There are those who want to give credit for what we accomplished in the September primary to some vague anti-incumbent sentiment, or even tolls. I’m writing this piece to dispel that notion. Progressives won big on Tuesday for two reasons: hard work and Rhode Islanders’ commitment to progressive change.

This victory truly belongs to the women and men who made it happen. Those people include the candidates, but they also include the people who did work behind the scenes, people who never get nearly enough credit. People like Laufton Ascencao-Longo, Kavelle Christie, Grizzel Clemetson, Craig O’Connor, Georgia Hollister-Isman, Abby Godino, Andy Cagen, Judith Finn, Duncan Weinstein, Nate Carpenter, Johanna Harris, and the whole Ranglin-Vassell family.

Laufton Ascencao-Longo, a native Rhode Islander and the son of a Portuguese immigrant who moved from Madeira to Fox Point, he had gone away to Pittsburgh to attend college. There, he became a leader in the Progress Pittsburgh movement, the wildly successful campaign to take back Pittsburgh that progressive activists around the country dream of emulating. He also worked on President Obama’s campaign, Tom Wolf’s successful campaign for Governor of Pennsylvania, a winning state senate race in Virginia, and a host of other smaller races. Laufton had spent half a decade working hard to win races and create change, and in his own words, he “was done.”

He moved back to Rhode Island to “retire.” He was done with working 15 hours a day, seven days a week.  He was done with sleeping on couches he didn’t even own. He was done. To Laufton, Rhode Island was the place where he could kick back and become a bystander again. Thanks in no small part to me, he got dragged back in.

We would meet for the first time in late December when he walked into a Progressive Democrats meeting to drop off Sanders swag he had gathered while in Virginia.

I wanted a political revolution. I’ve long believed that the people of this state have been betrayed by a corrupt, conservative political machine. A machine that is only interested in pursuing the interests of corporations, insiders, and right-wing groups. The machine is allowed to continue to function because it’s never challenged, and earlier this year, I reached my breaking point. People told me I was being “unrealistic,” that change would only come if we played along with the machine. I never agreed, and I refused to give up. I wanted a slate of primary challengers to rise up and give Rhode Island a choice.

But we needed candidates, we needed workers, and we needed money. I knew I couldn’t do it alone.

For far too long, the Rhode Island progressive movement has lacked professional campaign know-how. Sure, I knew all about the kind of campaigns local progressives have always run. I knew loosely what a mail program should look like, and I knew knocking on doors was far and away the most important thing. But when it came to the modern cutting-edge tactics that came largely out of the Obama campaign, I was clueless. And I knew it. That’s why Laufton was exactly what we needed. I wanted him on board, so I bullied him into agreeing to meet with some of the prospects we had who would be running for office.

The first introduction was with Moira Walsh. Moira was one of the earliest to decide to run for office, and she was exactly what we needed to get Laufton hooked.  She had grown up in Smith Hill and had spent the previous year fighting for an increase in the tipped minimum wage. She knew the conservative political machine wasn’t fighting for her neighborhood because she had seen what happens at the State House. She knew something had to be done. So she decided to run. Moira impressed Laufton (and me) with her honesty, her passion, and her unbelievable work ethic. Not fully onboard yet, Laufton agreed to help her once a week.

Both loud and openly dismissive of those who were in charge, Laufton and Moira were a perfect match. Within a week, Laufton had gone from helping on occasion to sitting down with Moira nightly. I was giving them fundraising and volunteer prospects and they were fundraising and recruiting for a few hours every night. Two weeks in, Laufton sat down and drafted a campaign plan, not five pages (as we usually see in Rhode Island) but 28 pages, not counting the appendix. He broke down every piece of the district and examined every single street, mapping out a strategy of what Moira would have to do every week to win. Moira was more than happy to do all of it. She wanted to win poured everything into making it happen.

The plan was working. It was just the first step in the revolution but it was one hell of a step. In just a few months, we had gone from monthly meetings to a well oiled operation ready to score some major upsets.

