidacy in a political environment in which incumbency and political experience may very well be poisonous?

Some background on Gemma (via Facebook):

Anthony P. Gemma, born in Providence Rhode Island in 1970 to Larry and the late Gloria Gemma, is the youngest of nine children and remains a lifelong Rhode Island resident.

Anthony made his decision to seek election in the US House of Representatives 1st Congressional District because of his passion for the State he calls home. Anthony’s experience and work ethic span decades and include accomplishments such as successful business owner, attorney, exemplary leader, philanthropist and family man.  He has worked tirelessly to create new, sustainable jobs, manage healthcare costs in Rhode Island, worked to develop performance excellence standards for Rhode Island businesses, and co-founded the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation in memory of his mom, who died from breast cancer in 2002.

Anthony’s solid work ethic both professional and philanthropic was instilled at the age of ten, when his father and mentor – introduced him to the family’s plumbing business. Discipline and integrity were expected from all the Gemma children, and Anthony applied those qualities to his academic career. He was graduated cum laude from Suffolk University in 1992 with a B.S. in Legal Argument/Communications. He earned his J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law in 1998, and currently Anthony is admitted to practice law in Rhode Island and in Federal Court.

In 1998, Anthony assumed the roles of Executive Vice President and CEO and in 2000 was appointed to the position of company president, in which he remained until 2008.

At that time, Anthony founded Mediapeel™, an integrated marketing firm specializing in new media solutions and offering a product line which includes web video magazine and website development, media buying and placement, the Mediapeel™ On-Time Traffic Reporting Center, and other traditional and cutting-edge forms of advertising.

Anthony is committed to a team approach to business building and problem solving. He and his team of committed professionals founded the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, a 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation created in the memory of his mother, who succumbed to the disease in 2002. The Foundation is committed to raising breast cancer awareness, increasing breast health education, and generating funding for critical breast health programs.

Innovation coupled with the blending of cutting-edge and traditional strategies and methods are the hallmark of Anthony’s public and private endeavors. He was instrumental in the development of the Gem Institute for Performance Excellence, a learning organization with the mission to provide guidance to organizations throughout the United States seeking to increase performance levels.

Anthony is also an accomplished public speaker and motivator. He consults with organizations throughout the United States on various topics. He served as the President of the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, served on the Executive Board of the Northern RI Chamber and served as a board member of Quality Partners of Rhode Island. He is a past member of the Providence/Cranston Workforce Development, and an active volunteer with the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation.

Anthony has achieved many awards throughout his career including: 2005, 2007 and 2008 Forty Under 40 Award – Providence Business News, 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year – Point Magazine, The 2006 EFNE Award for Business Innovation, the 2007 WELCOA Wellness Award – Gold Level, and many more. Anthony has also won several awards for his outstanding commitment to community service including Philanthropist of the Year – St. Mary’s Home For Children, Sponsor of the Year – Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Local Hero Award – Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Boy Scouts of America – 2009 – Whitney M. Young Service Award. In addition to his commendations, Anthony has worked tirelessly with the Autism Project of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Veterans Administration and the Rhode Island Special Olympics.

Anthony is married to Julie DiManni-Gemma and is the proud father of Anthony Gemma. The family resides in Lincoln, RI.

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Will Anthony Gemma run for Congress?

Update: I just spoke to Anthony Gemma, and he confirmed with me that he is “considering a run for Congress”. Currently, he is doing his due diligence, speaking with his family and considering whether or not a run is the right thing to do.

Gemma has never ran for public office before and has always thought that “he could do more by being on the outside,” never really considering getting directly involved in the political process as a candidate before now. Could his political inexperience be the ultimate rallying cry of an “outsider” candidacy in a political environment in which incumbency and political experience may very well be poisonous?

There will be much more to come.

Original Post: I’ve been hearing from a couple different sources that Anthony Gemma, president of Gem Plumbing & Heating, may be considering a run for Congressional District 1 as a Democrat.  If true, he will be running against Bill Lynch, David Cicilline, and possibly (likely?) David Segal in September’s primary.

It’s also likely that Gemma will be the more conservative of the Democrats running.  The recent news that Cumberland Mayor, Dan McKee will be seeking reelection rather than entering the CD1 race leaves open a space for a conservative Democrat to make a competitive run.  If we know anything about Rhode Islanders, it’s that they love their conservative Democrats.

Anthony Gemma is also president of a new media and advertising company called Mediapeel, as well as Co-Founder of the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, established in 2004 in memory of his mother in order to “raise breast cancer awareness, increase breast health education, and generate funding for critical breast health programs that are in desperate need of being brought to fruition.”

I had a brief conversation with Anthony Gemma several weeks ago, before I heard this rumor.  We talked politics, because what else is there?  He was friendly, outgoing, and ultimately concerned with making it easier for businesses to open and operate in the state.  This could translate easily for a main campaign theme.

I put a call out to Anthony for confirmation, and will update this post if or when he returns my call.