By Steve Peoples, Katherine Gregg and Scott Mackay
Published October 15th 2007 in The Providence Journal
Attorney General Patrick Lynch has never been shy about his affinity for the governor's office.
Political Scene was curious if a recent staffing change may be a sign that Lynch is among the Democrats gearing up for 2008.
Jeff Guimond joined the attorney general's office last week as Lynch's new director of policy and legislation. Guimond spent most of the past year working for the Mayforth Group, the small lobbying firm headed by the well-connected Democratic insider Rick McAuliffe.
You may remember that Guimond played a key role — finance director — in former Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty's gubernatorial campaign.
Was Guimond and his network of Democrat campaign contributors brought in to start laying the groundwork for a run for the governor's office?
Lynch spokesman Michael Healey neatly dodged the question:
"The attorney general hired Jeff because he's got great experience in a variety of areas, specifically his legislative and governmental affairs experience," Healey offered. "The attorney general's really glad to have him."
Healey said Guimond, who will earn $85,143 a year, will join the attorney general's other lobbyist, Joee Lindbeck, on Smith Hill in the coming legislative session.
Meanwhile, Lynch's office also confirmed another staffing change.
John "JP" Palangio has officially been hired as the attorney general's chief of staff. Palangio had largely assumed the chief of staff duties since his predecessor, Leonard Lopes, left Lynch's office to become a lobbyist earlier in the year.
Palangio — yes, he's the brother of former City of Providence lobbyist Thomas Palangio — will earn $104,986 a year. He spent the last three years in the attorney general's consumer protection unit, a job he took after working as the chief of staff to a former secretary of state named James Langevin.
GOP courts Warwick voters with letter from Carcieri
Governor Carcieri has jumped into the Warwick political arena with a "dear Republican voter" letter.
In actuality, the state GOP sent the "from the desk of Donald L. Carcieri" letter out in an effort to boost Republican Jonathan Wheeler's candidacy for former Rep. Peter Ginaitt's House seat in a community where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 17,795 to 7,060 and most voters describe themselves as unaffiliated — 32,098.
The letter is vintage Carcieri blasting "public employee unions" and the Democratic lawmakers, who, he contends, are all in their thrall.
"You and I know we cannot afford to put another Democrat into the General Assembly," the letter says. "Unfortunately, they have shown time and time again they do not have the will to stand up to the leadership of the public employee unions whose demands far outweigh what the state can afford. The unions' hold on the Democrats in the statehouse has left our state with one of the highest property tax rates in the nation."
As it goes on, the letter raises questions the governor office's declined to answer. It says: "The unions, through their support of Democrats in the House and Senate, have managed to get law after law passed that tie the hands of our school committees, mayors and town administrators."
Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal did not respond to requests for the Oct. 4 letter after it surfaced last week, and then had no comment about what this statement meant after a copy of the letter was provided to Political Scene by Patrick Crowley, deputy director of the National Education Association Rhode Island. By way of explanation, Neal said: "I believe it was sent out by the RIGOP. … I cannot provide you with a letter I don't have."
In his turn, state GOP chairman Giovanni Ciccione was unable to cite a single law that demonstrated the point, but suggested it was "unfair" to ask him to do so because in his mind all "800 pages" of state labor law are "rigged" against school committees and town administrators.
After seeing the letter, a bemused state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Lynch questioned how much help Carcieri could provide other Republicans when his own approval rating has plummeted, from 59 percent to 44 percent, since last January, according to Brown University's September poll.
"In light of the governor's standing right now, I am happy to see him out campaigning" for the Republican candidate, Lynch said. "It may help as opposed to hurting" the Democrats' shot at keeping the seat.
On the Democratic side, newcomers Frank G. Ferri, Edgar N. Ladouceur and Olin Thompson will face off in a primary on Oct. 23. The winner will face Wheeler and independent Carlo Pisaturo on Nov. 27. The Warwick Democratic Town Committee — and the representative district committee — have endorsed Ladouceur, the owner of a Warwick home-improvement business called Stormtite, who has lobbied at the State House on contractor-related issues as head of the Rhode Island Builders Association.
Ginaitt relinquished his seat to accept a larger job in emergency preparedness planning for the Lifepsan hospital network.
The push is on ahead of Assembly special session
The interest groups have not held back from pressuring legislative leaders to take up their issues in the much-anticipated special session planned for later in the month.
Lobbyists have written letters, led phone call campaigns and held rallies in recent weeks to get their point across.