In early March, while the General Assembly was busy enacting conservative policies, Moira was out knocking doors. Even given her close ties to her district, Moira blew us away with how hard she worked. Usually, campaigns keep track of how many times the candidate has walked the district. Sometimes that number is as low as one or two. With Moira, we quickly lost count. Laufton was at her side every step of the way.

I went back to work on recruiting candidates. I met with people at bars and coffee shops. I worked hard to persuade candidates to make the jump and join a race. I told them that if they wanted to continue on the fight Bernie had started this was the way to do it.  By May, our two candidates had grown to more than ten. Every one of them was working hard to make change. Our revolution was becoming a reality.

Bernie’s surprise Rhode Island win gave us a huge boost of confidence.  I couldn’t have been more excited about Bernie.  In 2008, Hillary Clinton became the first politician I ever voted for. But the man who broke the corrupt, conservative machine that once ran Burlington through its death grip on the Democratic Party has always been my political hero. What he achieved in a town without primaries was the original political revolution. Bernie’s Vermont story inspired me long before he decided to run for president, so I did everything I could to help him win Rhode Island. (The real work, though, was done by the army of volunteers put together by Lauren Niedel, the Deputy State Coordinator of the Progressive Democrats.)  Everyone in Rhode Island political circles predicted that Hillary Clinton would sweep our state.  The whole machine lined up behind Hillary, and one reporter was so confident that he bet me two dollars Bernie would lose. (He still hasn’t paid up.) So when Bernie won, we were beyond ecstatic. At the victory party, I gave a short speech to the crowd, asking folks if they were ready to take the political revolution to the General Assembly.  “Yes!” was the response, and it was resounding.

It was then that we decided to take on our biggest target yet, John DeSimone. John had long been a thorn in Moira’s side, and he was actively supporting Palangio (which Laufton did not like).  Most considered him untouchable. We knew it would be brutally tough, but we thought it was doable.

While others saw a powerful incumbent with one of the largest war chests in Rhode Island and one of the most infamous patronage networks in our state, Laufton saw something else. He saw an incumbent who had lost touch with his district, who cared more about being a politician than fighting for his neighborhood. Laufton saw a target primed for a takedown, and he had the data to prove it. As he always does, he crunched the numbers for every block, walking me through the path to victory. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it could be done. Laufton said if we were serious about change we had to do this.

With DeSimone, I saw a man who was actively promoting the NRA despite his district’s constant struggles with gun violence. I saw a man who happily interfered in a women’s right to control her own body. I saw a man who clearly cared more about wealthy special interests than the people he was supposed to be representing. DeSimone wasn’t just conservative. He was a leader in the most far-right wing of the machine. I knew taking him on was a risk. I knew DeSimone bore grudges, and I knew he would take it out on the progressive movement if we lost. But I also knew that defeating DeSimone would send a shock wave through our political system. It would show that no machine politician, no matter how powerful, no matter how wealthy, no matter how feared, could afford to push policies that hurt his constituents. I also had faith that the people now working in the movement would get it done.

It wasn’t going to be easy to find someone with the courage to go up against the machine, but teachers have always been an important base for the progressive movement, even when their unions won’t always stand up for them. I talked to a friend of mine who was upset with DeSimone’s meddling inside the Providence Teachers’ Union, and I heard about a teacher with a legendary passion for progressive change. Her name was Marcia Ranglin-Vassell. (Concerned about retribution from union leaders, among others, my friend asked to remain anonymous for this piece.)  

My friend took Laufton to meet Marcia at her home. Laufton was thrilled. He said she talked about the students she had lost to guns and incarceration, about the crippling devastation wrought by poverty in her neighborhood. He said her passion blew him away. He said of all the candidates and people he had met over the years, she was easily one of the most impressive. He encouraged her to run right there on the spot. I have to say, I was initially skeptical. But then I finally met Marcia in person. And boy was I sold.

When Marcia made the decision to run, the team got to work. Laufton crafted the winning strategy (another 28 page campaign plan) and Marcia assembled her inner circle. Her sisters Lisa and Val came first. The head of the Rhode Island Black Business Association, Lisa is widely respected around the city. Grizzel Clemetson was a longtime friend with previous campaign experience and deep ties in the Latino community. Andy Cagen would join the team soon after. A Providence attorney, Andy was inspired by Marcia’s story and threw himself into the campaign. Marcia’s husband, Van, was always there for both his wife and the team.

