May 23rd, 2013 at 12:40 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – With officials mulling a contract renewal for Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras is again questioning a high school graduation mandate that ties a diploma to the state’s standardized test.
May 23rd, 2013 at 5:51 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – R.I. Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, but stopped short of fully endorsing the school chief’s request for a three-year extension when her contract ends next month.
May 21st, 2013 at 12:36 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
That escalated quickly.
The field of likely 2014 candidates for governor of Rhode Island has come sharply into focus over the last week thanks to three key announcements: Democrat Ernie Almonte’s switch to the treasurer’s race on Thursday, Republican Brendan Doherty’s decision to sit out the race on Friday, and Moderate Party founder Ken Block’s announcement this morning that he’s running again.
Almonte’s exit leaves Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras as the two potential heavyweights in the Democratic primary, setting up a head-to-head clash between the two. Almonte’s absence could boost Raimondo, since both of them have reputations for pension truth-telling and fiscal responsibility, issues that appeal to moderates and conservatives; Taveras has a more wide-ranging portfolio.
That assumes, of course, both Raimondo and Taveras actually jump into the gubernatorial race. While the two Democrats are taking the steps necessary to mount campaigns, until there’s an official announcement the possibility remains that one of them won’t pull the trigger. Raimondo has $1.7 million already and her fundraising shows no sign of slowing, while Taveras has $560,779 and can tap the deep-pocketed network of former DSCC chief J.B. Poersch; a lengthy primary fight could be expensive and bruising.
May 21st, 2013 at 10:34 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Tim White
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Moderate Party founder Ken Block will once again be the face of his party’s 2014 gubernatorial run, according to a website that went live this morning.
May 17th, 2013 at 12:53 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Former State Police superintendent and congressional candidate Brendan Doherty on Friday said he has no plans to run for statewide office in 2014, likely clearing a path for Cranston Mayor Allan Fung to run unopposed in a Republican primary for governor next year.
May 16th, 2013 at 8:42 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Former Auditor General Ernie Almonte announced Thursday that he’ll run for general treasurer in 2014, abandoning his long-shot bid for governor against Gina Raimondo and Angel Taveras.
• Related: Caprio calls ‘shove it’ remark ‘stupid,’ prepares comeback (May 14)
May 10th, 2013 at 11:07 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – R.I. Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Thursday sided with former campaign rival and Moderate Party Chairman Ken Block after Block ripped House Speaker Gordon Fox’s plan to restructure the state’s troubled Economic Development Corporation.
May 7th, 2013 at 9:23 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
May 2nd, 2013 at 8:32 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Same-sex marriage will be legal in Rhode Island starting Aug. 1 after the R.I. House of Representatives gave final approval to the legislation Thursday, thrilling supporters who’ve been pushing the issue at the State House for 16 years.
May 2nd, 2013 at 9:58 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Reuters’ Felix Salmon, one of the most influential finance bloggers in the nation, jumped into the discussion Josh Barro and yours truly were having about Rhode Island officials’ justification for refusing to default on the 38 Studios bonds. While Salmon agrees the state’s pensioners would seem more deserving of repayment than the bondholders, he gently chides Josh and me for a bit of “faux naïveté” regarding what’s going on:
The answer is that yes, moral obligation bonds are effectively general obligations bonds in all but name. The state has found a way of issuing bonds without having to get the approval of the legislature, but they’re still obligations of the state, and the state doesn’t distinguish the two types of obligation. And yes, Rhode Island should be paying the lower interest rate rather than the higher interest rate. But that doesn’t mean that voters should have to approve moral obligation bonds: it could equally mean that voters should stop having to approve general obligation bonds.
That is what all governors really want: to have the legislature and voters stop interfering in their borrowing strategy. And that is the real reason why Chafee is staying current on his moral obligation bonds. He wants the world to see voter approval as an anachronism, and in an ideal world he would love it if moral obligation bonds had the same legal backing — and therefore the same lower yield — as general obligation bonds. That way he’d never need to issue a general obligation bond, or get voter approval for such a thing, ever again. It’s a very attractive vision — and it’s not one he’s going to give up just because Rhode Island is suffering a fiscal nightmare these days.
