south county – RI Future

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

Tanzi stumps for South County as budget cuts its tourism funding

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Just because House Finance passed the FY 2016 budget onto the House floor for next Tuesday, doesn’t mean the entire House of Representatives has to like it. In fact, much of the bill is contested – such as the tourism cuts that Representative Teresa Tanzi, Narragansett/South Kingstown, has voiced her opposition to.

“When I moved here from Utah, everyone said “Oh, Newport, Providence!” People already know about Newport and Providence and I would say “No, Narragansett,” and nobody would know what Narragansett was. I have a really difficult time turning a portion of our money over from South County to help promote more Providence and more Newport.” she said, citing that the South County tourism board works very hard to market their area of the state.”

In response House Speaker Nick Mattiello said, “Despite that wonderful job, everyone still talks about Providence and Newport. It’s the integrity of the entire system that we’re looking at, and you need a Rhode Island brand. It’s not about localities. The current system doesn’t work, and we cannot go back to a system that doesn’t work.”

Their disagreement stems from Governor Gina Raimondo’s idea to centralize state tourism spending. Currently, Rhode Island has no unified state marketing efforts and instead dives proceeds from hotel tax receipts between 8 regional tourism agencies. The money will now go more towards the state Commerce Corporation, rather than the tourism bureaus themselves. In the House version of the budget, $4.7 million goes straight to the Commerce Corporation, while less than a million goes to the actual tourism district. In Gov. Raimondo’s version, $6.4 million would go to the corporation, leaving the districts with $1.7 million.

Rep. Tanzi (D- District 34). Photo courtesy of http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/ — Rep. Tanzi (D- District 34)

After the hearing, Tanzi continued to express her concerns about the funding cuts, and how they will harm her district as a whole.

“I think that the way that the South County tourism board is run is actually very effective. We have been compliant, we turn in our reports when we’re supposed to, our production cost of our marketing materials, everything is done in house. We’re very conscientious about how the money is spent,” she said, especially in comparison to other tourism boards across the state. Tanzi believes that this will only disserve the southern portion of Rhode Island, especially because Newport and Providence, in her opinion, do not need more marketing.

“The beaches are their own unique part of it,” she said. “We need to have our own budget to market that appropriately. We’re competing with the Cape, we’re not competing with Massachusetts.”

As the budget is currently written, Tanzi stated that to “cannibalize” the smaller parts of the state in order to market Rhode Island as a whole is not the best use of money, and it will only show poorly within the coming years.

“My guess is that my businesses in South County, who have five months out of the year at most, to make their living to make it through the entire summer, are going to suffer as a result of this,” she said. Tanzi has spoken to many of the businesses in her district since the budget first came out in March, adding that such funds are always a concern for business owners in the area.

But, the prospect of Tanzi submitting a successful amendment to support her district is slim to none, in her view, calling South County the “small fish,” in comparison to Newport and Providence.

“Just the basic numbers of looking at it, you’re talking about a couple of South County people, versus the city folk and the Newport people, who outnumber us on the floor. So, my chances of an amendment passing are ridiculously infantile. They’re infinitesimal, they’re so small, so, no, I won’t,” she said.

Even without the hope of amending the budget, this year, though, Tanzi still holds out hope for next year, planning to bring forth data showing the exact effects of these cuts on South County tourism, and maybe even get to create a separate brand for her district in the process.

November 18, 2014November 19, 2014

Revenge of the Swamp Yankee: Democratic disaster in South County

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south county votes fung — From the 11 South County communities.

While there was jubilation in the Rhode Island Democratic Party election night party because of the biggest sweep since 1960, that mood was not shared by Democrats in South County.

From Exeter to Westerly, Democrats, and especially progressive Democrats, took an awful beating in General Assembly and Town Council races. Majorities in several South County towns also shifted from blue to red in their votes for state offices.

Since I started living in South County in 2002 and covering local politics at Progressive Charlestown, I had enjoyed watching what seemed to be a steady shift from the region’s historic Swamp Yankee conservatism to more progressive politics. South County sent a high proportion of solid blue Democrats to the State House and voted mostly Blue in state and national races.