A few days later Laufton recruited Kavelle Christie to the team. Herself a Jamaican immigrant, Kavelle was a longtime friend of Laufton’s and a partner in his work in both Pittsburgh and Virginia.  She had recently relocated to Rhode Island to work on environmental issues. After a meeting with Marcia, Kavelle was also fully committed. Like so many campaigns, Marcia’s lived and breathed around its field operation, which was why Kavelle was so key. As field director, she set her life aside and poured not just her free time but her heart and soul into making Marcia’s earth-shattering win a reality. Kavelle’s true value wasn’t just the unbelievable number of doors she knocked on or the army of volunteers she inspired but making the whole operation run smoothly and efficiently.

Marcia knocked doors literally almost every day from the moment she declared until election night. She wasn’t just knocking random doors either. Laufton had designed a ranking system to target only the most valuable and most persuadable voters. This ranking system incorporated in dozens of variables and was based on a similar model used by President Obama’s team. Her sisters Val and Lisa were always there to support her, and Grizzel immediately established herself as an irreplaceable piece of the team. Reaching pieces of the district that no one else could, Grizzel brought endless enthusiasm to the campaign. Andy always seemed to be doing work, and Kavelle used her experience to ensure nothing fell through the cracks. Every piece of the team was essential, and everyone on the team had a clear role they fully committed to.

By mid July, the team was completing a full pass of the district every week, and at every door, Marcia was getting more and more persuasive. Once a voter gave Marcia their support, they weren’t set aside. Marcia would follow up with a handwritten note and check in every few weeks to ensure they were still onboard. All contact was carefully tracked and carefully maintained.

What we heard on the doors was what we had predicted.  While everyone knew who DeSimone was, very few had met him.  Even among those that had, there was no guarantee that they would support him. The patronage network “Johnny Jobs” was famous for wasn’t enough to get voters to vote against their values. People were hungry for progressive policies. A $15 minimum wage and gun control were both widely popular.

I’m proud to say that the Progressive Democrats were the first to endorse Marcia, and our members were fired up to get her elected. Planned Parenthood, RI NOW, Sierra Club, Our Revolution, Working Families, and other allies soon jumped on board, committing more time and more resources to Marcia and Moira. Led by Craig O’Connor, Planned Parenthood’s political operation has always been at the core of our movement, and Marcia’s campaign was a perfect example of how indispensable they are. Led by legendary Massachusetts progressive operative Georgia Hollister Isman and Abby Godino, Rhode Island Working Families is a new project of the national progressive group, which is excited about investing in Rhode Island.  The mastermind behind Mass Alliance, the powerhouse of progressive politics in our northern neighbor, Georgia jumped enthusiastically onto Marcia’s campaign. With support from these key allies and more, oceans of door knocks and phone calls flooded the district.

Laufton worked with Judith Finn, a local graphic designer, to craft the mail program for both Moira and Marcia. Inspired by the feedback the campaigns were getting on the doors, Judith created gorgeous pieces that resonated beautifully across both districts.  (Judith also did indispensable work for campaigns outside of Providence.) When we started the campaign, we thought DeSimone’s money would mean he’d have a better program. DeSimone may have had way more money, but I really believe the mail program Judith and Laufton put together had a stronger impact. They created pieces that were so specific and targeted that they would sometimes only be sent to 20 or 30 voters.

Exposing DeSimone’s record was crucial to Marcia’s victory, so our research team played a vital role. Duncan Weinstein, who had worked with me on our NRA investigation (and had also done research for former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn), was indispensable, pouring hours into tracking down and exposing what DeSimone had done. Johanna Harris, a prominent Providence anti-corruption activist (and one of Marcia’s most generous donors), published many crucial investigative pieces on her blog and helped guide the overall messaging.  Nate Carpenter, communications director for the Progressive Democrats, worked the media hard to get the message out.

