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.

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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.

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More than 90 people have RSVP’d to say they’re planning to attend the event at the Firglade Avenue home of Maryellen Butke, the prominent education activist and 2012 state Senate candidate, and her partner, Jo O’Connell. Suggested contributions start at $50.

The host committee for the event includes Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, Treasurer Gina Raimondo, House Speaker Gordon Fox and Pawtucket Sen. Donna Nesselbush, a lead sponsor of the marriage bill. Also on the list are real-estate developer Buff Chace and Xay Khamsyvoravong, who was former Treasurer Frank Caprio’s campaign manager.

The Rhode Islanders United for Marriage campaign staff will provide attendees with an update on the status of marriage legislation at the State House. Advocates got a boost Sunday when Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed announced she expects a vote before the end of this month.

Butke’s 12-year-old son made national headlines when he testified in support of same-sex marriage last month. “There has been such a groundswell of support for marriage equality,” she told WPRI.com in an email. “I feel so moved by what is happening locally and nationally. This is a major sea change.”

Union leaders hosted their own fundraiser for Rhode Islanders United for Marriage on Monday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A coalition of political progressives and labor leaders renewed their uphill battle to raise affluent Rhode Islanders’ taxes on Tuesday – but they ran into immediate opposition from Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Senate leaders led by Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed unveiled a wide-ranging package of 25 legislative proposals on Tuesday that the Newport Democrat and her colleagues argue will improve Rhode Island’s anemic economy.

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• Related: Paiva Weed offers her take on turning around the RI economy (Jan. 15)

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.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Democrats who lead Rhode Island’s Senate say they’re in no rush to take up a bill legalizing same-sex marriage despite Thursday’s overwhelming vote in favor by the House of Representatives.

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• Related: Poll: Only Republicans have majority against gay marriage in RI​ (Jan. 24)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The reaction to Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s budget proposal Wednesday night was very different from the response to his first two. Here’s a roundup of reactions from Fox, Paiva Weed, Raimondo, Taveras, Fung, Melo, DaPonte, Newberry and Tanzi.

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• Related: Chafee seeks lower corporate tax rate, more school funding (Jan. 16)

Yet here’s what the Senate president’s newly released report about economic policy suggests on the issue: “The General Assembly could continue to resist increases in broad-based taxes and maintain 2010 personal income tax reforms.”

So does Paiva Weed agree that the income tax rates enacted in 2010 should stay in place? Or is she still open to the idea of raising them? I put the question to her at Tuesday’s press conference, and here’s her entire response:

One of the hardest decisions we make here – I am committed to what the report says. I do not think – and I’ve always been committed – that we should have any change in our tax structure. The Senate was a leader.

But what I have always said is when you look at the budget document, obviously it’s always a choice between vital services and revenue. And I’m always hesitant to say you have a closed mind on anything, because if you don’t look at the budget document in its entirety then you’re making blind choices – on any issue. If you say I support a cut here, I support an increase here – the budget document is perhaps our most significant policy document.

So whenever anybody, quite honestly, asks me any specific question about the revenue side or cut side – I think the finance chairs are always being asked about the cut side, and their famous answer is, ‘Everything is on the table’ – and I think that when asked about the revenue said, we always all say we have to keep an open mind on everything.

Because at the end of the day, as legislators, we recognize that it is a broad picture – it’s a painting – it’s not just one specific event.

There’s two ways to read that statement. On the one hand, she starts off by saying, “I do not think … we should have any change in our tax structure.” Later, though, she says legislators “always all say we have to keep an open mind on everything.” It’s unclear if that means she just ​says​ she has an open mind about tax increases, or if that means she has an open mind despite being resistant to tax increases.

• Related: Paiva Weed offers her take on turning around the RI economy (Jan. 15)

​(photo: Ted Nesi/WPRI)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed on Tuesday pledged to spend the next few months pushing policies to improve Rhode Island’s economy as state leaders continue to grapple with its disappointing failure to recover from the recession.

“It’s not easy to come before you today and say we have not done as good a job as we should have in some of these areas,” Paiva Weed, D-Newport, told reporters during a State House news conference.