But that changed on November 4.

Of the 11 South County communities, only four voted for Gina Raimondo over Allan Fung.

In addition to going GOP for governor, South County lost three terrific progressives – my own state Representative Donna Walsh, Sen. Cathie Cool Rumsey and Rep. Larry Valencia. Each of them faced appallingly unqualified opponents. Donna Walsh lost to a radical “Tenther” who doesn’t even seem to live in the District. Cathie Cool Rumsey lost to Hopkinton’s honorific Town Sheriff who was caught using her uniform to impersonate a police officer.

Larry Valencia lost to a guy whose only previous experience was running as a delegate to the Republican National Convention as a delegate for Ron Paul – and who came in fifth out of five.

In Charlestown, we were totally crushed, losing every single elected office in the town to a group called the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party), an off-shoot of the RI Statewide Coalition. If you mixed the Tea Party with the Nature Conservancy and the worst rich people’s homeowners association you can imagine, you’d get something that looks like the CCA.

The CCA Party gets more than 60% of its funding from out of state donors. They provide vacation property owners with the ability to vote with their checkbooks in local elections. The CCA Party has increasingly put Charlestown on a “pay to play” basis where the attention you get from town government is in proportion to the amount you donate to the CCA Party.

But those of us in Charlestown were not alone in our misery. Exeter Democrats also took a terrible beating. Exeter rejected all five state general office winners and provided winning margins for Tea Party Rep. Doreen Costa (R) to be re-elected and for progressive Sen. Cathie Cool Rumsey (D) to be ousted.

It was only 11 months ago that Exeter Democrats rallied to crush a gun lobby-sponsored recall of their Democratic Town Council majority. The “Exeter Four” won a huge victory last December 14 only to see two of the four defeated on November 4, costing them the Town Council majority. The level and sophistication of campaigning in Exeter for the general election bore little resemblance to the way Exeter Democrats won last year’s recall.

Larry Valencia’s home base in Richmond also went very bad. Voters rejected the state slate except for Seth Magaziner and also flipped their Town Council from a Democratic majority to Republican control.

Even in Westerly, a Democratic stronghold, Democrats lost control of the Town Council. So it went in North Kingstown, Narragansett and Hopkinton. When the dust settled, the only solidly Democratic town left in South County is South Kingstown.

South Kingstown was the only municipality not swept up in the red tide. South Kingstown was one of only three South County towns to vote for all five Democratic state office candidates. They also re-elected progressive Democrat Rep. Teresa Tanzi by six points despite a $100,000+ campaign mounted against her by mortgage banker Steve Tetzner.

In another closely watched race, South Kingstown also elected Democrat Kathy Fogarty over her Republican opponent, Lacey McGreevey. Fogarty defeated incumbent Rep. Spencer Dickinson in the primary to get her shot at the seat. She won the general election by 16 points.

On top of all that, South Kingstown voters also elected three Democrats and two independents to their Town Council. One of those independents is RI Sierra Club lobbyist Abel Collins.

So what happened?

Like elsewhere in the country, 2014 voter turn-out in South County was low. It was lower than expected even considering the normal drop-off in non-presidential election years.

In Charlestown, we expected turn-out to drop by 900 from the 2012 count for the presidential race. But the drop-off ended up being more than 1,100. With a total voter registration of just over 6,000, that drop-off had a huge impact on the results.

Challengers to incumbents trumpeted the state GOP’s lead issue – 38 Studios – 24/7. Forget that it was unlamented ex-Governor Donald Carcieri’s (R) idea. However, 38 Studios did not affect the state office races or act as much more than buzzkill in most races. Even Republican Attorney General candidate Dawson Hodgson, who probably banged the 38 Studios drum the loudest, admitted after the election that maybe the issue wasn’t so potent after all.

However, 38 Studios may have had a disproportional effect among our South County Swamp Yankees as it was in just about every one of the many mailers, ads and flyers attacking Democrats.