Marcia’s campaign got a huge boost when Rhode Island for Gun Safety, a group funded by Alan Hassenfeld and coordinated by Jerry Belair, launched a major independent expenditure campaign. Fighting the NRA’s death grip on our elected “Democrats” has always been a core priority of our movement, so it was great to see gun control emerge as such an important issue in this race. One of the long-terms effects of Marcia’s win is sending a message that Rhode Islanders reject the NRA’s dangerous agenda.

By the week of the election, Marcia’s team had knocked on over 10,000 doors and had had more than 2,000 conversations with voters. From this work, they had isolated out 823 supporters in the district.

The weekend before the election, while DeSimone was holding a picnic in North Providence (outside the district) with politicians like Nick Mattiello and Jorge Elorza, Marcia’s team was out knocking doors and reminding people to vote. On election day, when John’s supporters were waving signs at polling places, Marcia’s volunteers were working down their lists of carefully cultivated supporters and bringing them one by one to the polls.  With careful targeting, Marcia’s army of volunteers put in hour after hour to talk to as many voters as possible, reminding them to vote.

DeSimone’s strategy hinged on hinting at Marcia’s race.  With his slogan of “From our neighborhood. For our neighborhood,” he subtly implied that Marcia, who had lived in her home for more than two decades, wasn’t really from the community.  He even told voters that Marcia was just “some woman from Jamaica.” Promoted by a piece Johanna wrote, “some woman from Jamaica” became a theme of Marcia’s campaign, perfectly encapsulating how political insiders dismissed her candidacy.

DeSimone focused his get out the vote efforts on, as he described them, “the old Italians.” And he certainly had deep networks in the Italian community. But many Italian voters, after shaking hands with their friends working the polls for DeSimone, whispered to Marcia and her volunteers that they were voting for her.

Throughout the whole campaign, Moira had never once stopped knocking doors, and she was also victorious. This race wasn’t just about defeating DeSimone and Palangio.  It was also about electing Marcia and Moira.  Our city now has two new fiery populist champions committed to fighting for the working families of Providence. That matters.

This victory didn’t just happen. It happened because of every door Moira, Marcia, and their volunteers knocked on and every phone call they made. It happened because of the activists and campaign professionals who guided the campaign. It happened because of strong movement allies. It happened because of hundreds of progressives who reached deep into their pockets to give what they could afford. It happened because two women had the courage to run against a fearsome political machine.

The credit for any revolution belongs to those who fought in it.  And our Providence wins belong to the women and men who fought to make them happen.

Today, September 13, is our first major test of how our RI post Bernie efforts will play out. RI Progressives had an amazing victory in April  with the Presidential primary going to Senator Bernie Sanders  by a staggering 12% and we need that  energy to carry through today.   We encourage everyone to vote for our endorsed candidates so we can keep the momentum up to create a new culture in our state.   There are too many democrats who are unresponsive to the needs of their constituents and there are too many democrats who are entrenched in the corruption that has tarnished the General Assembly for many years.

The RI General Assembly needs fresh blood.  It needs to reflect the progressive movement that was energized by the Bernie Sanders campaign.  And the only way that can happen is if the people in this state vote.   RI Progressive Democrats as well as like minded candidates and organizations throughout the state have been working tirelessly to spread the word about  candidates who will instill a new sense of pride in the General Assembly.   It is time to vote out anti-choice, pro-gun candidates.  It is time to vote out members of the assembly who are beholden to corporate interests and Wall Street.  It is time we have a General Assembly who represents the values and needs of hard working Rhode Islanders across the Ocean State. That has to happen TODAY so in November we can take back the State House and make RI true blue again!

To check out RIPDA Endorsed Candidates please visit our website.

To Find your voting location  please visit the Secretary of State Website.

Lauren Niedel

Deputy State Coordinator of RI Progressive Democrats of America.

Democratic Committeewoman -District 40

Two races of special importance to Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello are being influenced through mailers sent out by a not-so-mysterious group calling themselves “Progress RI” which is funded by the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers (RIBCO).

