It was a good night to be an incumbent in Rhode Island
While the trend nationally has been to oust the incumbents, and the local pundits and politicos seemed braced for an upset, Rhode Islanders stuck by the status quo in the 2018 primary election Wednesday. Democrats roundly rejected Matt Brown’s upstart challenge to Governor Gina Raimondo, the more moderate incumbent. And they narrowly stuck by Lt. Governor […]
Incumbent Democrats face two-front campaigns
Politics makes for strange bedfellows, observed Charles Dudley Warner in 1850, and it seems true enough this campaign season in Rhode Island as the highest-profile incumbent Democrats are each taking fire from not only Republicans, but also the progressive left. Sometimes even on the same issues. Governor Raimondo Governor Gina Raimondo faces the most-obvious two-front […]
Raimondo’s pension cuts benefited hedge funds more than RI, says Brown
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown attacked pension cuts for state employees dating back to Governor Raimondo’s previous role as state treasurer at a town-hall style “Restore Our Pensions” event at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence on Monday evening. The event came mere hours after WPRI published polling results showing Brown lagging behind in name […]
Raimondo says her incentives spur job growth; EPI isn’t so sure
Governor Raimondo’s support for corporate incentives have become a contentious frontline in the race for governor. Both Democratic candidate Matt Brown and Republican candidate Allan Fung have attacked her commerce incentive programs (such as the Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit) according to a report in the Providence Journal on Tuesday. The article shows Gov. Raimondo […]
Can Cool Moose’s ghost posthumously swing RI governor’s election?
It’s deja vu all over again in the race to be the next governor of Rhode Island. Governor Gina Raimondo, the incumbent Democrat, leads her Republican rival, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, by just two points, 38 percent to 36 percent, according to a new WPRI/Roger Williams University poll that revealed eerily similar results as last […]
Unmoved by public testimony, PUC approves ‘outrageous’ National Grid rate increase
“What we heard today clearly is that the energy burden that is experienced by many in Rhode Island tears at the social fabric of our state,” said Abigail Anthony, on her first day as a commissioner on the PUC.
Fung denounces bigotry, but not Trump
Cranston Mayor Allan Fung declined to denounce President Donald Trump’s notion that “both sides” deserve blame for the racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that turned violent and left one woman dead and more injured. When asked for a comment on Trump’s reaction to Charlottesville, Fung spoke instead about the events that transpired in Charlottesville. “Let […]
Sheldon Whitehouse gets cookies for healthcare, castigated for Burrillville
“I mean, we’ve all defended him. He’s a United States Senator, he’s not a state senator, it’s a local issue but he has to do something to appease those people. Because they kind of think he’s, in a way, almost a hypocrite.”
Senate District 13: 6 candidates square off at Jane Pickens in Newport
In the first real candidate forum in Senate District 13, six of the seven candidates answered questions and gave their opinions on a wide range of issues including reproductive rights, the PawSox Stadium and the budget gridlock currently seizing the General Assembly. The four Democrats, David Allard, Dawn Euer, John Florez and David Hanos, will face […]
Cranston City Council candidate Kate Aubin calls on Republican opponents to denounce Trump’s hateful rhetoric
“Incumbent City Councilor Michael Farina made the decision to switch parties from Democrat to Republican in March, when it was already clear that the national GOP would likely be led by Mr. Trump. His failure to denounce the hate filled language and ideology coming from the top of his new party shows a lack of judgment, courage, and leadership.”
Cranston TicketGate was just the tip of an iceberg
The ‘-gate’ suffix has become something of a cliche and many of these scandals often fail to compare to the downfall of Richard Nixon. But a new report, issued by the Rhode Island State Police on Monday, certainly paints an image not unlike the Woodward and Bernstein template. What began in January 2014 with the issuing […]
It’s time for another People’s Pledge
As regular readers of RI Future know Common Cause Rhode Island pushed for a People’s Pledge in the race for governor last year. Despite some skeptics the three leading Democrats agreed to the Pledge in April. Up until the final days the Pledge held and we saw not a single TV or radio ad run […]
Why conservatives play fast and loose with RI’s credit
Don Carcieri’s epic economic fail of investing in 38 Studios may have a silver lining for the local conservative movement he once led. And both Republican candidates for governor are for it, while the Democrats are opposed. The Providence Journal points out that gubernatorial candidates are split along party lines when it comes to repaying […]
Not needed: crank economic opinions on the Minimum Wage
Arguments against raising the minimum wage are tedious, immoral and wrong. Writing about the need for a substantive raise in the minimum wage to alleviate the crushing poverty of the working poor opens the floodgates to conservative and libertarian cranks who argue, against all reason and compassion, that minimum wage laws should be abolished. Tearing […]
Republicans are wrong about minimum wage and economists know it
In response to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Angel Taveras supporting a minimum wage increase in Rhode Island from its current $8 to a kingly $10.10, both Republican candidates, according to the ProJo, have opposed the idea. Ken Block is quoted as saying, “We have seen repeatedly… that Democrat-driven mandates, like increasing the minimum wage, raise the […]
Both party primaries for governor come into focus
The calendar may still say 2013, but the 2014 election year kicked into high gear this weekend. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras said he will announce his candidacy today at 10 am at Meeting Street School in Providence; General Treasurer Gina Raimondo told WPRI Newsmakers if she does run for governor, she will do so as […]
Let the Taveras, Raimondo horse race begin!
The Taubman Center’s recent poll is probably the ultimate kick-off of horse race coverage of the 2014 campaign for governor. In a somewhat regular occurrence for Director Marion Orr, the poll’s methodology was called out almost immediately. WPRI’s Ted Nesi has an interview with Orr explaining the methodology; here on RI Future our editor Bob […]
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