In many South County races, the conservatives out-spent and out-hustled Democrats. In the House District 36 race, Rep. Donna Walsh’s “Tenther” opponent out-spent her 13-to-1 going into the final month.

But money doesn’t always make the difference, as re-elected Rep. Teresa Tanzi can attest. Tetzner went into the final stretch of the campaign having raised three times as much money than Tanzi, mostly through loans he made to his campaign. Tetzner outspent Tanzi by six to one, but she still won.

By contrast, progressive incumbents Larry Valencia and Cathie Cool Rumsey both out-raised and out-spent their Republican opponents, Justin Price and Elaine Morgan respectively, by wide margins, but still lost.

After reviewing Price’s and Morgan’s campaign finance reports, it looks to me that there was a lot more money in their campaigns than they reported. Morgan, for example, reports having spent only $322 on her campaign up to the last week, but she had campaign signs plastered all over Richmond, Exeter and Hopkinton as well as campaign mailers. She only reported $444 in in-kind donations.

There are still unresolved pieces of the puzzle. At some point, Rep. Donna Walsh will get a hearing in front of the state Board of Elections on her charge that her opponent lied about where he lives and is not really a resident of the 36^th District. There may be charges filed in other campaigns for misreporting, ethics violations or campaign sabotage. There are a few recounts to be done of some races for town office.

But in the end, there is a new political reality in South County.

Perhaps with more time and perspective, we’ll be able to figure out what went wrong, but we now live with the reality that on November 4, South County flipped from blue to red. We have to figure out how to flip it back.

May 24, 2014May 24, 2014

Happy Memorial Day, or why tourism works for RI

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South County’s dramatic seasonal switchover happens this weekend.

Parking lots from Wickford to Westerly, vacant all winter, will fill with nicer-than-average cars bearing out-of-state plates. Those same cars will help turn otherwise rural routes 1 and 4 into a twice-a-day traffic jam. Every errand will take twice as long. All of a sudden it costs money to go to the best beaches. And your dog is no longer welcome.

For the next 90 days or so, we have to share our coastal paradise with the rest of the world. It’s really a tiny price to pay to get to live in one of the most beautiful corners of the country. “You should see it in September,” a Rhode Islander will inevitably say to someone visiting for a week in July.

With about a fifth of the state’s population, South County is essentially Rhode Island’s company town. The beaches are the Ocean State’s factory. And our chief export is an amazingly healthy and renewable resource: rest, relaxation, good times and memories.

Tourism is Rhode Island’s second biggest industry. It contributes billions annually to the economy and is responsible for almost 10 percent of total employment. It plays to our natural strengths and is a historically strong driver of growth here.

After the Ocean State unsuccessfully tried to boost business by cutting taxes and giving money to a baseball player to develop a video game, Democrats running for governor are beginning to understand tourism’s importance here. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo both recently released plans to reinvigorate the vacation sector.

“A progressive government understands that our tourism industry is more than an amenity – it is crucial to economic development and to Rhode Island’s economic recovery,” said Taveras in his plan to invigorate the tourism economy.

The old Shooters building at the top of Narragansett Bay has inexplicably been vacant for years. (Bob Plain) — Tourism fail?: The old Shooters spot at the top of Narragansett Bay has been vacant for years.

“Tourism can be an incredibly powerful engine of economic growth, and Rhode Island is ideally suited to take advantage of it,” Raimondo said in her tourism proposal released in April.

Each offered similar bullet points to boost out-of-state visitors. Improve infrastructure, market the state better, support the arts and entertainment.

“Our tourism economy is a driving force in our sense of pride and sense of place,” Taveras wrote. “We have so much to be proud of in Rhode Island. It is time to let the world know.”

They each said they could create thousands of new jobs.

Raimondo, who often invokes her family vacations to Sand Hill Cove in stump speeches, said Rhode Island “on the whole spends less on investing in tourism and travel than almost any other state in the country.”

No wonder the Ocean State is mired in a recession! Rhode Island made big bets on tax cuts and Curt Schilling to grow our economy when perhaps we would have been better off doubling down on our natural and historical strong suit: tourism.

We may be the smallest state in the nation, but there’s no good reason we can’t also be America’s best destination.

beavertail — Looking west towards South County from Beavertail State Park in Jamestown.

May 2, 2012May 2, 2012

South County Chamber Gets the Nod – Budget Passes

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The South Kingstown Town Council, in a session often resembling a scene from a junior high lunch table, passed the Town budget for fiscal year 2012 – 2013 in total. In a 4-0 vote, with one recusal, the budget was adopted – inclusive of a contentious $7000 line item allowance to the South County Chamber of Commerce.

Refereeing council members and town residents, Council Chair Ella Whaley urged all to stay on task in getting issues resolved and the budget passed.

From the outset, the meeting was heated as Council member Polly Eddy was asked to recuse herself from the vote, due to her position on the Executive Committee of Thundermist Health Center. Eddy who presently sits on the Executive Committee of the private non-profit organization, has held the position of President of the organization in past years, as well as sitting as a senior member of the South Kingstown Town Council.

In anticipation of the budget adoption, which in accordance with the Town Charter has to be completed by May 1, town resident and democratic committee member, Deborah Bergner submitted a letter requesting the removal of $7000 from the preliminary budget, slated for the South Kingstown Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to the petition she garnered, already an agenda item, Bergner’s letter received just prior to the meeting, repeated her ongoing contention that the South Kingstown Chamber of Commerce was acting in dual capacities, as a chamber and a political PAC.

“I feel that no taxpayer money should be given to a political organization. By forming a pack with little or no separation from the chamber itself, and becoming actively involved in local politics, they forfeited their right to receive money from the taxpayers,” Bergner corresponded.

Rebutting the contents of the letter on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce was Richard Pike, Chair of the South Kingstown Political Action Committee, explaining that the PAC operates separately from the chamber, was adamant that any funds appropriation from the Town would not be seen by the PAC.

“The $7000 – I can assure you, not one penny would go toward the political action committee.” Pike went on to add. “Anybody that thinks it’s not a good idea really needs to wake up and listen to some of the [things] that are going on. Businesses are hurting. They need help.”

In a tete-a-tete battle between council members and residents alike, the sometimes pathetic posturing of a political battle to come was revealed.

Supporting Bergner’s position was Maureen Martin, also a town resident, admonishing the council’s bantering in deciding the fate of Bergner’s petition and the Town’s budget before them for passage. Referencing councilman, James O’Neill’s comments with regards to the petition, Martin spoke.

“As I sit here as a citizen, I feel totally disrespected already. To refer to the petition that several South Kingstown residents signed as pathetic, is in and of itself, pathetic.” In addressing the petition before the Council in opposition to the Chamber expenditure, Martin expressed her belief that the funds were not appropriate for an organization not deemed non-profit.

“I do not think that the taxpayers of South Kingstown should be footing the bill for administrative costs of an organization that does not provide services to the needy, but instead participates in lobbying activities.”

Challenged by Carol Hagen McEntee, Council Vice President, Martin was asked to answer why the expenditure had never been questioned in the past. “Last year at this time we gave the $7000 unanimously. By your own admission, you have been a resident for [many] years. This has been going on for 21 years and you have never come forward and felt that this appropriation should be challenged. Why this year?”

“A couple of things – one is I didn’t know,” responded Martin. “I admittedly have not been actively involved in local politics. Had I known, it may have been different.”

After 2 hours, two motions were presented to the Council. The first, a motion to deny the resident petition in opposition to the Chamber appropriation, passed in a 4-1 vote, with member Polly Eddy the sole nay. Council member, Kathleen Fogarty, in a surprising turn of events, voted in support of the line item for the Chamber.

The second motion, the Town’s annual budget adoption, passed in a unanimous action, with Mrs. Eddy’s recusal on record.

At the end of it all, Town Manager, Steven Alfred was pleased with the outcome. “We have adopted a budget that supports our ability to provide for the Town and residents based on the financial situation before us. We are providing residents with the maximum benefit we can.”