“Good afternoon,” said a male voice on his voicemail. “I’m a representative of Senator Walaska. We’re looking for some support this election if you go out and vote in the primary we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.”

After hearing the call, and believing the use of state phones for partisan campaign calls to be against the law, the Warwick resident, who asked not to be identified, contacted the Attorney General‘s office. They told him that the AG’s office is only interested in issues of campaign fraud. He was referred to the Secretary of State‘s office. The Secretary of State’s office was similarly disinterested, and referred him to the Board of Elections. According to the resident who sent me the call, the person from the Board of Elections searched through the relevant statutes in vain before giving up and telling the resident that he should call back when he learned exactly what law is being broken.

For future reference, that law seems to be:

§ 36-4-52. Restrictions on political activities of classified employees

No classified employee shall during working hours engage to any extent in any form of partisan politics except that he or she may attend and vote at any party caucus, primary, or election held during working hours. Outside of working hours a classified employee may attend any partisan political rally, club, or gathering and privately express his or her partisan political views but any further partisan political activity on his or her part shall be engaged in only in accordance with the personnel rules. A classified employee violating the provisions of § § 36-4-50–36-4-54, or of the personnel rules shall for a first offense be either demoted or dismissed and for a second offense dismissed. All charges of these violations shall be publicly heard by the personnel appeal board.

Robert Kando executive director of the Board of Elections could not be reached for comment.

John Marion of Common Cause said that the issue appears reminiscent of an ethics complaint against Susan Cicilline Buonanno when she ran for the House District 33 seat that Narragansett Democrat Donald Lally resigned. Buonanno, principal of Gladstone Elementary School in Cranston was accused of using school email and phones to advance her political campaign.

This case is different because it’s not the candidate, but someone claiming to represent the candidate who appears to be using state resources for partisan political purposes.

“As you might expect, using state work telephones for campaigning is forbidden, and so we would want to know if this sort of thing was taking place so that the charges could be investigated and suitable disciplinary action taken if warranted,” said Fred Sneesby, an administrator at Children’s & Family Services. The Warwick resident who sent me the call has been put in contact with Sneesby.

Contacted by phone, Senator Walaska, after I identified myself but before I could fully explain what I was calling about, said, “I know you don’t support me. I have no idea. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jeanine Calkin, a progressive Democrat who is running against the 22-year incumbent, said that her husband, Daniel Calkin, received a similar call. A photo of her husband’s phone is on the left. Daniel Calkin, listening to the audio above, said he was “pretty sure it’s the same guy.”

“This looks like a very clear-cut violation,” said Sam Bell, executive director of the RI Progressive Democrats.”Campaign calls should not be made from state numbers. Being able to direct state workers to campaign for a candidate gives an enormously unfair advantage to powerful incumbents.”

Requests for comment from Representative Joseph McNamara and Brandon Bell, respective chairs for the Democratic and Republican parties in Rhode Island have gone unanswered.

As for the Warwick resident and doctor who sent me the call, he says that he is “disinclined to vote for Walaska.”

On Thursday night the Providence City Council Finance Committee was prepared to make a decision on a controversial extension of tax stabilization agreement (TSA) for the property at 100 Fountain St.  Because of the unexpected death of former Mayor Vincent Cianci, the meeting was rescheduled to this Tuesday night at 6pm, one hour before Governor Raimondo’s State of the State address.

The proposed TSA will allow the property owners to pay only 25 percent of their assessed taxes in the first year, with a 15 percent increase each year thereafter until year five, when the owners will pay 95 percent of their assessed taxes. The owners stand to save hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the STEP Coalition (Stop Tax Evasion in Providence) has pointed out that, “[t]he construction jobs are long gone and these buildings have been occupied for quite some time.”

This is the first of four TSAs that will be voted on by the City Council this year. The four “deals pending before the city right now are even more egregious than usual,” said the RI Progressive Democrats (RIPDA) in a statement. “That’s because the development has already happened. There’s no question of encouraging development–the developers want their special tax deals to continue. This is just giving the city’s limited tax dollars to big developers.  Pure and simple,” said the RI Progressive Democrats (RIPDA).

It is expected that the Providence City Council will raise property taxes on homeowners this year as Providence struggles financially. Many wonder why private taxpayers continue to pay ever higher taxes while connected developers get continued tax credits. STEP presented a petition signed by 400 Providence residents opposed to extending these TSAs.

The following City Councillors are on the Finance Committee:

Councilman John J. Igliozzi, Chairman
Councilman Terrence M. Hassestt, Vice-Chairman
Councilman Kevin Jackson
Councilwoman Sabina Matos
Councilwoman Carmen Castillo

The speakers highlighted some of the differences in tactics among the various activists and groups, but all agreed that the activism of Rosa Parks and the election of Barrack Obama as president was not the end of the fight against systemic racism in America. There’s still a lot of work to be done.