As can be seen in the screenshot below, Nicholas Mattiello has made contributions to both Jan Malik and David Coughlin. This is in itself not unusual. Both are loyal members of Mattiello’s base and both received contributions of $1000, the legal limit. Coughlin received contributions in excess of the legal limit, but the extra $500 was refunded, essentially a $500, interest free, three month loan.

Mattiello awarded Coughlin a second over-the-limit and later-refunded $500 campaign contribution/interest-free loan through his PAC, Fund for a Democratic Leadership, as seen below:

As Ted Nesi tweeted last evening, the Progress RI PAC, (a name that invokes the Rhode Island Progressives Democrats of America (RIPDA) though they have no affiliation), has reported spending $9,348 on mailers against five candidates, including Jason Knight who is challenging Jan Malik and David Norton who is challenging David Coughlin. All the money for Progress RI comes from RIBCO, to the tune of $9,500.

Richard Ferruccio is the president of RIBCO, and lobbies extensively at the State House on that union’s behalf, often arguing for tougher sentences and longer periods of incarceration for offenders and against legislation that might reduce sentences.

RIBCO is a strong supporter of Speaker Mattiello, as seen from this list of campaign contributions:

There seems an alignment of interests between Ferruccio and Mattiello. Both are working against Knight and Norton and for Malik and Coughlin. The ACI, where most of Ferruccio’s prison guard membership works, is in Mattiello’s district in Cranston.

Ferruccio generally opposes changes in the law that lead to early release of prisoners. Mattiello was singularly uninterested in passing Governor Gina Raimondo’s criminal justice reform package of bills, saying “The justice reform package was never a priority for the House. I was never convinced Rhode Island should be a test case for a national model on criminal justice.” Sam Bell suggested that the alignment of interests might be a “thank you” for “killing prison reform” though

Ferruccio did not respond to a phone message left at his office. Following Matt Jerzyk‘s advice on Twitter, I also reached out to Nick Horton at Open Doors, but was unable to connect.

Moira Walsh and Susan Donovan were endorsed by all three. Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, Lisa Scorpio, Teresa Tanzi and Jeanine Calkin won the endorsement of two of the three.  While the vast majority – 22 of the 36 endorsed candidates – were only endorsed by one of the three, so far. Such are some of the similarities and differences between the three general interest, progressive-leaning organizations making legislative endorsements this election cycle.

The RI Progressive Democrats, the Young Democrats of Rhode Island and the Working Families Party of Rhode Island have now each announced legislative endorsements. While all three groups say they will be making more endorsements in the days, weeks and months to come, to date it seems each group has different criteria for winning their endorsement.

There are structural, rather than political, differences in some cases. For example, the Working Families Party and Progressive Democrats both endorsed candidates with primary opponents while the Young Dems endorsed several candidates who don’t.  But don’t be surprised if by the end of the campaign season if these three groups end up endorsing a slightly different slate of candidates.

“Rep. DeSimone’s activities relating to United Providence mirror those of former House Speaker Gordon Fox and former House Finance Chairman Raymond Gallison,” said a news release from RIPDA. “Like former Speaker Fox, who was fined by the Ethics Commission in connection with the Providence Economic Development Partnership, Rep. DeSimone has failed to disclose legal fees received from a Providence municipal agency partnership. And like former Chairman Gallison, who was fined in connection to AEP, Rep. DeSimone has failed to disclose income received from an organization receiving significant annual state appropriations.”

United Providence was a partnership between the Providence School Department and the Providence teachers’ union, which employs DeSimone. The effort received grants for $100,000 from the legislature in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2016, United Providence was slated to receive another $100,000 from the legislature until it was learned the group had become defunct. DeSimone was the registered agent for United Providence when it was formed in 2011.

RIPDA is also taking issue with DeSimone’s failure to disclose back taxes he owned the city and state. DeSimone was late in paying the property tax bill on his Smith Street law office every year since 2008 and also on his home in the years 2006, 2009, 2014 and 2015, according to RIPDA.

“Because of his repeated failure to pay his taxes on time,” said the RIPDA news release, “DeSimone has regularly been thousands of dollars in debt to the City of Providence – a fact that he was legally required to report in his annual financial disclosure statements to the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, which calls for disclosure of all debts in excess of $1,000 ‘to any person, business entity, financial institution or other organization’ beyond a few specific categories. Yet DeSimone, in disclosure after disclosure, repeatedly failed to list this information.”

