How Religious Is RI?
Ted Nesi recently wrote a blog post in which he compared data from a series of studies dealing with the issue of just how Catholic the State of Rhode Island actually is. First drawing attention to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolates (CARA) that places the Catholic “baptisms-to-birth ratio” at 34%, the third [...]
The War On The Poor
According WPRI’s Tim White and Dan McGowan, 100% of December 2012′s electronic benefit transfer funds are being used at completely legal locations. In any budget anywhere, that would be cause for celebration, it would be a gold standard by which to hold others accountable. However, that was not the lede that WPRI chose. They went [...]
Sen. Bates: Cash Assistance Programs Are ‘Wonderful’
Good for state Senator David Bates, a Republican from Barrington, who seems to have a pretty reasonably position when it comes to public sector cash assistance programs for the needy. “Cash assistance programs are wonderful for the people that are really in need of it, but for people who want a gallon of ice cream [...]
Is Ted Nesi Biased on Pension Reform?
Ted Nesi is easily the most knowledgeable and well-respected local reporter on the pension beat. As such, it’s not easy to call him out for what I think is some bias in his pension reporting as of late. Today on Twitter I asked him why he didn’t include either Angel Taveras or Ernie Almonte’s perspective [...]
Progress Report: Why Public TV Matters; Public Cars for Legislators; Woonsocket School Committee; Climate Change
Remember way back in the days when we feared Mitt Romney might become president and, if he did, he would cut public funding to PBS? Well Rhode Island already beat Romney to this nightmare scenario for liberals … WSBE Ch.36 is being transitioned off the state payroll beginning this month, reports Bill Rappleye of WJAR, [...]
Progress Report: State of Local Media; At Last, Three-Way Debate; Energy Politics; Dems on Doherty Gets Little Press
Every progressive – indeed every Rhode Islander, if not all Americans! – owe it to themselves to spend some time reading Providence Monthly’s awesome feature on the state of journalism in Rhode Island. The magazine put together a group of the best and brightest reporters we’ve got here in the Ocean State who kicked around [...]
Progress Report: Gordon Fox Gets Kicked; Gina’s Coffers; Comparing Pay Grades; Pirate Party, Lawrence Lessig
Gordon Fox’s reelection battle has become one of the most watched contests in Rhode Island, and Ian Donnis yesterday busted out what I think is the best local campaign journalism of the year summarizing his race against Mark Binder. “Fewer than 9,000 voters will decide one of Rhode Island’s most important elections on November 6,” [...]
Progress Report, Halloween/Post-Sandy Edition: Cicilline, Doherty Neck and Neck; Pols Without Power, Ocean Mist
It seems in David Cicilline’s struggle to retain his seat in Congress that it will all come down to the so-called ‘get out the vote’ efforts, or the boots on the ground in the final few days of the campaign, according to a new WPRI poll that shows Cicilline with a 1 point lead over [...]
Speaker Fox Promises to Reconsider Voter ID Law
First he promised to bring a vote on marriage equality if he gets re-elected, now he says he’ll force the House of Representatives to take another look at the newly enacted voter ID law too. “Should I be fortunate to be re-elected, I will be sponsoring legislation to include a ‘sunset provision’ in the law,” [...]
Progress Report: Binder vs. Fox; Dalai Lama, Springsteen on Progressive Values; WPRI Debate Snobs Get Promoted
Shaping up to be one of the most interested races for a State House seat, author and RI Future contributor Mark Binder’s challenge to Gordon Fox is attracting a lot of media attention. Fox is more conservative than we’d like in a Speaker and Binder is less experienced than we’d like in a state Representative. [...]
David Cicilline Wins Debate Against Brendan Doherty
David Cicilline said Brendan Doherty would side with conservative House Republicans if elected to Congress and effectively do damage to social security and Medicare, while Doherty said he would be his own man who would work to protect social security and Medicare. Can both be true? Cicilline may have made such a point at the [...]
Abel Collins Responds to WPRI Debate Questions
At long last, the Abel Collins campaign sent me the YouTube code for his response to the questions posed WPRI posed to the other two CD2 candidates in the Tuesday night debate that he was excluded from. It’s only 20 minutes long, and if you’re a voter in the Second Congressional District or a fan [...]
Collins Didn’t Debate But Showed Voters His Style
Abel Collins would have been a great addition to WPRI’s CD2 debate last night, but how he handled his exclusion also gives voters a good glimpse as to how he might govern. He organized a fantastic grassroots effort to petition the station to change its mind and include him on the stage. He also came [...]
Progress Report: Langevin Wins Debate; Cranston Considers Outsourcing; Gambling and the Economy
Jim Langevin easily won the head-to-head between he and Mike Riley last night. He did so by giving coherent answers and not being rude. As out-of-step as Riley’s policy proposals may be – he talked about returning to the gold, or an index-based, standard for valuing currency – his big political baggage will prove to [...]
Collins to Participate in Debate, Via RI Future
Congressional candidate Abel Collins will be participating in the CD2 debate tonight. Well, sort of. The Collins campaign will either livestream their candidates responses to the debate questions immediately after WPRI’s portion ends at 8 p.m. or it will release a You Tube video of their responses to the questions later that evening. Either way, [...]
Progress Report: Even More Riley Lies; KKK History in Smithfield; Mortgage Gordian Knot; Roger Williams
First Mike Riley was telling lies about Congressman Jim Langevin in TV commercials. Now, we’re pretty certain he’s telling lies about RI Future to other reporters. Or, it’s just another example of why Mike “McCarthyism” Riley is totally unfit to represent Rhode Island in Congress (we’ll offer more evidence of as much a little later [...]
WJAR: Collins Can Debate Depending on Poll Results
Depending on the results of a new Brown University poll expected next week, WJAR News Director says it’s likely congressional candidate Abel Collins will be invited to debate the other two candidates for the the second congressional district seat. “I suspect he will pass our criteria and be invited to our debate,” said WJAR Channel [...]
Langevin: Collins Should be Allowed in TV Debates
In contrast to WPRI, Congressman Jim Langevin thinks his campaign competitor Abel Collins should be allowed to participate in the televised debates, he told me in an interview today. “All three of us should be debating,” Langevin said. “The voters on election day are going to be confronted with three options. If they aren’t hearing [...]
Progressive Politicians, Proposals Popular in Poll
A month before the election a new WPRI poll shows Rhode Islanders comfortably support both progressive politicians as well as progressive policy proposals. The big news from the new poll for both politicos and progressives is that Congressman David Cicilline leapfrogged Brendan Doherty since the last WPRI poll and the liberal incumbent now leads the [...]
Candidate Abel Collins Snubbed from TV Debates
Independent congressional candidate Abel Collins may have little chance of beating incumbent Jim Langevin. But then again, Mike Riley, the Republican candidate doesn’t have much of a chance either. So that can’t be the reason two of the TV networks – WPRI and WJAR – have decided to snub Collins from their CD2 debates. Maybe [...]
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