As someone who spends a lot of time listening to Lincoln Chafee, I’m skeptical that the governor has truly thought through the reasons for drawing a distinction between moral-obligation and general-obligation bonds (or not drawing one). But as Salmon makes clear, this debate has demonstrated that there’s no real difference between the two types of debt when it comes to whether taxpayers will have to cover the liability.
• Related: Chafee reveals RI’s confusion about the 38 Studios bonds (May 1)
May 1st, 2013 at 10:18 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Gov. Lincoln Chafee is using some of the choicest real estate in all of American journalism – the New York Times op-ed page – to make his case about why he’ll be making the right move Thursday when he signs into law a bill allowing same-sex marriage (presuming it passes the House).
Chafee’s 1,200-word opinion piece – “Why I Am Signing Marriage Equality Into Law” – lays out clearly and succinctly the case the governor has been making since his inaugural speech in 2011: that allowing gays and lesbians to wed in Rhode Island will fit with the state’s history of tolerance and benefit its economy to boot. He also goes out of his way to praise the Rhode Island Senate’s GOP caucus for backing the bill, and makes a point of highlighting some of the brighter spots in the state’s economy.
This isn’t Chafee’s first foray onto the Times’ opinion page. In February 2010, just after he launched his successful campaign for governor, he published a piece called “Goodbye to All That” that suggested, following Evan Bayh’s disillusioned departure from the U.S. Senate, the need for a third political party.
One bit of political trivia that’s still unresolved: when exactly did Chafee actually start expressing support for same-sex marriage? Chafee notes in his op-ed that he opposed President Bush’s proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2004, but at that point he only supported civil unions; during Chafee’s 2006 re-election campaign, however, he was on record supporting full marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
Whatever the case, Chafee supported same-sex nuptials long before most Democrats, let alone Republicans.
May 1st, 2013 at 4:44 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
My friend Josh Barro of Bloomberg View, who spends a happily inordinate amount of time writing about Rhode Island, interviewed Governor Chafee this week during the governor’s media roadshow in Connecticut and New York City. Josh pressed the governor on why he’s flatly ruled out defaulting on the 38 Studios bonds yet signed a law that reneged on promises made to state retirees – and Chafee’s reply was not convincing:
That raises a question that many state residents – especially retired employees – would like to see answered: If Rhode Island can’t afford to keep its promises to retirees, how can it afford to keep its promise to the 38 Studios bondholders? Chafee isn’t prepared to answer. …
And when it came to 38 Studios, Chafee couldn’t even answer a simple question: Is it ever appropriate for the state to issue moral obligation bonds?
“I’m not an expert on that issue,” he responded. After a year of dealing with the fallout from 38 Studios’ collapse, you would think he would be.
As the interview ended, Chafee remarked, “I’ll have to think a little more about Josh’s question” — the one about why you can freeze COLAs but can’t default on 38 Studios.
Local officials are fearful that the bond market won’t differentiate between a default on the moral-obligation bonds issued for 38 Studios and the general-obligation bonds backed by the state’s full faith and credit, particularly since Rhode Island is a municipal minnow compared with, say, California. A top policymaker once asked me to imagine a Wall Street Journal headline the day after: “Rhode Island defaults on bonds.”
While that’s certainly possible, it’s worth scrutinizing.
First of all, if any state officials in the country should be able to go to Wall Street and soothingly explain why the 38 Studios case is a unique one and the default won’t set a precedent, wouldn’t they be Gina Raimondo – a former venture capitalist beloved by financiers who crafted a landmark law slashing pension liabilities – and Rosemary Booth Gallogly – a veteran policymaker who’s overseen the successful restructuring of municipal budgets in Central Falls and elsewhere, all while explicitly protecting bondholders?
Maybe, maybe not. (And maybe Raimondo and Gallogly aren’t interested in trying.) But if that’s the case, a moral-obligation bond is effectively a general-obligation bond in all but name, with full repayment by Rhode Island taxpayers promised no matter what. If so, shouldn’t voters have to approve moral-obligation bonds at the ballot box as they already do with general-obligation bonds – and shouldn’t Rhode Island be paying the lower interest rate investors get on a lower-risk general-obligation bond?
May 1st, 2013 at 10:35 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Ted Nesi and Tim White
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Treasurer Gina Raimondo continued to raise campaign cash at a rip-roaring pace during the first three months of 2013, far outpacing the other leading candidates for the state’s top job.
April 30th, 2013 at 7:22 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Gov. Lincoln Chafee announced plans to sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriage during a ceremony on Thursday evening, immediately after the final version legislation is expected to win passage in the House of Representatives.
• Related: How the Rhode Island shifted on same-sex marriage (April 24)
April 25th, 2013 at 5:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Less than an hour after the Rhode Island Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Wednesday said he met with advocates to begin discussing plans to sign the bill into law “as quickly as possible.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:09 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan & Ted Nesi
When the Rhode Island Senate meets Wednesday to vote on legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage, it will be taking up an issue that died in the House just two years ago and was still considered a long shot as recently as last winter.
But a savvy political campaign that first threatened and then encouraged state lawmakers – combined with a rapid shift in public opinion – now has Rhode Island poised to become the final state in New England to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:38 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
The fine folks over at Bloomberg View asked me to write a short op-ed for them about the outlook for Rhode Island’s 2014 gubernatorial race, focusing on Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s high profile after the pension fight and how it will impact the campaign. Here’s how I kicked off the piece:
Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo has experienced a meteoric rise to fame that most politicians can only envy.
Raimondo, a 41-year-old former venture capitalist, was virtually unknown in 2010 when she coasted to victory as a Democratic candidate in a deep-blue state. Soon the new treasurer surprised almost everyone by engineering the most sweeping overhaul of a public-pension system ever enacted. By the time her reforms became law in November 2011 she was one of the most popular politicians in Rhode Island, and the subject of adulatory coverage in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Even before the pension process was over, there was growing speculation that Raimondo might run for governor in 2014, in no small part because the incumbent who signed the pension law — independent ex-Republican Lincoln Chafee — has had an approval rating in the 20s for most of his term in office. It has become clear in recent months that the treasurer is likely to throw her hat into the ring.
April 16th, 2013 at 12:30 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
Cranston, R.I. (WPRI) – Cranston Mayor Allan Fung has hired a veteran Republican political operative to help craft a likely campaign for governor in 2014, WPRI.com has confirmed.
Patrick Sweeney, who ran Republican Barry Hinckley’s unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2012 and previously served as executive director of the Rhode Island GOP, was brought in on Apr. 1 as a consultant for the mayor of Rhode Island’s third-largest city.
April 12th, 2013 at 1:22 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
Providence Mayor Angel Taveras raised nearly $177,000 in the first quarter of 2013 as he gears up for a likely run for governor next year, WPRI.com has learned.
The first-term Democrat posted his second-best fundraising period since taking office in 2011 and now has more than $560,000 cash on hand. Only General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who may challenge Taveras in a Democratic primary in 2014, has more in her campaign war chest (Raimondo has not released her first quarter figure, but she had $1.36 million in the bank as of Dec. 31).
“The mayor is excited about the momentum and all the support he has received,” campaign finance director Peter Baptista told WPRI.com. Baptista said Taveras will be meeting with high profile Democrats around the country in the coming months.
Taveras’ new fundraising tally was announced in the same week that California Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez hosted a Los Angeles fundraiser for the mayor. Sanchez told the Orange County Register she is “glad to support him as he seeks higher office.”
April 10th, 2013 at 1:07 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Flanked by state leaders, R.I. Governor Lincoln Chafee on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping legislative package that would ban semi-automatic weapons, increase prison sentences for those carrying stolen firearms and create a commission to study whether the state should submit mental health records to the federal background check system.
April 9th, 2013 at 1:20 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Rhode Island is finally at the top of a set of national rankings, but Gov. Lincoln Chafee probably isn’t too happy about it.