DeSimone also failed to pay his state taxes on time in 2012, according to RIPDA. “While DeSimone’s troubles with municipal taxes were widely reported on this spring, this state tax issue has not previously been covered,” according to the news release. “During the 2016 legislative session, DeSimone was the lead sponsor for legislation that would put a 10-year statute of limitations on the collection of state taxes.”

Said Nate Carpenter, communications director for RIPDA, “Ethics Commission disclosure statements are an important part of maintaining transparency and oversight in our state government. Mr. DeSimone’s voters, and the people of Rhode Island as a whole, have a right to know that their House Majority Leader has repeatedly been indebted to the City of Providence and State of Rhode Island because of his failure to pay his taxes, and that he has regularly received income from an organization receiving significant state appropriations.  It is a very real concern that for so many years DeSimone chose to hide this information from the public by failing to honestly answer questions on his financial disclosure statements.  This is a crucial matter for the Ethics Commission to investigate—especially considering the recent scandals we have experienced in Rhode Island along very similar lines.”

DeSimone could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Providence City Council has called a special meeting for Tuesday night and among the agenda items is tax stabilization agreements (TSAs) for 60 Valley Street, LLC and 166 Valley Street, LLC on behalf of the Rising Sun Mills Project. The ordinance is sponsored by Council President Luis Aponte. The details of the TSA can be found here.

The City Council unanimously rejected a similar TSA, for 100 Fountain St, in February, under intense public pressure. Aponte then said, given the city’s precarious economic situation, “It’s the right signal that the [Finance] Committee is sending to the public and to the [City] Council.”

The TSA being considered by the council notes that the “projects been suffered serious financial setbacks and hardships as a result of the collapse of the real estate and financial markets over the past several years” and hence a five year extension of TSAs granted in 2003 and 2006 is needed. In return, “the Project Owners of 166 Valley Street will make an additional investment of approximately $5 million which shall be used to convert approximately 85,000 square feet of the building from a single tenant space to multiple commercial spaces. This will assist in the Project Owners in attracting new tenants to the Project and will create new construction and potential permanent jobs at the Project Site.”

The amount of revenue Providence will lose in this deal is unclear.

Stop Tax Evasion in Providence (STEP) released a press release Monday claiming that that the Providence City Council leadership is failing taxpayers.

“You would think that the Council would be in no rush to go handing out more of these questionable extensions to projects that have already been paying very little taxes for 15 years, but you would be wrong,” says the STEP press release. “While the… promise of new spending and jobs from Rising Sun Mill owners would seem welcome, there are absolutely no safeguards to ensure they will invest what they say. Thus the city can be certain of neither jobs nor permitting revenue.”

The special city council meeting was announced on Friday, July 29, as big news stories broke, such as Representative John Carnevale deciding not to appeal the Providence Board of Canvassers decision that ended his re-election campaign and Attorney General Peter Kilmartin announcing the non-results of his 38 Studios investigation. Technically, the City Council went on break for August and was not due to reconvene until September 1.

As a result, this important meeting was almost missed.

The city council will also be awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts at this meeting, according to the agenda.

The 12 candidates, in alphabetical order, are: Jeanine Calkin, Nick Delmenico, Doris De Los Santos, Bill Deware, Susan Donovan, David Norton, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, Jim Seveney, Jennifer Siciliano, Lisa Scorpio, Teresa Tanzi and Moira Walsh.

Tanzi was the only incumbent on the list.

The news release contained narratives for 8 most recently-endorsed candidates:

1) We are thrilled to endorse Marcia Ranglin-Vassell of District 5 in her challenge against the House Majority Leader, John DeSimone. A special education teacher in Providence, Marcia is hoping to challenge established politicians that continue to put their own needs ahead of the people. Marcia has deep roots in the community, and she has also received a Woman of Achievement award from the YWCA for her work on education. DeSimone is an extremely conservative politician who has fought against core Democratic values, even once voting to ban Providence from raising the minimum wage.

