I met up with Taveras at Monihan’s, where he was enjoying a burger. Then we sat on the sea wall and talked about the campaign for a few minutes – including what he’ll be doing for the last week, the importance of tourism in our state and the mayor’s favorite beach.

The national group that lobbies states to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana sent an email to supporters today with its assessment of where the gubernatorial candidates stand on cannabis policy.

“Next year, the legislature will continue discussing whether Rhode Island should replace marijuana prohibition with sensible regulations, so it is important to know how the candidates for governor view the issue,” said the email.

MPP has lobbied hard in Rhode Island in recent years as many believe the Ocean State could be the first state east of the Mississippi to legalize marijuana, and some speculate RI could become the third overall state after Colorado and Washington, though there are voter referendums to legalize in Oregon and Alaska this year.

Here’s MPP’s assessment of the Democratic primary:

Democratic primary gubernatorial candidates: When asked in March, all three major candidates — Gina Raimondo, Angel Taveras, and Clay Pell — indicated that they are monitoring the effects of regulation and taxation in Colorado and Washington. However, all indications are that Taveras is the least open to marijuana regulation — he stated that he is “not currently supportive of legalization.” This is not too surprising considering Taveras has received public support from prominent marijuana prohibitionist and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy.

And the Republican field:

Republican primary gubernatorial candidates: On the Republican side of the coin, Ken Block has said he will withhold judgment until he can “see the results in Colorado and Washington.” His opponent, Allan Fung, not only opposes “the legalization of marijuana for recreational use,” but also makes no mention of even being interested in results from Colorado and Washington.

After a summer of spending millions to attack and fact check each other in TV commercials, the three leading Democrats running for governor took the opportunity to do so once more at their last debate before the primary.

“My campaign alone has created more jobs in Rhode Island than Narragansett Beer,” Clay Pell quipped of Gina Raimondo’s pseudo-claim in a TV ad that her venture capital investment in Narragansett Brewery helped create more than 1,000 jobs in Rhode Island.

This was the line of the night. But a close second was when moderator Tim White pushed back about Pell’s talking point about not taking any money from lobbyists or PACs. White pointed out that Pell is independently wealthy and that several high level NEARI employees are volunteering their time for him. Rarely does a debate moderator win applause, but this was a question begging to be asked that was unlikely to be addressed by any candidate.

The big lie of the evening came courtesy of Raimondo when she was accused of standing with Wall Street. She replied, “I’m from Smithfield, I’ve never worked on Wall Street.” Wall Street, of course, in this context, is not a physical address.

Angel Taveras’ watershed moment may have been when he asked the TV camera “would you hire someone who has had nine jobs in eight years?” He spent much of the debate on the attack against both Pell and Raimondo, but did not  – notably – dispute Pell’s claim to be the “progressive Democrat” in the race.

The surprise of the evening, for me, was that all three pledged to support the primary winner. It may be a good exercise for all Democrats to spend a few minutes each day until the primary envisioning their preferred candidate campaigning for the others, and vice versa.

On Friday, Brett Smiley dropped out of the Democratic primary and backed fellow liberal Jorge Elorza so that the more conservative Democrat, Michael Solomon, would not have the advantage of the liberal vote being divided.

“Jorge Elorza shares my values and my vision for our city, and I’m proud to give my full-throated support to his campaign. I know Jorge is our best chance of defeating both Solomon and Cianci, and I look forward to working together to make it happen,” Smiley said in a prepared statement.

It’s been a different story between the two liberal Democrats running for governor.

Angel Taveras and Clay Pell continue to beat each other up. The Taveras campaign says Pell lacks experience and overstates the experience he has. The Pell campaign accuses Taveras of stretching the truth and smearing his opponents.

Before Friday, both the mayor’s and governor’s Democratic primaries were three-way races featuring two liberals and a moderate. Raimondo and Solomon are seen as solid Democrats on many issues, with some foul-smelling political baggage. For Raimondo it’s her connections to Wall Street and Solomon is a city Council incumbent facing a complaint in front of the Ethics Commission.

Conventional wisdom says that Taveras and Pell may prevent each other from besting Gina Raimondo, who leads in the latest public polling. Conventional wisdom also says that Elorza increased greatly his chances of overcoming Michael Solomon by winning Smiley’s support.