April 8th, 2013 at 3:22 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
He may not be ready to confirm that he’s running for governor in 2014, but Providence Mayor Angel Taveras certainly appears to be putting the pieces together for a statewide campaign.
Taveras is in Los Angeles today where Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is hosting a fundraising for the first-term mayor, according to campaign finance director Peter Baptista. Records show Sanchez previously contributed $1,000 to Taveras’s mayoral campaign in 2010.
In addition to the fundraiser, Baptista said Taveras plans to meet with “major Democratic donors” while he’s in California.
Taveras had just over $413,000 in his campaign account as of Dec. 31, trailing only General Treasurer and likely Democratic primary opponent Gina Raimondo among those considering a run for governor. Raimondo had $1.36 million in her war chest by the end of 2012.
The fundraising trip out west comes a week after the Providence City Council unanimously approved a pension settlement with the city’s police and fire unions and retirees that Taveras says will save the city $18 million. If they do run against each either, Taveras will likely tout his pension changes efforts over Raimondo’s statewide reforms, which are currently tied up in court.
Aside from Taveras and Raimondo, Cranston Mayor Allen Fung, former Congressional candidate Brendan Doherty, former Congressman Bob Weygand and Moderate Party Chairman Ken Block are considering a run for the state’s top job. Gov. Lincoln Chafee has indicated he intends to seek re-election.
Chafee on Monday was named the most vulnerable governor in country for 2014 by the New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog.
Dan McGowan ( dmcgowan@wpri.com ) covers politics and the city of Providence for WPRI.com. Follow him on Twitter: @danmcgowan
April 8th, 2013 at 2:33 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s nominee to head up the Economic Development Corporation may be a blast from the past, but Marcel Valois has made it pretty clear that the quasi-public agency is in need of major changes.
In an op-ed published last year in the Providence Journal, Valois and former Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council executive director Gary Sasse argued that the state’s economic development strategy “should be changed from a government-dominated, reactionary model to one that operates within a strategic network of committed, innovative, collaborative and agile stakeholders from all sectors.”
Here’s their pitch:
To reboot the Ocean State’s economic development, a new public/private economic-development process should be built on the following organizational framework:
• Create an Office of Strategic Development and Economic Policy within the governor’s office, using existing resources. This office would help set a vision and strategic direction for economic-development activities. It would also work with other state agencies to ensure that economic-development-related functions are effectively coordinated and to reinforce statewide economic strategies and programs. This office would help make sure that all state agencies are rowing in the same direction.
• Establish an independent, university-based professional economic-research collaborative to provide decision makers with real-time economic data and analysis needed in making evidence-based decisions. The collaborative would collect and aggregate critical economic data create dashboard indicators measure specific trends, develop performance metrics, conduct cost/benefit analyses for major state investments and market based reality checks. The mission of the collaborative would be provide invaluable insight and foresight necessary for formulating effective economic-development policies.
• Transform the current EDC in to a public/private Economic Resource and Management Investment Board. This new board would have the responsibility invest state economic-development resources into public/private initiatives in the areas of (1 marketing, reputation management, and customer-relationship management, (2) restructuring public-finance programs to better leverage private capital through public and private collaboration and professional financial management, including underwriting and oversight, (3) investing new business expansion strategies and value-added services and measuring the return on those investments.
March 24th, 2013 at 1:16 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
The 2014 election is still a lifetime away, but Providence Mayor Angel Taveras got some good news Friday night when his deputy chief of staff Gonzalo Cuervo was elected president of the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund, the group that oversees one of the most influential political action committees in the state.
“I am honored and excited by the opportunity to strengthen civic participation among Latinos, inform decision makers on the issues that impact our community and contribute to efforts that improve the lives of all Rhode Islanders,” Cuervo said in a statement to WPRI.com. “Both the Civic Fund and PAC have played an important role in the local political process. We look forward to building upon that legacy and increasing the organization’s impact.”
Cuervo has quietly become an influential force in Providence politics, serving in various roles under former mayor and now Congressman David Cicilline before an unsuccessful run for City Council in 2010. The Springfield College graduate joined Mayor Taveras’s team in 2011. He replaces Carmen Diaz Jusinoas as president of the Civic Fund.
Cuervo’s election may be another chink in the armor for Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who was endorsed by the Laitino PAC in 2010 and has advocated for in-state tuition and driver’s licenses for undocumented citizens since taking office. Chafee has made it clear he intends to seek re-election in 2014, but if Taveras throws his hat in the ring, a significant portion of the governor’s base could flock toward the Providence mayor.
Politics aside, Cuervo has another pressing issue to deal with as leader of the Civic Fund. While the Latino community has proved itself as an influential player during elections, it has struggled to earn its seat at the table when discussing the state’s economic future. Cuervo’s ability to bring political and business leaders together will be vital over the next year.
Other members elected for two-years terms were Jose F. Batista, Vice President; Ingrid Ardaya, Secretary; Melba Depeña, Treasurer and Obed Papp, Executive Assistant, in addition to At-Large Members Anthony Affigne, Jackie Alvarez, Betty Bernal, Doris Blanchard, Claudia Cardona and Melida A. Espinal.
March 20th, 2013 at 11:40 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
To market the 10th anniversary of the Iraq invasion, HuffPo caught up with the handful of Republicans who voted against the war a decade ago – including Gov. Lincoln Chafee. Here’s what he had to say:
“To me, it was about growing up in the Vietnam era and not wanting to go through that again,” said Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who, in 2002, was the only GOP senator to vote against invading Iraq. “I remember the difficulty the soldiers had coming back here after Vietnam. They had the same issues: PTSD, re-immersion, alcoholism. You have to be prepared to take all that on.”
Chafee also didn’t believe CIA officials who showed him photos of metal tubes in Iraq and said they were being used to make weapons of mass destruction. He recalled thinking those tubes could have been purchased at a local hardware store and used for a multitude of things.
“More than anything, it was the body language of the CIA that told me it wasn’t true,” he said. …
Chafee said he took heat from his GOP colleagues, but was “adamant” in his position. …
“You would think after Vietnam, people would be hesitant, but it happened,” Chafee said. “Any time you get these emotions of fear and anger, it’s always possible. It’s groupthink.”
March 13th, 2013 at 2:43 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A company hired to investigate waste and fraud in the state’s welfare programs found problems including prisoners and deceased people receiving food stamps, retailers purchasing EBT cards and Section 8 housing recipients underreporting their benefits, according to a report released by Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s office Wednesday.
• Related: Read Ken Block’s full 16-page report (PDF)
March 8th, 2013 at 5:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Tim White
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Correctional officers at the state prison immediately begin collecting double-time-and-a-half pay when the governor declares an emergency due to a 2006 arbitration award, according to union contracts and a ruling obtained by Target 12.
March 7th, 2013 at 4:12 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
As you may have heard, Governor Chafee opposed the 38 Studios deal.
After Curt Schilling’s game company collapsed into bankruptcy last spring, Chafee asked for the resignations of every R.I. Economic Development Corporation board member who voted in 2010 to approve the company’s $75 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan.
Nearly all the members complied in one way or another, with one noteworthy exception: George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the leading voice of organized labor in the state. Nee didn’t resign and continued to attend board meetings despite Chafee’s request.
And on Thursday it was Nee – not Chafee – who got the last word: the governor just nominated the union leader for another term on the struggling board, along with four other new members.
February 28th, 2013 at 9:44 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – More than half of Rhode Island voters support allowing same-sex marriage in the state, while most opponents of the idea say it conflicts with their religious beliefs, according to a new poll released Thursday by Brown University.
The poll also found Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s approval rating is a dismal 26%. ”Lincoln Chafee still has not been able to move his numbers after over two years as governor,” WPRI 12 political analyst Joe Fleming said.
February 26th, 2013 at 7:03 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Florida Gov. Rick Scott sent a personal letter to a Rhode Island hedge fund manager in an attempt to convince him to move his business to the Sunshine State, WPRI.com has learned.