And they were joined last week by two state representatives who sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate, and then issued their own press release to announce the move.
"Members of the Progressive Caucus have been discussing the aggressive vetoing by the governor. We would like to urge all of you to bring us back to override several of these vetoes," reads the letter signed by state Reps. David Segal, D-Providence, and Arthur Handy, D-Providence, among a handful of lawmakers who make up the Progressive Caucus, including Sen. Charles Levesque, D-Portsmouth, and Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Warwick.
"I'm sure he's concerned with what his membership is thinking," Segal said of House Speaker William J. Murphy. "But to a degree, I feel like a lobbyist — I have no personal stake in the issues at hand."
In their letter, the progressives urge legislative leaders to override some of the lesser known of Governor Carcieri's 55 vetoes, such as a bill that would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes, an act allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote and legislation that would give certain benefits to domestic partners of some state and municipal employees.
"We know that your jobs are tough ones," reads the letter. "We can never please all the people all the time but that in the end is not our job. We again want you to know that we will be thrilled to have an opportunity to respond to the governor on his veto overrides and look forward to the override session later this month."
Murphy's spokesman, Larry Berman, confirmed that his office had received the letter, but offered no promises on the speaker's behalf. Nor would he confirm the special session's date.
"Certainly he values the input of Reps. Segal and Handy. And we've been hearing input from other members as well," Berman said. "Speaker Murphy has not decided yet what vetoes they'll take up," Berman said. "But he said his top priority of the vetoes would be the mandatory overtime bill because it passed unanimously both chambers. The rest of the agenda is still to be determined."
That's not great news for people like Ari Savitsky, the director of Fairvote Rhode Island, which has particular interest in the bill allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote. The group held two "call days" last week in which an estimated 50 people phoned their local representatives calling for action on the veto.
"While [the bill] may not have garnered a lot of headlines, its beneficiaries — our democracy's next generation — are crucial to Rhode Island's future," reads a recent letter from Savitsky to lawmakers. "Youth preregistration has broad support from across our state."
It's not surprising, however, that the Republican governor would have vetoed the bill. The majority of young voters traditionally vote Democratic.
Education leader takes a pass on Carcieri gathering
One person you probably won't see at the governor's press conference today: Robert Walsh Jr., executive director of the National Education Association Rhode Island.
It's not that Walsh and other labor leaders won't be affected by the governor's plan to reduce the state's work force by 1,000 employees and cut benefits to those who remain. He just doesn't expect to hear much.
"I would expect it to be very generic," Walsh told Political Scene. "I think this is going to be the first step in a long series of steps."
The official news release issued by Carcieri's office Friday suggests Walsh may be correct: The governor "will outline the basic parameters of his deficit reduction plan at a press conference in the State Room on Monday afternoon," it reads.
Walsh was among several union representatives who attended a private briefing with Governor Carcieri last week. He was tight-lipped about the content of those discussions, but suggested he learned that the governor hadn't finalized the details of his $200-million cost-cutting plan.
"I'm satisfied we got the information that was available so far," Walsh said. Fortunately, we know we'll get the information as it rolls out over time. There are no secrets in this stuff. They're going to do what they're going to do and they want to tell the world what their plans are."
Obama's campaign manager coming to city
It's unclear whether lawmakers will vote to move up Rhode Island's presidential primaries to garner more attention from candidates. But Barack Obama's campaign is scheduled to stop by Little Rhody next week regardless of the primary date.
Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, plans to appear at a fundraising event Oct. 23 between 5 and 7 p.m. at the Black Repertory Company, 276 Westminster St., Providence.
The cost is $100 for adults and $23 for students. Members of the local host committee include Rhoades Alderson, Johnnie Chace, Emily Maranjian, George Matouk, Kelly Taylor, Nelson Taylor, Sam Zurier and Jeff Padwa.
Reservations are required. For further information, call (617) 418-3437 or contact [email protected].
Buddy out on DVD; it's party time
Providence filmmaker Cherry Arnold's Buddy, the documentary depicting the rise and fall of former Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr., is coming out on DVD.
And not surprisingly, there will be a party to celebrate.
The DVD release party is scheduled for Oct. 25 at the Providence Biltmore, where Cianci, now out of prison and a radio talk-show personality, is scheduled to be in attendance.
The Buddy DVD package includes a 1976 documentary, called A Promise for Change, a film about Cianci's first campaign for mayor, in 1974, when then-Republican Cianci defeated incumbent Democrat Joseph Doorley.