Malcus Mills is a prominent member of DARE, as well as a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee and the Peoples Assembly.

“If you look back through history, change has never happened quickly, and never without those who have lost their lives…”

Joe Buchanan is a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee.

“In 1955 I was three years old when Rosa Parks, this working Black woman got on the bus. She is one of the many great Black women through history…”

Providence City Councillor elect for Ward 11, Mary Kay Harris, is also a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee.

“It’s very important that we continue to look at human rights, the rights of people, the right for a movement, the right of people to have a voice…”

Native American Ray Two-Hawks Watson gave a fiery speech in defense of last Tuesday night’s Ferguson protesters who blocked the highway here in Providence.

“…everybody was up in arms about it. Oh, it was dangerous and this, that and the other, but to that I say it’s dangerous being a youth these days. Because not only do you have to worry about gangs, not only do you have to worry about drug dealers and all that but you also have to worry about police officers who should be protecting you from those elements treating you like you’re one of them.”

Sheila Wilhelm, of Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) was unapologetic in her defense of the protesters.

“Dr. King said, ‘Riots are the voices of the unheard,” and it’s a shame sometimes what we have to do to get our voices heard, but also, ‘by any means necessary.’ Especially, especially when we’re fighting for our children… Personally, when I saw the actions of last week and the protests, I was humbled. I was honored and I was so, so, so proud…”

Jim Vincent, of the Rhode Island branch of the NAACP was one of the more vocal critics of blocking the highway, but he kept his comments here to Rosa Parks and civil rights in general.

“We’ve always heard things in America like, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men and women are created equal’ and “justice and liberty for all’ but where has that been over the decades for people of color and black people in particular?”

Lauren Niedel of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats saw the great lady as an example, and said, “Everybody here can be a Rosa Parks.”

Camilo Viveiros of the George Wiley Center tied racial to economic justice.

“Economic injustice has caused many to not have utilities throughout the year…. There continues to be a war against poor people, but many have given up on the war on poverty…”

Freethinker Peter Nightingale, of Occupy Providence and Fossil Free RI, gave a wonderful, and the most radical talk of the bunch.

“We need to change everything to break the chains of predator capitalism… We need degrowth, and we need a four hour workday. Degrowth means shrink the economy. I said it, put it on TV. He’s nuts…”

After the speakers there was a re-enactment of Rosa Parks’ nonviolent resistance on board a RIPTA bus, which was crowded to overflowing with onlookers and news cameras. Deborah L. Wray played the part of Rosa Parks.

Support Steve Ahlquist!

Just like it did in Congress, it looks like the NRA will beat back stricter gun laws at the Rhode Island State House as well, reports Sam Bell of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats.

“Rhode Islanders favor an assault weapons ban by a margin of 64% to 27%, but we aren’t hearing from them,” Rep. Linda Finn told him. “We’re just hearing from the NRA.”

Is anyone surprised by this? Or even think it’s at all newsworthy that the NRA is more politically powerful than the entire progressive left on this issue here in Rhode Island? Of course not!

We live in a culture dominated by violence. Today in Rhode Island we are celebrating the Haymarket riot and tomorrow there is a State House ceremony honoring the burning of the Gaspee. These are two acts of terrorism that we celebrate for their historical significance. The other weekend, to escape the horrible reality of the Boston bombings and subsequent manhunt, I watched a fantasy movie called The Hobbit. It was about magical forest creatures who have been at bloody war with each other for 60 years.

But one of the most tacitly violence-condoning actions in our violence-dominated society is the totally outlandish notion that Americans have a right to a gun just in case anyone wants to wage a war against the government. Teny Oded Gross, of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, put it this way to Ian Donnis of RIPR:

“As far as I know [the US] is the first democracy on the planet that is actually saying you should arm yourself against your own citizens. That is actually outlandish. I’m surprised there’s not more outrage about that.”

I really don’t care what constitutional scholars think about the wording of the Second Amendment, I’m pretty certain this is a societal recipe for disaster.

While we may not be able to beat back the NRA at the State House, we can support the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence out in the real world. In fact, you can do so tonight.

A URI journalism “digital immersion” class has spent the semester making content for the Institute and they will be showing it off tonight at the downtown Providence campus on Washington Street from 6 to 8 p.m. If you plan on being at the State House tonight to testify, please stop by this exhibit. And if you’re going to this exhibit, please go to the State House to testify for stricter gun control in Rhode Island.

Here’s an example of their work, which explains more about what the Institute does:

Here’s more on the event tonight: