Progressive News, Opinion, and Analysis
The more you know, the more complicated things get. Since I’m of two minds in this, let me run through a few arguments and counterarguments I have in the battle between Gordon Fox and Mark Binder. Removing Speaker Fox sends a message to state lawmakers that they can be held accountable for actions like 38 …
Continue reading “Eight Arguments in Mark Binder vs. Gordon Fox”
Presidential challengers almost always prevail over the incumbent in the first debate of the campaign, and to that end Mitt Romney and Barack Obama did not buck tradition as they faced off last night. But winning the Wednesday night battle might may come with some strings attached for the Republican candidate. Despite his empty rhetoric …
“Are you a credible candidate?” I’ve heard that question again and again and again. What it’s code for is, “How much money have you raised?” (And “Do you own a car?”) I learned during my first campaign that the press and media have a Woodward and Bernstein relationship to money. (Remember the scene from All …
Rhode Island, says New York Times number-crunching blog FiveThirtyEight, is the most politically elastic state, meaning that “a large swatch of its electorate are persuadable voters unaligned with either political party.”In a separate piece on political elasticity Nate Silver describes elastic states as “those which have a lot of swing voters — that is, voters …
On Wednesday, I filed the papers to become a candidate for State Representative from the Fourth District in Providence, RI. I’m running against House Speaker Gordon Fox. Today, I’m blogging about it. Welcome to the third turn of the 2012 political race. This blog will follow my campaign. I’ll be writing about the challenges, triumphs …
Continue reading “On Your Mark: Binder To Blog About Candidacy”
Soon after learning from Ted Nesi that South Kingstown Rep. Spencer Dickinson invested another $3,820 in a somewhat brazen attempt of defeating his political enemy House Speaker Gordon Fox, we learn that Fox’s campaign has filed yet another complaint with the Board of Elections “against opponent Mark Binder after learning that Rep. Spencer Dickinson donated …
Continue reading “Dickinson Helps Binder; Gordon Fox Cries Foul”
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. …
If you want to know why Brendan Doherty didn’t want to participate in a debate his fellow CD1 candidates on civil rights issues, try reading the first paragraph of the ProJo’s story. “The 1st Congressional District candidates who attended this forum agreed on just about everything — that Republicans want to ‘roll back’ reforms that …
This time the PawSox owners didn’t make any attempt at countering the event. This time the media showed up in force, with Channel 10 doing a live remote. The What Cheer! Brigade played four rousing selections and storytellers Len Cabral and Mark Binder (who has contributed to RI Future) entertained the crowd with stories. Kites were flown, games were played, children danced and the promise of a public park was glimpsed, if imperfectly.
The future of Rhode Island could be very simple… Our goal could be to intentionally make our small state an expensive place to do business in, but make it worth every penny. For every dollar in taxes paid, our citizens would reap benefits. The purpose of commerce is to support the people, not the reverse. How could …
Gordon Fox is guilty, and I’m not surprised. I’m the guy who ran against the former Rhode Island speaker of the House in 2012. From the first days of our campaign, I pointed to the corruption that seems endemic in Rhode Island’s political structure. At the time, nobody seemed to believe me. They denied it …
The Providence city council seat for ward 3 appears to be suddenly in play. Economic development consultant and leadership author Marcus Mitchell is gathering support for a write-in campaign against previously unchallenged incumbent Kevin Jackson. And it looks like Mitchell can win. Mitchell was the founding president of the Providence Community Library and has been a longtime Mt. Hope activist. This activism …
Continue reading “Uprising in Ward 3: Marcus Mitchell wages write-in against Kevin Jackson”
Political endorsements ain’t what they used to be. If Donald Trump can issue endorsements and have people take them seriously, I figured…what the heck? Herewith, my endorsements (i.e., people for whom I will vote) for select state-wide and GA races. I also add some one-liners at the end for GA candidates in districts other than …
Last week I wrote an op-ed in response to Mike Stenhouse’s op-ed Left won’t defend failed RI Policies lambasting Tom Sgouros and Sam Bell . My first draft went to the Providence Journal, but the conversation with the editor didn’t go well for a variety of reasons. Next I sent it to GoLocalProv with the …
He exposed the illegal campaign tactics of the NRA. He leads the Progressive Democrats of Rhode Island. He’s a frequent contributor to this blog. And – hopefully – next Sam Bell will add to his resume state representative from District 4. With news that soon-to-be-former House Speaker Gordon Fox won’t be seeking re-election, Bell has …
Continue reading “Sam Bell is running for Gordon Fox’s seat”
Coming soon to your winter reading list: Tom Sgouros’ second book. His first book focused on conservative mythology about the Ocean State, and this time the RI Future contributor and well-respected progressive policy analyst sets his sites on a national level with a look into the banking industry. It’s called, ‘Checking The Banks: The Nuts …
Continue reading “Tom Sgouros’ new book explains problems, solutions to banking crisis”
The Narragansett Indians called it “Clths Slaaag,” which Rhode Island’s founder Roger Williams translated as “The Old One.”
Nationally, Barack Obama was campaigning for a second term. Democrats were convinced they would win, while Republicans were convinced they would win. While Rhode Island was a sure thing, the chance to vote for President increased turnout to historic proportions. This was bad news for the Republicans and Moderates in the General Assembly. Democratic voters …
It was never fully implemented, and it won’t be fully repealed either. Instead Rhode Island will keep its controversial Voter ID law as it is now: identification is needed but it doesn’t have to have a picture. As a result, the Ocean State remains one of the 19 states that require a non-photo id to …
Brendan Doherty, Mark Binder and even, to some extent, Mitt Romney, all made Rhode Island progressives nervous throughout the 2012 campaign season. But once the campaign was over and the votes were counted, it turned out to be a great election day to be a local liberal. Easily the biggest victory was Congressman David Cicilline …