Political Scene was curious if a recent staffing change may be a sign that Lynch is among the Democrats gearing up for 2008.
Jeff Guimond joined the attorney general's office last week as Lynch's new director of policy and legislation. Guimond spent most of the past year working for the Mayforth Group, the small lobbying firm headed by the well-connected Democratic insider Rick McAuliffe.
You may remember that Guimond played a key role — finance director — in former Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty's gubernatorial campaign.
Was Guimond and his network of Democrat campaign contributors brought in to start laying the groundwork for a run for the governor's office?
Lynch spokesman Michael Healey neatly dodged the question:
"The attorney general hired Jeff because he's got great experience in a variety of areas, specifically his legislative and governmental affairs experience," Healey offered. "The attorney general's really glad to have him."
Healey said Guimond, who will earn $85,143 a year, will join the attorney general's other lobbyist, Joee Lindbeck, on Smith Hill in the coming legislative session.
Meanwhile, Lynch's office also confirmed another staffing change.
John "JP" Palangio has officially been hired as the attorney general's chief of staff. Palangio had largely assumed the chief of staff duties since his predecessor, Leonard Lopes, left Lynch's office to become a lobbyist earlier in the year.
Palangio — yes, he's the brother of former City of Providence lobbyist Thomas Palangio — will earn $104,986 a year. He spent the last three years in the attorney general's consumer protection unit, a job he took after working as the chief of staff to a former secretary of state named James Langevin.
GOP courts Warwick voters with letter from Carcieri
Governor Carcieri has jumped into the Warwick political arena with a "dear Republican voter" letter.
In actuality, the state GOP sent the "from the desk of Donald L. Carcieri" letter out in an effort to boost Republican Jonathan Wheeler's candidacy for former Rep. Peter Ginaitt's House seat in a community where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 17,795 to 7,060 and most voters describe themselves as unaffiliated — 32,098.
The letter is vintage Carcieri blasting "public employee unions" and the Democratic lawmakers, who, he contends, are all in their thrall.
"You and I know we cannot afford to put another Democrat into the General Assembly," the letter says. "Unfortunately, they have shown time and time again they do not have the will to stand up to the leadership of the public employee unions whose demands far outweigh what the state can afford. The unions' hold on the Democrats in the statehouse has left our state with one of the highest property tax rates in the nation."
As it goes on, the letter raises questions the governor office's declined to answer. It says: "The unions, through their support of Democrats in the House and Senate, have managed to get law after law passed that tie the hands of our school committees, mayors and town administrators."
Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal did not respond to requests for the Oct. 4 letter after it surfaced last week, and then had no comment about what this statement meant after a copy of the letter was provided to Political Scene by Patrick Crowley, deputy director of the National Education Association Rhode Island. By way of explanation, Neal said: "I believe it was sent out by the RIGOP. … I cannot provide you with a letter I don't have."
In his turn, state GOP chairman Giovanni Ciccione was unable to cite a single law that demonstrated the point, but suggested it was "unfair" to ask him to do so because in his mind all "800 pages" of state labor law are "rigged" against school committees and town administrators.
After seeing the letter, a bemused state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Lynch questioned how much help Carcieri could provide other Republicans when his own approval rating has plummeted, from 59 percent to 44 percent, since last January, according to Brown University's September poll.
"In light of the governor's standing right now, I am happy to see him out campaigning" for the Republican candidate, Lynch said. "It may help as opposed to hurting" the Democrats' shot at keeping the seat.
On the Democratic side, newcomers Frank G. Ferri, Edgar N. Ladouceur and Olin Thompson will face off in a primary on Oct. 23. The winner will face Wheeler and independent Carlo Pisaturo on Nov. 27. The Warwick Democratic Town Committee — and the representative district committee — have endorsed Ladouceur, the owner of a Warwick home-improvement business called Stormtite, who has lobbied at the State House on contractor-related issues as head of the Rhode Island Builders Association.
Ginaitt relinquished his seat to accept a larger job in emergency preparedness planning for the Lifepsan hospital network.
The push is on ahead of Assembly special session
The interest groups have not held back from pressuring legislative leaders to take up their issues in the much-anticipated special session planned for later in the month.
Lobbyists have written letters, led phone call campaigns and held rallies in recent weeks to get their point across.
And they were joined last week by two state representatives who sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate, and then issued their own press release to announce the move.