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• Related: Read the Senate president’s ‘Moving the Needle’ report (PDF)

First, a marriage bill has to pass the House – which probably won’t be a problem, considering supporters have long been confident they have enough votes in the lower chamber and House Speaker Gordon Fox has already said he’ll call a vote by the end of next month.

Then the debate would move to the Senate, specifically the Senate Judiciary Committee. The first big question is, who’ll be appointed to that committee when the new Senate convenes in January? The panel’s membership could decide whether the marriage bill has enough votes to move to the floor.

Senate Judiciary currently has 10 members, two of whom won’t be back in January: Democrat Rhoda Perry, a staunch supporter of same-sex marriage, and Republican Glen Shibley, an opponent. Chairman Michael McCaffrey, a Warwick Democrat, announced on “Newsmakers” earlier this year he wouldn’t block a committee vote on the issue, but like Paiva Weed he remains personally opposed to gay marriage.

Among the other seven, Ian Donnis reports there are three likely no votes (Maryellen Goodwin, Harold Metts, William Walaska) and three likely yes votes (Dawson Hodgson, Eric Lynch, Donna Nesselbush). The eighth returning member, Paul Jabour, told constituents he opposes gay marriage but might vote for it anyway.

Just getting a bill out of committee, then, could be a challenge for same-sex marriage supporters. They need six votes in favor if all committee members are present and voting (some could take a walk and not cast a vote at all) but they start with only three. Getting two supporters appointed to the panel, and pushing Jabour to a yes, would give them enough – but there’s no guarantee who’ll be on the committee on January.

And even if they’re successful in committee, same-sex marriage supporters need to get the bill to the floor of the Senate and then convince as many as 19 senators to vote in favor of it. It’s safe to say there will be a lot of vote-counting on this issue happening in the upper chamber next year. Indeed, one reason for opponents like Paiva Weed and McCaffrey to allow a vote is to change the discussion from whether they’re blocking a vote to whether same-sex marriage’s proponents can muster adequate support.

The legislature’s annual spending on its own behalf grew from $28.7 million in 2002-03 to $35.3 million in 2011-12, and its budget is set to rise again to $38.8 million this fiscal year, according to documents obtained from the R.I. Office of Management and Budget.

Where does all that money go? There are at least two ways to look at it.

One way is by type of spending. The vast majority of the legislature’s budget is spent on people – salaries, wages and benefits for personnel, which has grown from $22.4 million a decade ago to more than $30 million:

Another way is by line item. This shows about half the budget goes to the speaker-controlled Joint Committee on Legislative Services, with lawmakers themselves (the General Assembly) getting about $6 million:

• Related: Target 12: ‘Taxpayer taxi’ took Paiva Weed home from Dem gala (Nov. 13)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Rhode Island taxpayers are footing the bill for a government car with a state-employed driver that transported Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed home from the Democratic Party’s biggest bash of the year, a Target 12 investigation reveals.

Target 12 requested details on how often Senate leaders take the state vehicle to or from campaign events, but officials said they have no official policy on how the car can be used and they don’t keep a log of its trips.

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Fox, a Providence Democrat who’s in the toughest re-election fight of his 20-year career, added specificity to the pledge he made in an interview on WPRI 12′s Newsmakers earlier this year, when he announced he would call a vote in the House on gay marriage during the 2013 session if he got re-elected.

Fox, who is openly gay, told a small crowd of supporters at the restaurant Blaze on Providence’s East Side that he would call a vote “during the third or fourth week of January.” The speaker opted not to call a vote on gay marriage last year because of opposition from leading Senate Democrats including Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport.

Fox’s opponent, independent Mark Binder, has criticized the speaker for failing to call a vote, saying he “put marriage equality on the back burner because he didn’t think it would pass a Senate vote.” Binder says on his website he’s pleased Fox is now calling for a vote, but “I only wish that he’d done it years ago.”

Fox was joined at Blaze by former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who traveled with his wife and baby son from their home in New Jersey, which was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Kennedy made a forceful speech urging voters in House District 4 to choose Fox over Binder, arguing Fox would play an instrumental role in passing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island.