In the mayor’s race, the left improved its chances of winning office by working together. In the governor’s race, the left greatly diminished its chances of winning by being a house divided.

If such speculations prove true, the big takeaway for the local progressive movement from the 2014 election cycle may be: united we stand, divided we fall. Learning that lesson may well be more valuable than winning either or both the governor and/or mayor’s office.

While NEARI, the state’s suburban teachers’ union, is vociferously backing Pell, a diverse group of public and private sector unions launched today calling itself “Working Families for Angel.”

In a press release the group said: “Angel Taveras is the only Democratic candidate in this race who knows the stresses working families are under.  Angel was raised by a single mother; his first job was a unionized bagger and cashier at a grocery store; worked his way through law school; and as Mayor has collaboratively solved problems with his employees to move Providence forward. We will convey this message to our members and their families, utilizing every communication avenue possible and look forward to the Democratic Primary Election on September 9th.  We are confident that come Election Day our members’ voices will be heard.”

The group plans on making contact with 16,000 union households, it said in the press release. “A coalition this size could represent more than 30% of this year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary voters, and provide a massive boost to Angel Taveras’ campaign,” it said.

The group includes, according to the press statement:

…the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters, International Association of Firefighters, AFL-CIO; RI Council 94, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO;  United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 328; United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 791; International Brotherhood of Police Officers, National Association of Government Employees, SEIU, AFL-CIO;  Service Employees International Union, Local 580, AFL-CIO; Brotherhood of Utility Workers Council, Local 310, United Utility Workers of America, AFL-CIO; and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 400, AFL-CIO.

In this picture, from just north of the Narragansett Town Beach on 1A, there seems to be an adamant Angel Taveras supporter living right across the street from an adamant Gina Raimondo supporter:

What’s interesting to me is combinations of yard signs, like this Gina Raimondo supporter who also supports Republican Catherine Taylor for lt. governor. I wonder if the owner of these signs is planning on voting in the Democratic or Republican primary?

On Route 1 in Charlestown I saw this driveway with a Clay Pell and Seth Magaziner sign.

I suspect this person won’t be the only one to vote for both Clay Pell and Seth Magaziner in the Democratic primary. Both are young, new to elected politics and are banking on the belief that Rhode Islanders are ready for new leaders.

Have you seen any interesting multi-sign yards? If so email them to progress@rifuture.org and tell us what trend you think they indicate.

Watch the commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMtyoqV1lbc

Pell’s campaign, in response, tacked away from what I called it’s positive campaign strategy, saying in an email:

For weeks now, Mayor Taveras and Treasurer Raimondo have been lobbing negative attacks at one another. At the same time, Clay has been focused on one thing — talking with Rhode Islanders about the new ideas and fresh approach he’ll bring as Governor, and his real plan to get our state back on course.

Because of the growing momentum of our grassroots campaign, Mayor Taveras has now turned his mudslinging in our direction. We, however, firmly reject the politics of attack and innuendo. Clay learned from his grandfather that campaigns shouldn’t be about tearing people down, but should be about ideas for the future.

I also wrote that Pell was playing the role of spoiler in this three-way battle. Several respected progressive voices chimed in to correct me. In a comment on that post, Will Collette, publisher of the Progressive Charlestown blog, wrote:

In some ways, the Democratic primary for governor is an epic battle between two factions of the party.

Angel Taveras, the progressive mayor of Providence who saved the city from fiscal disaster is in a public slugfest with Gina Raimondo, the well-heeled, Wall Street insider infamous for cutting pensions and investing the savings in hedge fund fees.

After beginning the campaign by negotiating a Peoples’ Pledge, Taveras and Raimondo are now running dueling attack ads on each other. And late last week their feud reached fever pitch when the Raimondo camp accused a Taveras supporter of sneaking into an event and trying to steal her cellphone. (The Taveras campaign apologized for the first transgression and denied the other.)

Such sleaziness would be the bigger news if it wasn’t for Clay Pell. Everyone is most abuzz about his people-powered, positive campaign strategy. Couple that with millions of his own money, and it could prove to be a winning strategy.

Unless it ends up just being the spoiler strategy.