"Members of the Progressive Caucus have been discussing the aggressive vetoing by the governor. We would like to urge all of you to bring us back to override several of these vetoes," reads the letter signed by state Reps. David Segal, D-Providence, and Arthur Handy, D-Providence, among a handful of lawmakers who make up the Progressive Caucus, including Sen. Charles Levesque, D-Portsmouth, and Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Warwick.
"I'm sure he's concerned with what his membership is thinking," Segal said of House Speaker William J. Murphy. "But to a degree, I feel like a lobbyist — I have no personal stake in the issues at hand."
In their letter, the progressives urge legislative leaders to override some of the lesser known of Governor Carcieri's 55 vetoes, such as a bill that would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes, an act allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote and legislation that would give certain benefits to domestic partners of some state and municipal employees.
"We know that your jobs are tough ones," reads the letter. "We can never please all the people all the time but that in the end is not our job. We again want you to know that we will be thrilled to have an opportunity to respond to the governor on his veto overrides and look forward to the override session later this month."
Murphy's spokesman, Larry Berman, confirmed that his office had received the letter, but offered no promises on the speaker's behalf. Nor would he confirm the special session's date.
"Certainly he values the input of Reps. Segal and Handy. And we've been hearing input from other members as well," Berman said. "Speaker Murphy has not decided yet what vetoes they'll take up," Berman said. "But he said his top priority of the vetoes would be the mandatory overtime bill because it passed unanimously both chambers. The rest of the agenda is still to be determined."
That's not great news for people like Ari Savitsky, the director of Fairvote Rhode Island, which has particular interest in the bill allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote. The group held two "call days" last week in which an estimated 50 people phoned their local representatives calling for action on the veto.
"While [the bill] may not have garnered a lot of headlines, its beneficiaries — our democracy's next generation — are crucial to Rhode Island's future," reads a recent letter from Savitsky to lawmakers. "Youth preregistration has broad support from across our state."
It's not surprising, however, that the Republican governor would have vetoed the bill. The majority of young voters traditionally vote Democratic.
Education leader takes a pass on Carcieri gathering
One person you probably won't see at the governor's press conference today: Robert Walsh Jr., executive director of the National Education Association Rhode Island.
It's not that Walsh and other labor leaders won't be affected by the governor's plan to reduce the state's work force by 1,000 employees and cut benefits to those who remain. He just doesn't expect to hear much.
"I would expect it to be very generic," Walsh told Political Scene. "I think this is going to be the first step in a long series of steps."
The official news release issued by Carcieri's office Friday suggests Walsh may be correct: The governor "will outline the basic parameters of his deficit reduction plan at a press conference in the State Room on Monday afternoon," it reads.
Walsh was among several union representatives who attended a private briefing with Governor Carcieri last week. He was tight-lipped about the content of those discussions, but suggested he learned that the governor hadn't finalized the details of his $200-million cost-cutting plan.
"I'm satisfied we got the information that was available so far," Walsh said. Fortunately, we know we'll get the information as it rolls out over time. There are no secrets in this stuff. They're going to do what they're going to do and they want to tell the world what their plans are."
Obama's campaign manager coming to city
It's unclear whether lawmakers will vote to move up Rhode Island's presidential primaries to garner more attention from candidates. But Barack Obama's campaign is scheduled to stop by Little Rhody next week regardless of the primary date.
Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, plans to appear at a fundraising event Oct. 23 between 5 and 7 p.m. at the Black Repertory Company, 276 Westminster St., Providence.
The cost is $100 for adults and $23 for students. Members of the local host committee include Rhoades Alderson, Johnnie Chace, Emily Maranjian, George Matouk, Kelly Taylor, Nelson Taylor, Sam Zurier and Jeff Padwa.
Reservations are required. For further information, call (617) 418-3437 or contact [email protected].
Buddy out on DVD; it's party time
Providence filmmaker Cherry Arnold's Buddy, the documentary depicting the rise and fall of former Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr., is coming out on DVD.
And not surprisingly, there will be a party to celebrate.
The DVD release party is scheduled for Oct. 25 at the Providence Biltmore, where Cianci, now out of prison and a radio talk-show personality, is scheduled to be in attendance.
The Buddy DVD package includes a 1976 documentary, called A Promise for Change, a film about Cianci's first campaign for mayor, in 1974, when then-Republican Cianci defeated incumbent Democrat Joseph Doorley.