Other notables who joined Fox at the event were Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, former gubernatorial candidate Myrth York, Rhode Island Democratic Party chairman Ed Pacheco, Providence city solicitor Jeff Padwa, Providence Rep. Chris Blazejewski, Warwick Rep. Frank Ferri, Cranston Rep. Art Handy and Ray Sullivan, who heads the pro-legalization group Marriage Equality Rhode Island.

“If Gordon Fox isn’t re-elected, God only knows when we’ll get a vote called in the House on marriage equality,” Sullivan wrote to Marriage Equality supporters in an email endorsement sent Friday.

Fox became emotional during his speech to the group, saying he’d been deeply touched by the “outpouring of support” he’s received from friends and constituents during a tough campaign against Binder. Separately on Saturday, new mailers attacking Fox went out to District 4 residents from an unknown group calling itself “Clean Up Rhode Island” and listing its address as 315 Thayer St., Providence.

• Related: Fox: Gay marriage vote still set for 2013 despite Senate losses (Sept. 12)

the Rhode Island Senate Chamber

Gay-marriage supporters tried and failed to make a breakthrough in the Rhode Island Senate during Tuesday’s primaries, winning just two of seven targeted races and coming up short in their marquee effort to knock off Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Michael McCaffrey.

Both McCaffrey, whose committee has never taken a vote on gay marriage, and another endangered incumbent – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dan DaPonte – survived spirited challenges. Their victories will bolster the leadership team of Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, who succeeded Joe Montalbano in 2008.

That puts Paiva Weed on a collision course with her fellow Democrat House Speaker Gordon Fox, who told WPRI 12 earlier this year he will call a vote on gay marriage in early 2013. Fox spokesman Larry Berman said that hasn’t changed.

“Speaker Fox has repeatedly stated that he will bring marriage equality for a vote in the House early in the 2013 session,” Berman told WPRI.com on Wednesday. “Several pro-marriage candidates were elected yesterday and that strengthens Speaker Fox’s vote in the House.”

“The results of any Senate races are irrelevant to his pledge to bring marriage equality legislation to a House vote,” he added. Senate spokesman Greg Pare confirmed earlier this week that Paiva Weed’s position on same-sex marriage hasn’t changed, though she’s never ruled out a vote.

Fight Back RI, the gay-marriage group that endorsed candidates, notched two victories in Senate races. Adam Satchell defeated Sen. Michael Pinga 58% to 42% and Ryan Pearson defeated James Spooner 68% to 32%. But Bob DaSilva, Lewis Pryeor, Gene Dyszlewski, Laura Pisaturo and Dave Gorman all lost.

The House was a different story – seven of Fight Back RI’s 12 candidates won, including non-incumbents Joseph Almeida, Gregg Amore and Marvin Abney, while Libby Kimzey, Jon Restivo, Peter Petrarca, Michael Morin and Charles Tsonos all lost. Fight Back RI’s Ray Sullivan said the group had “a tangible impact.”

“We changed the discourse of this campaign and we elevated the discussion around an important civil rights issue,” Sullivan said, citing two senators – DaPonte and Central Falls’ Elizabeth Crowley – who announced support for same-sex marriage during their races and McCaffrey’s statements about the process.

“There is an absolute path – a demonstrable path – to 19 votes in the Senate, and now with Senator McCaffrey having said on your air that he has no problem with … calling a vote, we see great opportunity in the general election and look forward to helping elect a pro-equality majority in the Senate and having the vote occur in 2013,” he said.

People for Rhode Island’s Future, a new gay-marriage advocacy group backed by the Denver tech magnate Tim Gill, also lost five of the six races it targeted on Tuesday after spending about $36,500 on them. Satchell was the only one of that group’s endorsed primary candidates who won.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – House Speaker Gordon Fox will call a vote next year on legalizing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island, he announced Friday during a taping of WPRI 12′s Newsmakers.

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By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed says her chamber may not take up Governor Chafee’s nominees to the troubled R.I. Economic Development Corporation board before lawmakers leave Smith Hill this week.

