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 […]
Medicare for All would save RI money—and here’s the math
Would health care in Rhode Island cost less if everyone had access to it? The question, brought to the national stage in arguments surrounding Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All plan, came to Rhode Island repeatedly this week, whether it was when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown announced his own Medicare for All plan, or in […]
Matt Brown calls for “Medicare for All”
Democratic candidate for Governor Matt Brown announced last Friday that he supports a “Medicare for All” plan for Rhode Island, which will both counter Gov. Raimondo’s Medicaid cuts and “save Rhode Island money every year,” he said in a press release. “If people lose a job, they lose their health care. Small businesses pay so […]
Blockchain has a far-right past. Does it have a future in Rhode Island?
Here is a list of some of the figures who have shown interest in bitcoin cryptocurrency and its associated “blockchain” technology: white nationalist Richard Spencer, who called bitcoin “the currency of the alt right.” Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has had private meetings with cryptocurrency investors. Peter Thiel, the PayPal founder and libertarian […]
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 […]
Stage set for progressives to take over Rhode Island
As the deadline to run for elected office came and went Wednesday afternoon, there are more than a few political newcomers—many young, and many centered around social justice—that could constitute the makings of a progressive wave in Rhode Island. Governor Most notable might be the governor’s race, where Matt Brown promises to give incumbent Governor […]
One last plea to Raimondo to veto Kristen’s Law
At 4pm on Monday evening, where one would usually find state representatives milling about before their floor sessions, demonstrators gathered inside the State House to make one last plea to Governor Raimondo to veto Kristen’s Law, a statute which mandates a life sentence for individuals involved in the exchange of controlled substance in the case […]
Nika Lomazzo reflects on activism, Pride after stepping down from District 8 race
Those who attended Nika Lomazzo‘s first stand-up show at AS220 were met with a bit of an apt misnomer: the show was titled “Imposter Syndrome,” but it was clear that Lomazzo, an outspoken figure in her neighborhood of Federal Hill in Providence, was nothing but the real deal. Her trenchant critiques of local politics, delivered […]
Raimondo supports Kristen’s Law, a member of her drug task force doesn’t
Amid reports that Gov. Raimondo is planning on signing Kristen’s Law (H 7715)—a bill passed in the House last week which mandates a life sentence for individuals who sell controlled substances involved in fatal overdoses—many are saying that the bill will only increase the number of overdose deaths, including one of the governor’s own appointees […]
Paul Roselli drops out to run for state Senate, help Matt Brown
Saying Gina Raimondo won’t win in the general election even if she prevails in the Democratic primary, her underdog rival Paul Roselli ended his outsider campaign for governor to support fellow progressive outsider Matt Brown instead. “If Gina Raimondo wins the primary, Raimondo will lose the general election,” he said in a prepared statement released […]
Gov. Raimondo signs red flag and bump stock bills
At a state house rotunda ceremony this morning, surrounded by scores of Moms Demand Action and RI Coalition Against Gun Violence activists wearing orange t-shirts, Gov. Gina Raimondo signed into law two new pieces of gun safety legislation. The first, sponsored in the Senate by Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin and in the House by […]
Lifelong activist Matt Brown challenges Raimondo on progressive issues
Matt Brown, the former secretary of state who is running for governor, doesn’t describe himself an ex-politician. Instead, he describes a lifelong activist who did a stint as an elected official. “I’ve spent most of my life starting and running non-profit organizations,” he said. “I was literally born into activism.” His mom went into labor […]
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 […]
Packed State House greets assault weapons ban bill
Nearly 500 people packed the Rhode Island State House rotunda Tuesday for a rally celebrating the introduction of a bill banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines. They filled the stairs and the second-floor hallways, dangled banners over railings, and cheered the legislators and high school students who urged the general assembly to take action. […]
In Oregon, Medicaid copays cost money and reduced health outcomes
Governor Gina Raimondo isn’t exactly reinventing Medicaid by proposing elderly and/or impoverished Rhode Islander’s pay increased healthcare costs, as her proposed budget proscribes through new Medicaid copays. Cost sharing has been a part of socialized medicine in America since 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicaid and Medicare legislation into law. Even Vermont Senator Bernie […]
Medicaid patients would pay more to help balance Raimondo’s budget
Medicaid recipients will pay more for their healthcare if Governor Gina Raimondo’s budget proposal passes because it would add a co-pay to certain services, administration officials told reporters earlier today. The governor’s proposed budget seeks to raise $3.2 million through the new co-pays which, by middle class standards, appear small. Inpatient hospital visits would have […]
Raimondo to RI: ‘Let’s keep going’
“Let’s keep going,” Governor Gina Raimondo said, at least eight times, in her 2018 State of the State speech. A tailor-made message for an incumbent governor facing re-election, it was clearly the theme of her speech – she even highlighted every utterance of the phrase in the public text of her speech in the House […]
PawSox stadium a power grab by Governor Raimondo
There are many arguments for and against the merits of the legislation as written, for and against the merits of keeping the Pawtucket Red Sox in Pawtucket, and for and against the merits of the state paying for bonds to finance the construction of a stadium, theoretically covered by the tax revenue derived from said […]
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