Many expect Pell to make a huge leap in the next round of polling. But few expect it will be big enough to win. He may well best Taveras in the end, but it seems most-likely that Raimondo will beat them both. While Pell and Taveras split the left, Raimondo is drawing new conservatives into the Democratic Party – I know of at least one longtime Republican who plans to vote for Raimondo in the Democratic primary this year. And if Raimondo wins the primary, a swarm of influential liberals will give serious consideration to voting for a Republican.

So even as the drama unfolds between Wall Street and Main Street Democrats, the left’s lack of ability to agree on a candidate may have already guaranteed Rhode Island’s next governor will be a conservative.

First Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman David Cicilline critiqued the high court’s reasoning. Now Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Lt. Gov. hopeful Warwick Rep. Frank Ferri have also weighed in.

Here’s Mayor Taveras’ statement:

I am deeply disappointed in today’s Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case. Giving employers the right to decide what type of contraception a woman should have access to is outrageous and sets a dangerous precedent that allows for discrimination. Corporations are not people, and their rights should not trump a woman’s right to receive contraceptive health care coverage.

Ferri, a Warwick state representative running for lt. governor has an interesting take. He’s a small business owner who owns and runs a bowling alley. In a fundraising email Ferri said:

Today’s decisions by a conservative majority of the US Supreme Court to impede women’s access to healthcare and curtail the rights of unions to represent their members should serve as an important reminder of what’s really at stake in this election.

As a small business owner, I would never presume to influence my employees’ health care decisions. That is just wrong.

I’m angry about the Court’s rulings, but being angry isn’t enough. We need to organize and work to make sure a conservative court and right-wing politicians don’t turn back the clock on all the progress we’ve made over the last two decades.

I’m proud to be the only candidate in this race to put his name on the line to defend a woman’s right to choose. When I’m Lt. Governor, our office will unabashedly fight to support women and working families, and stand up to the right wing politicians who will surely look to capitalize on today’s rulings.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras “believes it is better to raise the wage at the state level but is open to the proposed ordinance before the City Council,” said campaign spokeswoman Dawn Bergantino today.

“The City of Seattle spent months studying the issue before the recent passage of a citywide wage,” she said. “The Mayor believes it is equally important that Providence do an economic impact study to understand what, if any, consequence we may see and to ensure the proposal will help those it is intended to, in the way it is intended to. He wants to make sure that we have an economy that is fair and provides opportunity to everyone.”

The statement comes as the mayor may have to weigh in on a $15 minimum wage for the hotel industry in Providence, as activists have put a proposal before the City Council, and as Rep. Ray Gallison is pushing a bill that would block cities and towns from having higher minimum wages than the state.

Bergantino said Taveras did not ask House Finance Committee Chairman Ray Gallison to put forward a bill that would prevent cities and towns from setting their own minimum wage.

It’s still unclear why Gallison, chairman of the powerful House Finance Committee, proposed the bill as he prepares to lead the budget bill through his committee. House spokesman Larry Berman said he didn’t know what prompted Gallison to support the move, which is usually associated with conservative low wage activists.

Providence City Councilor Carmen Castillo, who is also a hotel housekeeper, took umbrage with Gallison meddling in city politics.

“Representative Gallison’s proposal is an attack on all RI cities and towns,” she said in an email to RI Future. “It will strip us of our power to represent our communities. What power will they try to take from us next?  The right to decide if we should have a casino in our town?  The right to set our own budgets?”

Castillo, who works at the Omni Hotel, added, “I make almost $15 per hour.  I proudly clean 15 hotel rooms a day for Providence tourists – guests from graduations and conventions, tourists on their way to Cape Cod  and business travelers all sleep in clean rooms because of hundreds of women like me.  I was able to buy a house and send my daughters to college.  I eat in my neighborhood restaurants and shop in the bodegas.”

Councilman Sam Zurier said he wasn’t familiar enough with Gallison’s bill to weigh in. But he reiterated what he has written in his constituent newsletter:

“I have an open mind on this issue, and I will attend the hearing looking for answers to several questions, including the following: (1) What is the current wage scale at Providence hotels, including those that have unions?; (2) What is a living wage for Providence?; (3) What are the costs/benefits of (a) a minimum wage at the municipal (rather than state or national) level, and (b) an industry-specific minimum wage?; (4) What ramifications would the ordinance have for other hotel employees, such as those employed in a hotel restaurant or gift shop, and what would be the full impact on room rates and hotel operations?”