“I think we may have to come back,” Paiva Weed told WPRI.com. “That’s the way it’s looking.” She said the governor has been sending a significant number of appointments to the Senate in the waning days of the session.

Lawmakers are hoping to adjourn as soon as Tuesday, but confirmation hearings haven’t been scheduled for any of the six EDC nominees Chafee has put forward in the wake of the 38 Studios debacle: Marcia Blount, Pablo Rodriguez, Roland Fiore, Stephen Hardy, William Holmes and Peter Crowley.

The EDC board has 12 members in addition to the governor, who serves as chairman but only votes to break ties. The board has a number of major issues to take up in the coming months, including the runway expansion at T.F. Green Airport and dredging the port at Quonset Point.

Failure to confirm Chafee’s nominees would not necessarily cripple the EDC board, however. State law says “a majority of directors holding office shall constitute a quorum,” and that a vacancy “shall not impair the right of a quorum to exercise all of the rights and perform all of the duties of the corporation.”

As The Providence Journal first reported, Paiva Weed opted to move the EDC nominations through the Senate Judiciary Committee instead of the Senate Corporations Committee, which considered and approved his previous slate of candidates last year.

In both cases, the roadblock is Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed’s chamber. First, on Blazejewski’s disclosure bill (which she co-spsonored):

The legislation is backed by groups such as Common Cause Rhode Island and the League of Women Voters, and it has produced an unlikely combination of opponents. John M. Marion, Common Cause’s executive director, said the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union joined Rhode Island Right to Life in fighting the bill, and legislators had told him the Catholic Church and organized labor lobbied against it.

But it’s worth remembering that the legislation was announced at a State House news conference involving the state’s three most powerful officials: Governor Chafee, House Speaker Gordon D. Fox and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed. “The Senate president has been a strong supporter of this bill from the beginning, and I’m hopeful the Senate will act to pass it in the next couple of days,” Blazejewski said.

More troublingly, Governor Chafee – who came to office pledging to focus on Rhode Island’s “ABCs” (“assets, budget and corruption”) – is now joining those who want to keep Rhode Islanders in the dark about the actions taken in their names. Chafee is opposing not only Marcello’s public records bill, but even two weak Senate alternatives:

The House’s Marcello said he and the Senate’s Sheehan met Friday afternoon to try to craft a compromise that would be presented to the House and Senate in the next few days. The compromise would, for example, explicitly state that employment contracts for government employees must be disclosed, but it would not require disclosure of e-mails and other correspondence to and from elected officials in their official capacity.

In another 11th-hour development, Governor Chafee’s office contends that the legislation is too vague in establishing a balancing test to determine whether disclosing a record would be a “clearly unwarranted” invasion of privacy, Marcello said. But he said the bill’s balancing test mirrors the federal Freedom of Information Act, which has been precisely defined by years of federal case law.

Chafee’s commitment to open government is looking increasingly rhetorical – sighing that he wishes he could make the EDC’s 38 Studios meetings open but was told not to by its lawyer. Public records reform is becoming another example of such passivity. Furthermore, it’s been clear for many months that the public records bills were going to get serious attention this session – if none of these three meet the governor’s standards, where is his alternative bill? Or is he tacitly saying he’s actually fine with Rhode Island’s lousy public records law at present? Moreover, when has Chafee put real political capital behind policies to address the third leg of his “ABCs”?

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Marcello’s public records bill this afternoon, with a floor vote to follow Tuesday. But the Senate hasn’t scheduled any committee or floor votes on public records as of this writing. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up Blazejewski’s bill and Sheehan’s weaker public records bill on Monday. (Even Marcello’s bill, by the way, is losing some of its teeth – emails are no longer included, for example.)

In fairness, the Senate Judiciary Committee already has other important business on its plate for Monday – such as awarding court magistrate gigs to former state Sen. Chuck Levesque (who less than three months ago came to the rescue of Paiva Weed’s deputy Dominick Ruggerio when he was arrested for DUI) and John Flynn (legal counsel to Speaker Fox and former steward of West Warwick’s pension fund).