2) We are delighted to endorse Lisa Scorpio from District 13, who is taking on John Carnavale. Lisa is both a community leader and true progressive. Her rival John Carnavale, who has been under police investigation before, finds himself in a similar situation after being probed by the reporters at Channel 12 News. Due to the ongoing investigation, it is unclear whether or not Mr. Carnavale’s name will appear on the ballot. Lisa is highly engaged within her community and lives within the heart of her district on Sterling Ave.

3) Our endorsement of Nick Delmenico against Pat Serpa should come as no surprise, due to Serpa’s endorsement from the NRA and record of championing the machine’s anti-middle-class agenda. Nick cites the dismal record of the Rhode Island political establishment and the need for change as his primary reasons for entering the race.

4) We would like to endorse the incumbent from District 34, Teresa Tanzi. Teresa has been one of the strongest advocates for gun control, reproductive rights, and economic justice in the General Assembly. She has held her position since 2010.

5) We are excited to endorse Doris De Los Santos in Senate District 7. She faces the NRA-endorsed Frank Ciccone, a very conservative Democrat. In 2012 Govenor Chaffee appointed Doris as the director of the Office of Municipal and External Affairs. Her opponent, Frank Ciccone, has been involved in several scandals, including threatening a police officer who had pulled over conservative Senate Majority Leader Dominic Ruggerio for drunk driving.

6) We are pleased to endorse Jim Seveney, of Senate District 11. A long-time Portsmouth resident, Jim only lost by a small margin in the last election cycle. He is currently the leader of the Democrats on the Portsmouth Town Council. He will be challenging John Pagliarini, who just last month led the fight to stop an increase in the minimum wage.

7) We are thrilled to endorse Susan Donovan, of District 69. A long-time community activist in Bristol, Susan is running to restore honor and integrity to the District 69 seat, which was recently vacated by scandal-tarred conservative Ray Gallison, after an FBI investigation. Susan is running such a strong campaign she scared the machine out of putting up a candidate in the race.

8) We would also like to endorse Moira Walsh in District 3. A waitress, community activist, and single mother, Moira will bring her perspective to a statehouse that has devastated low-income communities. Moira, who remembers having to choose between heat and electricity, will be a fierce advocate for the people of Smith Hill, who have so long been ignored by the politicians at the other end of Smith Hill.

In addition to these eight, we have already endorsed Jeanine Calkin, Jennifer Siciliano, Bill Deware, and David Norton. We will be continuing to announce more endorsements throughout the campaign cycle.

The RI State Investment Commission voted to invest $20 million with GEM Realty Capital, despite the company’s claim that the health and safety of employees at the Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel in Los Angeles, one of the many properties owned by the company, is not something they can have any affect on.

GEM Realty describes itself as a real estate investment company that invests in “private-market real estate assets and publicly traded real estate securities”. At the meeting on Wednesday morning, two GEM Realty representatives admitted that there were problems at the Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel, but said that as they are not the majority investor in the enterprise or involved in the day-to-day management of the business, there is little they can do to effect positive change in the way workers are being treated at the properties they invest in.

Treasurer Seth Magaziner lead the questioning of the company reps about the allegations of unsafe and un-sanitary labor conditions at the hotel and Commission member Marcia Reback asked about the use of a firm known for union busting to prevent workers from unionizing. The GEM Realty reps assured the Commission that the union-busting firm was no longer employed by the hotel and that the health and safety issues were in the process of being resolved via the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

On April 25 employees filed a complaint with the CA Division of Occupational Safety and Health complaining about the hotel’s failure to provide safety equipment to employees charged with cleaning medical waste from Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel rooms. Many guests receive treatment at a nearby hospital and leave medical waste behind. Though management shows an instructional video every year about the proper disposal of needles and  bloodied linens, employees say “the hotel does not provide the safety equipment shown in the video”.

The Sofitel LA Hotel has also drawn “multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges that are currently being investigated by the regional office of the NLRB alleging that since employees raised the health and safety issues, hotel management has responded by threatening and surveilling employees and in one case illegally firing one of the employee leaders,” says Jim Baker coordinator for Unite Here. These case can be accessed here.

