We’re now the number one state in New England for food insecurity, reports the ProJo this morning. 15 percent of households in the state can’t afford the food it needs. This is a crisis of epic proportions that goes largely unaddressed because the influential class doesn’t tend to know many people that are affected by it.

To that end, kudos to these Providence College students who helped deliver leftover cafeteria food to some of the most needy people in our community.

Scott MacKay, who knows how local politics works as well as any Rhode Islander, suggests its time for the state and labor unions to strike a deal on pension reform … letting the legal system work it out, he argues is potentially very expensive and at the least very risky for taxpayers. Plus, Providence and Mayor Taveras has shown that this is a far better option politically, as well.

Speaking of pension reform, not one of the 17 state legislators who voted against it lost in the election for doing so, reports GoLocal.

And back to RIPR for a moment … Ian Donnis seems irked that I’m still irked that WPRI kept Abel Collins out of a televised debate! Interestingly, I actually think WPRI did Collins an electoral favor by snubbing him – he got more earned media by not being included than he would have had he debated, which wasn’t his strong suit as a candidate in the first place. That said, I don’t think affect on outcome is the standard by which media organizations should determine who should and should not be included in debates. I think it should be based on what potential voters should know about their options … news coverage doesn’t exist for candidates to benefit from, it exists for consumers to learn from.

The Boston Globe reports America owes Thanksgiving to Rhode Island’s own Roger Williams, not the Puritans who are often giving the credit.

Whose at fault for Hostess filing for bankruptcy? Labor, which didn’t agree to an 8 percent pay cut, or the CEO who took a 80 percent pay increase before asking employees to make a sacrifice? Either way, that’s no way to come to the negotiating table.

There’s an interesting – and small – mix of conservatives, moderates and populists who seemingly aren’t supporting Gordon Fox’s effort to be re-elected speaker of the House. His detractors from the left – Reps Scott Guthrie of Coventry and Spencer Dickinson of South Kingstown – have a disdain for pension cuts in common.

Guthrie may seem like the smartest progressive at the State House if and when the pension reform lawsuit gets decided. The retired Coventry fire fighter has long contended that Rhode Island was breaking a contract with its employees by changing the deal. As for Dickinson, I like him a ton, but I won’t be calling him a progressive until he can better support civil liberties. Unlike Guthrie, Dickinson doesn’t support marriage equality.

There’s a similarly diverse coalition that nominated Fox, reports Ted Nesi. Rep. Edith Ajello is the most influential progressive legislator in the House and Rep. Doc Corvese is the single biggest detractor of the liberal agenda in the chamber. Lady MacBeth, what some progressives jokingly call the religiously anti-abortion Rep. from Cumberland, also seconded Fox’s bid.

By the way Scott MacKay chastised the ProJo for buying into the hype that Fox’s reelection as speaker was in any doubt. Sometimes in journalism it’s hard to separate a good narrative from actual real life events and consequences; doesn’t mean both aren’t newsworthy.

Rhode Island has the fourth most student loan debt in the nation … so let’s all focus on how our corporate tax rate is causing our economy to sputter…

Jack Reed is right: Liz Warren should be on the banking committee. There was an excellent quote by MIT prof Simon Johnson in an excellent piece in Sunday’s New York Times about the optics of not doing so for Democrats: ““Not putting her on banking would make the Democratic Party look like a creature of Wall Street, which, by the way, it is. But they don’t like to be too explicit about it.”

Here’s how Patch not-so-subtly shills for Walmart in a story posted to most sites in RI (emphasis mine): “Shoppers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island will have to wait until after Thanksgiving to take advantage of Black Friday sales at retail giant Walmart.”  (Or you can !)

Speaking of Patch, the company reports it cut costs by 30 percent in an effort to become profitable. Local editors have seem their freelance budgets literally disappear and some are being asked to take on second sites, like Joe Hutnak who now oversees both Johnston and Smithfield Patch. No wonder they gush about Walmart … they share the same business model!

Puerto Rico is moving closer to becoming our 51st state, says the ProJo editorial page. I’m sure the GOP would prefer the Bahamas or Bermuda…

Twin River is hiring! Reason enough to be glad that full casino gambling is coming to the Ocean State … though I wish Newport was getting table games too. The City-by-theSea could have had one of the classiest and coolest destination resort-style casinos in the country. Twin River, on the hand, might be able to compete with the other regional gambling parlors that will soon be sprouting up all over New England…

Speaking of Newport …. did you hear that Carolyn Rafaelian, Alex and Ani designer, owner and founder, bought Belcourt Castle. On one hand, it’s pretty cool that Rhode Island’s most successful businesswoman will own one of the state’s most well-known mansions. On the other hand, old Newport miss the Tinney family, who were kind like the Adams Family of Aquidneck Island! Trivia: Rafaelian won’t be the first jewelry designer to call Belcourt home!! In the late-1980’s it served as a sort of haunt (pun intended) for local artists…

On this day in 1974, Karen Silkwood dies in a mysterious one-car accident on her way to meet with a New York Times reporter and a union organizer about the nuclear plant where she worked and was poisoned with plutonium.