• Related: RI Senate fast-tracks public records bill you’ve never heard of (June 10)

(photo: Brown University)

“The Senate President does not support these proposals,” spokesman Greg Paré told WPRI.com. “Speaking generally, we will monitor implementation of the pension changes made in the fall, but it is too early to consider changes.”

One proposal by state Sen. John Tassoni, D-Smithfield, would create a special pension benefit for employees in two departments, while another by state Sen. Bea Lanzi, D-Cranston, would scrap the requirement that municipal police officers and firefighters wait until age 55 to become eligible for a pension.

Raimondo spokeswoman Joy Fox told WPRI.com the new pension law “was developed after thoughtful analysis and designed to enact a fair and lasting reform,” and said the treasurer “encourages a similar comprehensive approach for subsequent legislation affecting the retirement system.”

“As chief fiduciary of the retirement system, she urges the General Assembly to give [the pension law] a chance to work before considering changes that might weaken its impact,” Fox added.

Tassoni and Lanzi, who aren’t running for reelection, did not return phone calls seeking more information about their proposals. The lawmakers didn’t issue press releases publicizing and explaining their bills, either.

It’s been clear for a long time that a majority of Rhode Island House Democrats (and likely a Republican or two) support legalizing same-sex marriage, and Governor Chafee has always said he’d sign such a bill into law.

That’s kept all eyes on the Rhode Island Senate – particularly Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, a devout Catholic who opposes gay marriage, and the conservative Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Michael McCaffrey, D-Warwick, a Catholic who belongs to his city’s Knights of Columbus.

There are signs the Senate’s opposition may be softening. In February, Paiva Weed and McCaffrey met with lobbyists from Marriage Equality Rhode Island at the lawmakers’ request; last year they never got a meeting at all. And at least two Senate Republicans, Dawson Hodgson of North Kingstown and Christopher Ottiano of Portsmouth, say they’d make a vote to approve gay marriage bipartisan.

Ray Sullivan, the former lawmaker who heads MERI, said there’s “no doubt” gay marriage would pass the House, which is led by openly gay Speaker Gordon Fox. “We have more support now in the General Assembly than we’ve ever had before,” Sullivan told WPRI.com. “That’s not spin. That’s the reality. People are recognizing that it’s time to take action on this issue.”

“I will give credit where credit is due in the Senate,” he said. “Last year it was difficult to engage the leadership in a conversation about this. But Senate President Paiva Weed and her leadership team opened the door to us this year and actually asked us for a meeting, which shows progress.” Last year the chamber supported the law allowing gay civil unions, which has met with a tepid reception.

Marriage Equality’s political argument this year is twofold: state lawmakers, particularly Democrats, will either address the issue at the State House by voting on it before they adjourn next month, or activists will force them to address it on the campaign trail this fall during their primary and general campaigns.

Roll-call votes on gay marriage can get surprising results, as New York demonstrated when its Republican-controlled Senate approved it last June after months of lobbying. ”I think the Senate president has been thoughtful in her dealings with us this year, and I think she will be attentive to the feedback she gets from her members,” Sullivan said, choosing his words carefully.

A survey last year by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-affiliated firm in North Carolina, showed 50% of Rhode Island voters support legalizing gay marriage, with support heaviest among Democrats and young people and opposition strongest among Republicans and senior citizens.

Sullivan, a former state lawmaker himself, thinks the declarations of support for gay marriage on Wednesday by President Obama and particularly U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, the patriarch of the Democratic Party in Rhode Island, could give local lawmakers some political cover for doing the same.

That said, neither chamber is close to a floor vote yet. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the gay marriage bill earlier this spring but hasn’t voted to send it to the full House, while McCaffrey’s Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to schedule a hearing. McCaffrey was not immediately available for comment.

• Related: Tobin criticizes Obama and Reed; won’t back Chafee on Pleau (May 10)

Graziano in 2002

By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The 80-year-old former lawmaker who challenged state Sen. Frank Ciccone in the last three elections says she won’t seek a rematch in November, but she’s shocked by allegations that her former opponent tried to intimidate police.