Then there’s the class action lawsuit seven employees have brought against the hotel alleging wage theft. Business Wire reports, “Six of the plaintiffs allege being paid less than the minimum wage while working at the Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. A former barback, as well as three housekeeping workers, a banquet worker, and a restaurant server, allege that management underpaid or have been underpaying them by up to $5.37 per hour.”

Aside from the allegations of deplorable labor practices, there may be sound financial reasons to avoid investing in GEM Realty, says Sam Bell, executive director of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America, has concerns about the very idea of private equity investments for our pension funds.

“With their high fees, private equity investments are a bad deal for our pension fund,” says Bell, “As Treasurer, Gina Raimondo, who made her fortune in this controversial industry, made a big move into high-fee funds, and that decision continues to drive our pension fund’s poor performance.  Seth Magaziner campaigned on a new kind of politics.  Expanding private equity investments, while other funds are pulling out of high fee options, would represent a move back to the aggressively pro-Wall St. policies of the previous Treasurer.

“Real estate private equity funds are especially poor choices, given their distinctive record of pushing policies that hurt American families,” says Bell, ” In the case of GEM Realty Capital, it is aggressive violations of workers’ rights that stand out, but across the real estate investment industry in general there is a serious and pervasive culture of immorality.”

Though the GEM Realty reps were asking for a $30 million investment from the state, the board seemed to feel that a $20 million investment was more in line with their investment strategy.

In 2008, the building was bought by David Sweetser and High Rock Development LLC for $33 million dollars. In a bid to lower their taxes, the developers are now arguing that the building has “no value.” In 2013, Sweetser asked for $75 million in state assistance and tax breaks, and each year, he comes back to ask again.

Rhode Islanders should not be held responsible for bad business decisions. And we should subsidize affordable housing, not luxury apartments that further segregate the rich from the poor. With the massive expansion of the agency that did 38 Studios, more and more Rhode Island corporations are coming to expect big checks from the state for any developments they do. And more and more developers are holding development hostage to bargain for public bailouts. It’s time to take action.

That’s why, continuing our strong stance against corporate welfare, we call on our political leaders to reject any subsidies for the Superman Building. We need to send a clear message that holding the building empty to extort money won’t work. Until the developer gets the message, the building will remain vacant.

We ask Sweetser to either develop the building or sell it to someone who can. The people of Rhode Island will not be bullied into giving absurd amounts of money to bail out a corporation’s mistakes. We can’t let this Massachusetts developer take advantage of us by using enormous tax subsidies to build unaffordable luxury apartments. Spending $75 million on corporate welfare for luxury apartments is unethical. Less than 5 years ago, the state of Rhode Island gave $75 million dollars to 38 Studios. We ask that we not make that mistake again.

Wage theft in Rhode Island may be a much bigger problem than robbery.  And, as Steve Ahlquist previously reported, even high profile violators may be getting away with a slap on the wrist with workers left with little recourse.

Thanks to a bill introduced by Representative Shekarchi and Senator Nesselbush, now passed by the House and Senate, that will change upon the Governor’s signature.

In written testimony supporting the bill, the Rhode Island chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America (RIPDA) summarized how the bill makes a difference:

The bill improves the current law in several ways.  First, in redefining “employee,” the protected class is broadened to generally include “independent contractors” (minus the groups that have been specifically excluded).  Second, it provides for the State to suspend a non-compliant business’ license.  Third, it allows employees to recover double damages and attorneys’ fees from a wage-stealing employer.

Not only does this bill deter unscrupulous employers from stealing from employees with suspension of a business’ license, but, for those who are deprived of their rightful wages, the bill gives a real solution.  Instead of merely filing with the Department of Labor and Training, employees will be able to sue directly and recover twice as much as was stolen from them.  Attorneys are encouraged to take meritorious cases — if successful, the employee’s lawyer is entitled to be paid by the employer.

The most financially vulnerable among us are targets of wage theft.  The biggest challenge remains:  Employees need to be aware of their rights, and have the courage to seek legal help when standing up to unethical and manipulative bosses.