An in-depth look at Rhode Island’s Homeless Bill of Rights, and why we would want to become the first state in the nation to adopt such a proposal.

The US Chamber of Commerce’s TV ad for Brendan Doherty signals that Citizens United is now having an effect on local elections in Rhode Island … not sure how the unions feel about this, but I know I don’t want the US Chamber to have an outsized role in selecting our senators and congressmen.

Scott MacKay says URI professors have a strong case if they go to the state labor relations board that the state engaged in bad faith negotiations … the two sides pretty much had a deal until the governor stepped in.

We predicted it would be there and then Sunday morning it was … the New York Times put together a great story on the plan to stop beach erosion in Matunuck, and how it could affect the legendary RI beach bar the Ocean Mist. For a local perspective, read Matunuck resident Tracey O’Neill’s story that scooped the Times on Saturday. And, really, this picture I took on Friday night of the surf creeping up close to the back deck tells the whole story. Full disclosure: I do not want to live in Rhode Island without an Ocean Mist.

My piece on Rhode Island being the Democrat in name only state really seems to have riled up the right. Justin Katz countered it with a post based on a study that claims the legislature is actually one of the most liberal in the country and on Saturday Travis Rowley gave it his normal fire and brimstone treatment. Rowley is entitled to his opinion. Katz’s piece, on the other hand, is simply intellectually dishonest – no one really thinks our state legislature is particularly liberal except those trying to manipulate facts for their own benefit.

Watch this video to see why venture capital firms like Bain Capital are bad for the economy.

A new masterplan for the heart of Providence … read this if you’ve always loved the idea of living and working downtown.

A great editorial from the Projo about the cuts the General Assembly made to services for the developmentally disabled. They write, “…how do administrators’ salaries play in all this? There has been a tendency in some non-profits as well many for-profits for the salaries of top people to rise even as those at lower levels are cut. (Our winner-take-all society . . . .)”

Starting today, you can take the train from Wickford Junction to Providence for $2.50.

Scott MacKay handicaps the one congressional race, CD1, that seems to have grabbed Rhode Island’s attention. And if you’re ready to start paying attention to the campaigns for seats in the General Assembly.

Common Cause says ALEC, the pro-business lobby group that drafts conservative model legislation for state legislatures, is abusing its status as a non-profit.

This page may be updated throughout the day. Click HERE for an archive of the RI Progress Report.

While I’m a big fan of clean elections, I do not support Voter ID because it doesn’t actually fix any of the problems that its advocates seemingly imagine are rampant.  Clearly, Voter ID will prevent the impersonation of another individual at a polling station.  I will not be able to cast a ballot in South Providence this year claiming to be Sen. Harold Metts, and that is a good thing.  But in a state that went to such great lengths to restore the vote of the formerly incarcerated, it is unfortunate that Rhode Island enacted this legislation to correct a problem that doesn’t actually exist in any meaningful way.  The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law puts it like this:

Such photo ID laws are effective only in preventing individuals from impersonating other voters at the polls — an occurrence more rare than getting struck by lightning.

Voter ID merely takes a snapshot in time (quite literally) of individual voters and freezes it.  Once the IDs are issued, there is no follow up to determine residence in future elections.  Voter ID doesn’t prevent people from moving from one district to another and vote in the former district, or double voting, which are what I image fraudulent voting to be.  However, the marginal benefit of voting in one district over another is exactly one vote, out of hundred, thousands, or tens of thousands (depending on the election), which is exactly why it so rarely happens.  When was the last time an election was decided by a single vote?  What Voter ID also ignores is election fraud, which is much more significant an issue, but does not involve voters at all.  To quote Scott MacKay on this point:

In recent memory, Rhode Island political chicanery has not involved imposter voters. From Almeida to Zambarano, Cianci to Celona, Martineau to Maselli, it’s been the politicians, not the voters, who have been guilty of corruption.

Here are some clear examples of what Voter ID doesn’t do:

• Case 1: I am a college student living in Providence and register to vote upon arrival.  After my first year I move out of the dorms into another district, but continue to vote in my original district using my Student ID.  Voter ID does not prevent this.
• Case 2: I am a business owner living in Smithfield, but operating a business in Johnston.  I use the utility bill for my business, addressed to me, as proof of my residence.  I vote in Johnston, rather than Smithfield.  Voter ID does not prevent this.
• Case 3: I use a piece of mail delivered to my house, but addressed to the previous resident, as proof of my residence.  I register to vote using this different name and vote twice using two different identities.  Voter ID does not prevent this.
• Case 4: Provisional ballots, which are valid once the signature on the ballot is verified as matching the signature on the original voter registration form, will be used for everyone who did not bring an ID to the polling booth.  I forge my address on the voter registration form, never bring an ID to vote, and cast provisional ballots at every election in a district where I do not reside.  Voter ID does not prevent this.
• Case 5:  There is another person named Brian Hull who lives in the same neighborhood in Providence (he was also born in the same year I was).  He never registered to vote, but votes at our local precinct, before I do.  My name gets crossed off as having voted when I did not actually vote.  When I appear at the polling place, I am unable to vote because the other Brian Hull already voted.  Voter ID does not prevent this.
• Case 6: There are about 1,400 registered voters on Block Island, a community which has a voting age population of just 825?  Voter ID does not prevent this.

To its credit, the Secretary of State’s office understands the legitimate concerns voters have regarding the use of photo IDs to cast a ballots and it began issuing free Voter ID cards earlier this month, albeit during working hours of 8:30-4:30, Monday through Friday (I suppose if you are lucky enough to have a job, good luck getting a Voter ID if you need one).  For the period of time between January 3rd (when the Secretary of State first began issuing IDs) and close of business on January 18th, a total of 17 IDs were created and will be mailed out soon.  To increase the issuance rate, Mollis’ office will be going to Senior Centers and community groups to provide Voter IDs (you just have to contact the Secretary of State’s office to arrange this).  While this will be helpful, it does not actually address the problems likely to be caused by implementation of Voter ID: transient, homeless, elderly, and other population groups that already suffer from underrepresentation will be denied the right to cast a non-provisional ballot when they go to vote for lack of the proper Voter ID.

Here is the press release from Rep. Lima:

Representative Lima announced today that she plans to introduce legislation that will repeal the ill-advised and unneeded Voter ID legislation signed into law last year.

Calling it nothing more than “Jim Crow” disguised as election reform, Representative Lima said that the only reason that the Voter ID bill passed was complacency.  No-one believed Rhode Island founded by Roger Williams with a history as a sanctuary for individual rights, free thinkers and religious tolerance since the 17^th century would pass such a backward leaning and anti-democratic piece of legislation whose only purpose is to rob our senior citizens, our economically disadvantaged and our growing minority population of their equality at the voting booth under the guise of make- believe voting fraud.  The proponents of voting equality were caught off guard and the bill passed.

In 1841 Thomas Dorr led a People’s Convention in RI to give suffrage to many landless and voteless working citizens.  Rhode Island voters overwhelmingly supported the voting reforms and on May 19, 1842 in Providence Thomas Dorr and his militia led an unsuccessful attack against the opponents of voting reform and then fled to Chepachet where they hoped to reconvene the People’s Convention.  Later Dorr was imprisoned and spent several years in prison before being pardoned in 1845.

However because of the Dorr War and the People’s Convention the Rhode Island Legislature passed some of the most meaningful voting reforms ever seen in November of 1842.

By contrast in 2011 the Rhode Island Legislature took a giant and shameful leap backward in voting equality that surely caused Roger Williams and Thomas Dorr to turn over in their graves by the passage of the Voter ID law of 2011.

Twenty States in 2011 considered legislation that would have required voter ID and to the astonishment of the nation Rhode Island with its Democratic-controlled legislature and proud history of believing in the principles of the freedom and individual rights was the ONLY state with a Democratic controlled legislature to have passed a voter ID law.

Representative Lima said that the Voter ID law is anti-democratic and robs the elderly, the low income, the minorities and our of age students of their constitutional right against impediments that make their voting right more difficult to exercise.

Additionally the voter ID law will cost the State between $1.6 and $4.9 million dollars to implement properly and effectively, according to a recent study released by the Democratic National Committee and referenced in the Projo on July 6, 2011.

Representaticve Lima said, “the main reason for this law can be summed up in two words, “voter fraud”.  The only thing fraudulent about voting in Rhode Island is the proponents of Voter ID claims that voter fraud is rampant in Rhode Island.  Voter fraud in Rhode Island is nothing more than a manufactured crisis to justify the passing of the voting rights killing ID law.  The only thing rampant in Rhode Island is the new migration of the Jim Crows.

It is with some degree of hope that I see so many groups and elected officials rushing to voice their opposition to the voter ID law.  Over twenty Representatives have co-sponsored my bill so far.

Also voicing opposition are groups such as the ACLU, NAACP, Univocal Legislative Minority, Progresso Latino, RI coalition of the homeless, the Providence Youth Student movement, COMMON CAUSE, Direct Action for Rights and Equality and the RI Disability Law Project.  Our full Congressional delegation has also voiced their opposition to the Voter ID law.  With their support for the passage of my legislation and the repeal of Rhode Island’s voting equality bashing ID law I think we can undo the damage done to Rhode Island’s reputation as a protector of individual rights and freedoms.  I will be looking for their full and public support because we must work together is we are to effectuate real change to this bad law.  I look forward to their help and support.

I will be sending this release to all the groups above as well as to our full delegation in Washington seeking their public input.