“How could anybody be so stupid?” Catherine Graziano, a Democratic state senator from 1993 to 2002, told WPRI.com on Tuesday. “If you’re going to do something like that, don’t do that in public.”

“God love ‘em, I give those police officers a lot of credit,” said Graziano, a retired Salve Regina University nursing professor who lives in Providence. “They didn’t bend, they didn’t bow. They did just what they were supposed to do, and now it’s something people are talking about.”

Graziano unsuccessfully challenged Ciccone, D-Providence, for the Democratic nomination in Senate District 7 in both 2006 and 2008, coming within 194 votes of defeating him the second time. She ran against him again in 2010, this time in the general election as an independent, and lost in a landslide. But the senator victory didn’t come cheap.

Ciccone spent $61,930 on his 2010 reelection campaign – the most money of any senator other than Senate leaders M. Teresa Paiva Weed and Dominick Ruggerio – while Graziano spent $479, according to New Harbor Group’s biennial survey. In other words, Ciccone spent $13.65 for every vote he received while Graziano spent just 16 cents, an 85-to-1 difference.

“I know the district and people know me, and I think that’s the reason why,” Graziano said. “There was certainly a lot of union pressure against me. … They definitely went out to have him elected so they’d have another voice in the General Assembly, and I was told that my years in the union didn’t count for anything.”

Ciccone, who has said he plans to run for another term in November, did not respond to a request for comment. The three-day period when candidates can officially file to run for office is June 25 to 27.

Graziano said she does not plan to run again this year, citing her advanced age and her three pervious attempts, but said she “wouldn’t be surprised” if others will step forward to challenge Ciccone. “I think [incumbents] deserve a challenge,” she said. “It’s the only way sometimes you can keep them honest.”

Barrington Police allege Ciccone tried to get a state police major and other officials to intervene after Ruggerio was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving and that he suggested the officers’ pensions could be in jeopardy if they pressed the case. “Senator Ruggerio was a perfect gentleman at the scene and at the station,” Police Chief John LaCross told The Providence Journal. “I can’t say the same for Frank Ciccone.”

Ciccone has said little publicly about the incident except that he disputes parts of the police account. “Although there seems to be a difference of opinion on the details of that night, Senator Ciccone has expressed regret for his actions that evening,” Senate President Paiva Weed said in a statement Tuesday.

Graziano suggested Ciccone’s alleged comments could still become a campaign issue this fall.

“How many times can you read that they don’t have to obey the laws that they set up?” she said. “If what we saw and what we heard was true – that he somehow threatened a police officer – people have to pay attention to that. At least if I was running against him, you can be sure I would bring it up.”

• Related: Senate Pres. Paiva Weed speaks out on Ruggerio, Ciccone (April 3)

(photo: R.I. Secretary of State’s office)

But Doherty is far from the only leading Rhode Island politician who took donations from Ciccone – though he may be the only Republican.

Ciccone has donated at least $25,610 to a host of politicians and political organizations since 2002, including $2,800 to Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, $2,000 to former Providence City Council President John Lombardi and $1,650 to Congressman David Cicilline during his mayoral days, an analysis of R.I. Board of Elections filings by WPRI.com shows.

The Rhode Island Laborers District Council, an arm of the Laborers International Union, paid Ciccone $120,625 in 2011, according to its most recent federal disclosure filing. The Senate paid him $13,962.

Ciccone, D-Providence, also gave money to many of the state’s current leaders, including Gov. Lincoln Chafee ($500), Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts ($200), Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed ($750), Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio ($350), Providence Mayor Angel Taveras ($300) and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse ($1,000) during his failed 2002 gubernatorial bid.

Beneficiaries who are out of office included former Treasurer Frank Caprio ($1,600), former Lt. Gov. Charlie Fogarty ($1,350), former Senate Majority Leader Dan Connors ($900), former Attorney General Patrick Lynch ($850), former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci ($125) and former state Rep. David Segal ($50).

Among the notables who did not get any money from Ciccone were House Speaker Gordon Fox, Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Attorney General Peter Kilmartin. The senator did not return a phone call Monday.

