March 19th, 2013 at 2:57 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The 26-year-old lawyer who helped House Speaker Gordon Fox survive a brutal re-election campaign last fall is now lobbying to secure millions of dollars in tax credits to turn Providence’s tallest building into apartments, WPRI.com has learned.
May 30th, 2012 at 11:03 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
The average Rhode Islander would probably say 38 Studios has been lobbying Rhode Island political leaders, in light of multiple confirmed meetings and the company’s success in getting a $75 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan.
Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, however, takes a different view. His office says the company is under no legal obligation to register as an organization with business before the government.
“State law defines lobbying as influencing action on legislation by the General Assembly or the governor or on policy-making by the executive branch,” Mollis spokesman Chris Barnett told WPRI.com. “We have received no evidence or allegations of any such activities by 38 Studios that would trigger the requirement to register.”
38 Studios apparently agrees. The company has never registered anyone to lobby at the Rhode Island State House, even though Carcieri and Chafee administration officials, as well as House Speaker Gordon Fox, have all acknowledged meeting with Curt Schilling and other company representatives to discuss its plans.
April 3rd, 2012 at 4:25 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Former Mass. House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who pleaded guilty to a federal obstruction of justice charge in 2007, is now a registered lobbyist at the Rhode Island State House.
Finneran is lobbying state officials on behalf of Steward Health Care System, the for-profit Boston-based hospital group that’s trying to buy Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket out of receivership.
Finneran and his consulting firm, Finneran Global Strategies of Boston, will earn $2,500 for pressing Steward’s case with legislators and executive-branch officials between Feb. 1 and June 30, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Finneran, a Democrat, was the powerful speaker on Beacon Hill from 1996 to 2004, when he resigned amid an investigation into whether he lied under oath about the state’s 2001 redistricting process. Finneran was indicted in 2005 and reached a plea deal in 2007. He now hosts a morning radio show on WRKO-AM in Boston.
October 12th, 2011 at 12:23 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
The veteran lobbyist hired by Engage Rhode Island, a deep-pocketed advocacy group pushing for approval of the forthcoming Raimondo-Chafee pension bill, was a key player at the Statehouse during the years when state leaders made the pension problem significantly worse.
The lobbyist, Christopher Boyle, represented Newport in the General Assembly from 1981 to 1993 and served in the Democratic leadership as House Majority Whip from 1988 to 1993, according to an online biography. He did not immediately respond to a phone message from WPRI.com seeking comment.
“Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, pension benefits were substantially increased for state employees and teachers without corresponding contributions being made,” Treasurer Gina Raimondo wrote in her “Truth in Numbers” report earlier this year.
But it was the 1980s specifically that The Providence Journal once described as “a decade-long binge of generosity” for Rhode Island’s pension system.
September 29th, 2011 at 3:44 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A newly formed advocacy group launched its public campaign Thursday for the forthcoming Raimondo-Chafee pension bill, trumpeting a list of well-connected supporters and deep pockets to match.
Engage Rhode Island placed advertisements in Thursday’s Providence Journal and on the radio to mark the unveiling of its website, EngageRI.org, which was registered Sept. 6. The 501(c)4 nonprofit has no paid staff but has hired a team of consultants led by Providence public-relations agency Duffy & Shanley, said Jon Duffy, the firm’s president.
Engage Rhode Island has a six-figure budget to tap into during the coming weeks as the General Assembly debates the Raimondo-Chafee bill in the special session set for October, Duffy said. He declined to reveal the group’s list of contributors, noting that federal rules for 501(c)4 organizations don’t require them to do so.
“We want to see an up-or-down vote on the pension plan as it is submitted by the governor and the treasurer,” Duffy said. “We want comprehensive pension reform. We don’t want watered-down pension reform.”
• Related: Final hearing clears stage for Raimondo-Chafee pension bill (Sept. 28)
November 15th, 2010 at 1:57 pm by Ted Nesi under General Talk
Richard Licht
Richard Licht, Gov.-elect Chafee’s pick to run the Department of Administration, is best-known as a former lieutenant governor and twice-failed U.S. Senate candidate. “This is the deputy governor,” Chafee said in introducing him this morning, according to WRNI’s Ian Donnis, who was first with the scoop that Licht had gotten the nod.
But considering the scope of Licht’s new job – akin to being the state’s chief operating officer – what’s more interesting to me are his many years as a powerful Smith Hill lobbyist. A cursory look at the secretary of state’s lobbying reports shows Licht has lobbied on behalf of the following firms and organizations since 2005:
Lobbying sure is lucrative. Licht is getting $6,000 a month from Tufts and $5,000 from Ridgewood – which wants to build a big power plant at the Central Landfill – to advocate on their behalfs at the Statehouse, according to his disclosures. (Also, why do the Rhode Island Airport Corporation and Higher Education Assistance Authority, which are quasi-public agencies, employ a lobbyist?)
Licht donated more than $12,000 to state-level politicians during the last election cycle, according to campaign finance records. But he didn’t give a dime to Chafee, contributing $900 to his Democratic opponent Frank Caprio instead.
Other beneficiaries of Licht’s largesse were House Speaker Gordon Fox, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, Secretary of State Ralph Mollis, Treasurer-elect Gina Raimondo, Providence Mayor-elect Angel Taveras – and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, a Republican.
For more on Licht, check out his official biography on the website of his law firm, Adler Pollock & Sheehan. And for more on the tangled web between the Chafee and Licht families, check out Ian Donnis’ post.
Update: The Projo took a quick look at Licht’s lobbying career back in 2007, a year before Tillinghast Licht LLP shut down.
(image credit: Adler Pollock & Sheehan)