• Related: Senate President Paiva Weed silent on Ciccone’s police report (April 2)

(photo: Rhode Island Senate)

“I have no comment at this time,” Paiva Weed, D-Newport, told WPRI.com on Monday afternoon as she left the State House sipping a Diet Coke alongside her chief of staff, Tom Coderre.

Paiva Weed repeated the same comment verbatim in response to two follow-up questions about whether the Senate would take any action regarding Ciccone or whether she was personally concerned about the report.

The full Senate is scheduled to meet for the first time since the police report emerged on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

• Related: Police: Senator Ciccone threatened cop during Ruggerio arrest (March 30)

Read our updated story for more.

Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, whose relationship with Chafee has been tense at times, was part of a sizable contingent of lawmakers who showed up at the event, held at the Waterman Grille restaurant overlooking the Seekonk River on the East Side, WPRI.com has learned. “It was packed,” one attendee said.

Other guests included Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, who introduced Chafee to the crowd and expressed confidence in his leadership; Colin Kane, the head of the I-195 Commission; state Sens. Josh Miller and Maryellen Goodwin; lawyer Kelly Sheridan; and high-powered lobbyist Joe Walsh.

The event was organized by Amy Gabarra, a veteran Democratic fundraising consultant who signed on with Chafee shortly after he won the 2010 election. Gabarra’s previous clients included Frank Caprio and Bill Lynch, and she also put together the recent University Club fundraiser for Joseph P. Kennedy III.

The total haul from the event hadn’t been totaled up as of Friday morning. Chafee’s campaign war chest totaled $192,801 as of Dec. 31, though he still owed himself $1.61 million from personal loans he made to his 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Treasurer Gina Raimondo had $528,095 on Dec. 31, the most in Rhode Island.

Chafee, an independent, has sidestepped questions about whether he will run for a second term in 2014, though during a February appearance on “Newsmakers” he said: “I’m raising money, and that’s really the test of if you’re serious about running.” He added: “And no one likes that, so…”

(photo: Waterman Grille)

By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The odds of Rhode Island raising income taxes on high-earners looked lower than ever on Friday after Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed flatly ruled it out.

Asked whether she would consider supporting a labor-backed bill to raise the rate paid by households who earn $250,000 or more annually, Paiva Weed said: “I oppose that idea.” The bill has wide support among liberals in both chambers.

The Newport Democrat made the comments during a taping Friday of WPRI 12′s “Newsmakers.” Her House counterpart Speaker Gordon Fox said much the same thing during a “Newsmakers” interview in January. Governor Chafee has expressed strong reservations about the idea, as well.

Paiva Weed noted lawmakers approved major changes to the income tax in 2010 and said they need more time to see the results. ”The one thing we know about business is they look for stability in taxation, which is why I answer without hesitation,” she said in explaining her opposition to the new proposal.

“We were trying to address the perception because, as I said, a lot of what happens in Rhode Island is based upon what’s going on around us,” Paiva Weed said. “With reducing the highest rate we’re hoping that when a business is looking at that list of things that they look at – quality of life, work force, cost of property taxes – that the income tax, now that’s one more thing on the checklist.”

Paiva Weed also discussed Providence’s financial crisis, legislative grants, the Ethics Commission, economic development, the influence of Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, weekly paychecks, teacher layoffs and more. The full interview will air Sunday at 10 a.m. on Fox Providence and be posted online over the weekend.

(photo: Brown University)

Considering the General Assembly’s nearly $40 million budget, it didn’t seem like a huge burden for them to add a wireless signal in the building. Well lo and behold, today our prayers were answered:

STATE HOUSE — The General Assembly now offers Wi-Fi accessibility for members of the general public and the media. As of today, Wi-Fi is available in the House and Senate chambers and galleries, all committee rooms and in the hallways outside the chambers and committee rooms.

“This is another step in our concerted effort to upgrade the General Assembly’s technology in order to provide a more transparent and accessible legislature,” said Speaker of the House Gordon D. Fox. “During the pension reform hearings and debate last fall, we received a number of requests from the public and the media to have access to the social media world from our chambers and hearing rooms. We invested in this upgrade and it was installed during our February recess last week.”

Speaker Fox added that both he and President of the Senate M. Teresa Paiva Weed are committed to the technological upgrades, which began last year by making all House and Senate floor votes available on the General Assembly’s website instantaneously, as well as all votes in House and Senate committees recorded on the website within 24 hours. …

Wi-Fi users can gain access to the network by going to rilin_public. The user name and password will be displayed on the screen. By using this on a personal device, members of the public will be able to have direct access to the Internet.

Hallelujah!

Political practitioners have long complained about “the science” of surveys that generate job approval ratings by asking voters to rate an official’s job performance as either “excellent,” “good,” “fair”/”only fair” or “poor.” Their argument is that while “only fair” isn’t a huge vote of confidence, it’s not necessarily a sign of out-and-out disapproval, either.

Evidently, Brown disagrees – the university lumps together “excellent” and “good” to create the metric it calls an approval rating. But by digging into the detailed breakdown of the poll, we can take another look at the numbers and what they say about local leaders’ standing among voters.

One way to do that is to strip out three of the four ratings and just look at the share of voters who describe each politician’s job performance as “poor,” which is clearly negative. While that probably understates the level of disapproval, perhaps Chafee (45%) and Cicilline (43%) can take solace that a majority don’t think they’re doing a poor job:

Of course, just looking at “poor” misses other nuances, including the strength of approval. Treasurer Raimondo, for example, is rated “excellent” by 33% of voters, while Cicilline is rated “excellent” by just 2%. Chafee’s “excellent” rating is 6%, only one point below Senator Whitehouse’s.

Then there’s the issue of whether those polled have opinions at all.

Part of why Chafee’s numbers look so stark is because nearly every voter has made up his or her mind about the governor. Only 4.3% of voters answered “don’t know” or “not sure” when asked to grade Chafee’s job performance, just 2.8 points more than the number who said that about President Obama, whom we can all agree is pretty well-known.

One way to deal with that is to create a “weak approval rating” metric by lumping together the share of Rhode Islanders who rate each leaders’ job performance as “excellent,” “good” and “only fair.” Chafee has a “weak approval rating” of 51%, surpassing Cicilline by 11 points:

Combining those three responses burnishes Mayor Taveras even more, giving him a whopping 81% “weak approval rating.” It also brings Senator Reed, usually the bellwether in these polls, up to 75%. It puts Raimondo at 74%, Obama at 70%, Whitehouse at 60% and, intriguingly, gives Speaker Fox an 8-point lead over Senate President Paiva Weed.

Again, it’s important to keep some perspective. Just as looking only at “poor” ratings probably understates disapproval, looking at all three of these ratings together probably overstates approval, because some of those “only fair” responses are likely a negative judgment.

Still, the “weak approval” number may give a useful indication of whether people could be persuaded to vote for an incumbent. As Marc Comtois pointed out on Twitter, “in Rhode Island, where the power of incumbency is very important, it seems more realistic” to take a nuanced view of the “fair” rating when analyzing the poll.

In the governor’s case, Chafee’s “excellent”/”good” approval rating puts him at an anemic 23%, but adding “only fair” more than doubles that to 51% – not a very good showing, to be sure, but an indication he could have room to grow his support.

The bump for Cicilline by adding “only fair” is much smaller, bringing him to 39%. In the congressman’s case, the question is what the numbers would be if Brown had only surveyed the 1st Congressional District, and how they translate into votes for him versus Republican Brendan Doherty or potential primary challenger Anthony Gemma.

• Related: Cicilline, Chafee approval ratings now worse than Nixon in 1974 (Feb. 23)

You may recall the Projo’s report that Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed was so ticked off at the governor about municipal pensions by the time the big pension bill was introduced last fall that she refused to shake his hand when he and Treasurer Raimondo came to introduce it to the General Assembly.

Time heals all wounds, especially when it comes to politicians. When Chafee took the stage to speak Tuesday, he shook hands first with Fox and then with Paiva Weed – at which point the speaker shot a “See that?” look to the press corps.

The two of them laughed, and then Fox made sure to get them to do it again – for the cameras: