Projo Politics Blog

By Steve Peoples, Journal State House Bureau

Someone may have awarded Little Rhody three new Congressional districts while we weren't looking.

We thought there were just two until last week, when we surfed over to Recovery.gov, the Obama administration's Web site that tracks federal stimulus spending.

More than $662 million has been awarded to Congressional Districts 1 and 2, creating or saving 1,954 jobs so far, according to figures posted for most of the week. That's clear enough.

But there was more.

More than $10 million was earmarked for the 86th Congressional District, which has apparently already seen the creation (or salvation) of 57.9 jobs. And the feds didn't ignore District 5 ($1.3 million) or District 00 ($336,000) either.

We weren't sure who to call to clarify the confusion.

"We do not know who represents the 86th and 5th Congressional Districts," Governor Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe told Political Scene with a chuckle. "Unfortunately, I don't have those phone numbers for you."

The phantom districts here and elsewhere were part of a national embarrassment for the Obama administration that was ultimately attributed to a glitch in the reporting system. Virtually all data on the site are posted by grant recipients, which range from state governments to universities to private contractors.

The Obama Administration's Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, at the direction of the Office of Management and Budget, investigated and adjusted the figures for several states late in the week.

Congressional District 5 was actually a company headquartered in Massachusetts' 5th District doing work in Rhode Island, according to the governor's office. District 00 represents money entered by the state reflecting crime victim compensation funding and a security grant.

And 86 "appears to be the Providence Housing Authority," Kempe told Political Scene.
"We don't know how or why that happened," she said.

By Steve Peoples, Journal State House Bureau

Elizabeth "Betsy" Dennigan has earned the endorsement of the "largest organization of feminist activists in the United States."

The National Organization for Women is backing the former East Providence state representative who moved to Narragansett and hopes to unseat Second Congressional District incumbent Congressman James R. Langevin in a September 2010 Democratic primary election.

"Ms. Dennigan has been and will be unequivocal in her support of issues that improve the lives of women and as a result for families in Rhode Island and across the country," said Carolyn Mark, president of NOW's Rhode Island chapter, in a statement. "Now, more than ever, we need legislators who will stand up for women and Ms. Dennigan will do just that."

The endorsement is not a surprise -- Dennigan is pro-choice and Langevin is not -- but it could pay dividends.

Dennigan has struggled with early fundraising efforts -- she loaned her campaign $100,000 in the last quarter -- and may now have access to NOW's national network of political donors.

The move also suggests that like-minded organizations, such as Emily's List, may not be far behind.

By Katherine Gregg, Journal State House Bureau

Two of the four Kilmartin brothers from Pawtucket are headed to Germany on the day after Thanksgiving to deliver a stack of greeting cards -- and yes, that includes House Majority Whip Peter Kilmartin and his brother Paul, who is currently a councilman in Milton, Fla.

Rep. Kilmartin explains: they are going to visit Paul's wife, Lt. Commander Pamela Kilmartin in the Navy Reserve, who is a nurse anesthetist assigned to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where seriously wounded soldiers are sent for treatment.

Once the idea of visiting her and the wounded soldiers took root, Peter Kilmartin said: "Paul and I asked local elementary schools in our respective cities to create greeting/get well cards for the soldiers.''

He was so touched by some of the handwritten greeting cards, he brought them to the State House for his own version of show-and-tell.

What one lacked in punctuation, it made up for in sentiment. A sampling: "We need you now the whole world needs you But get better.''

A second began: "My name is Danielle. I am in 6th grade and I go to Flora Curtis Elementary school. Please get well soon. So you can come home safely for the holidays.'' Another said: "Thank you for being brave...Thank you for letting us have a life.'' And another: "Thank you for saving us from terrorists.''

"As you can see by the samples I left you, the messages from the children have a measure of both insight and innocence. They really are touching,'' Kilmartin said. "If anyone in Rhode Island has a loved one there, please have them email me at rep-kilmartin@rilin.state.ri.us.''

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Governor Carcieri has canceled his plan to fly to Lost Pines, Texas Wednesday to attend an annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association.

With the RGA picking up all but $304.60 of the travel costs to send the governor and a state trooper to the event, cost did not appear to be a factor.

Before heading back Thursday, Carcieri was scheduled to moderate a discussion on energy.

Explaining his last-minute decision to back out, spokeswoman Amy Kempe said: "The Governor's original plan was to fly there today and back tomorrow after leading the policy discussion on energy. The flights to/from Texas have him spending more time in the air and in airports than at the conference.''

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Carcieri is headed to the Hyatt Regency resort and spa in Lost Pines, Texas Wednesday for the Republican Governors Association's annual conference.

Before heading back Thursday, he is scheduled to moderate a discussion on energy.
A series of reports out of the budget office this week have focused attention on the size of the state's ballooning deficit, and the need to freeze hiring and cutback on all less than essential expenses.

But spokeswoman Amy Kempe said the RGA will pay for all of the governor's travel costs, including his airfare and hotel accommodations.

She said the state is picking up the $304.60 in airfare to send with him a state trooper she declined to identify.

But she said the RGA will pay for all of the trooper's other travel costs, including his accommodations and meals.

In between discussion groups on energy, health care and the "2010 campaign battlefield,'' there will a plethora of "optional activities,'' including horseback riding, skeet and trap, archery and a 'trunk show and clothing boutique'' for the governors and their spouses.

Kempe said "Mrs. Carcieri has not decided if she will attend.''

By Katherine Gregg
Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE,R.I. -- State Sen. Frank A. Ciccone is calling for a legislative inquiry into the state's role in choosing managers for the bankrupt Twin River, and potential award of the gambling license - worth hundreds of millions of dollars - to new owners without a competitive and public vetting process.

Ciccone, a Providence Democrat, suggested the commission consider the potential termination, "due to breaches,'' of Twin River's "master contract'' to operate more than 4,750 video-slot machines placed there by the state Lottery.

He said the commission should then look at "the possible options of the state, in the event that the license is revoked, to reissue the license in accordance with a bidding process, or to a better location in the state, or on more desirable terms,'' and in the interim, "the right of the state to approve or disapprove the next owner or manager.''

Ciccone, a top-ranked official in the Laborers International Union affiliate that represents state court employees, tried without success to force the current owners of the Lincoln slot-parlor and greyhound track to drop their plans to suspend dog-racing in August. The governor vetoed the legislation.

Ciccone based his current campaign for the "immediate creation'' of legislative study commission on events since the last changeover in ownership, that led him to question the depth and extent of the state's oversight.

>> Continue reading: R.I. senator seeks probe into future of Twin River license

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Carcieri landed on national television Monday night as the "star'' of a biting -- but laugh-out-loud -- segment on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report'' about his veto of a bill that would have given gays the right to claim the bodies and make funeral decisions for their same-sex partners.

Not a funny topic? Tune in to the segment titled "Skeletons in the Closet" in which Colbert asks, "How is the governor of Rhode Island supposed to rest in peace knowing that a couple of plots over, two dudes are being gay dead?" -- and decide for yourself.

With The Journal's front-page story about Carcieri's veto as his starting point, the mock-conservative Colbert begins broadly with this observation -- "Gays ruin everything sacred, just look at what Michelangelo did to the Sistine Chapel. They'll never scrub that stuff off'' -- then zeroes in on the case that prompted the legislation.

A sampling:

"I believe that the governor might not be going far enough if we really want to protect the sanctity of traditional decomposing... It might be time to bar gays from having funerals... and hear me out... I am not a monster... I am in favor of civil end-of-life ceremonies. It's just like a funeral... except legally you don' have to bring a covered dish... And instead of defiling our traditional graveyards, gay people can have their own same-sex cemeteries. We'll call them 'same-eteries'."

There was no immediate comment from the Carcieri administration.

Watch the spoof in its entirety below. View with caution as the 5-minute, 45-second piece does include some off-color references. The Rhode Island specific portion begins approximately 1 minute and 45 seconds in.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Three of the best-known faces from the 2006 Harrah's-financed Narragansett Indian casino drive returned to the State House Friday for a private meeting with General Treasurer Frank Caprio.

The delegation included the Narragansett's Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, lobbyist Terry Fracassa, and one-time Celtics hoop star Kevin Stacom. All three lobbied hard three years ago to get the tribe's West Warwick casino proposal on the ballot, where it was ultimately defeated.
But both Thomas and Fracassa said their visit to the state treasurer, along with two unidentified representatives from a mid-West manufacturing company, had "absolutely nothing'' to do with gaming.

Thomas said Fracassa contacted him about a potential joint venture with a company that manufactures items for the military which believed a partnership with a federally-recognized tribe might give it an advantage in the contract selection process. Thomas surmised "the reason this manufacturer sat down with us...[is that ] we could benefit them.''

But he said he did not want to jinx the potential "economic development'' project, which he has not yet outlined for his own tribe, by saying too much, too soon.

>> Continue reading: Caprio meets privately with tribal chief, lobbyists

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- East Greenwich business executive Rory Smith has begun to assemble a consulting team for his fledgling Republican campaign for governor.

On Monday, he announced his hiring of the New Hampshire-based Norway Hill Associates, led by David Carney, a White House special assistant to former President George H.W. Bush; and James McKay, former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, as his "general consultant,'' and Dave Sackett at The Tarrance Group, as his pollster.

A Rhode Island native, McKay had a role in the national GOP's unsuccessful 2006 run at the Vermont U.S. Senate seat won by then U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, and in Texas, in Republican Gov. Rick Perry's reelection campaign.

Carney is no stranger to controversy, having been at the center of a 2004 presidential campaign imbroglio involving the hiring by Republican operatives of workers to solicit signatures to put independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the New Hampshire ballot.

New Hampshire Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging the hiring constituted an illegal corporate donation. The office of general counsel recommended the commission "find reason to believe that Norway Hill and its principals knowingly and willfully'' made an illegal corporate contribution to the Nader campaign.

Carney was quoted in the Portsmouth Herald at the time as saying: "The Kerry campaign is obviously afraid of a Nader candidacy...and anything they are afraid of, I support.''

The FEC ultimately voted to dismiss the complaint, on grounds the principals in the company "each likely reimbursed Norway Hill within...[a reasonable] period of time from their individual funds, converting the potential illegal corporate contribution into permissible in-kind contributions'' of $2,000 each, and the Nader campaign reimbursed "the remaining $265 in potentially illegal contributions.''

The FEC decision said: "The commission does not see the value of spending investigatory resources to determine whether this small amount was reimbursed in a commercially reasonable period.''

In his press release, Smith quotes Carney as saying about him: "Rory is an exceptional candidate. His experience helping small businesses through tough economic times will serve the people of Rhode Island well. More than anything, Rhode Island needs to create economic opportunity and Rory has the skill to do just that."

CRANSTON, R.I. -- Mayor Allan W. Fung said he was following the advice of city lawyers this week when he vetoed two ordinances that would have created local rules for lenders to follow when foreclosing on residential properties.

The Republican mayor said that while he appreciated and respected the effort to help people who are faced with foreclosure, he could not support measures that "interfere with and alter existing mortgage agreements" and "contradict state law," potentially creating "problems with the titles of properties in our city."

Legally sound or not, Fung's vetoes prompted members of the all-Democratic City Council to say they will likely seek overrides when they meet again on Nov. 23.

His vetoes also drew protests from Democratic City Committee Chairman Michael J. Sepe, who issued a two-page statement Friday with the headline: "Fung turns back on Cranston's homeowners,"

Sepe wrote: "One has to ask, what motivated Mayor Fung to take the side of the mortgage bankers over the concerns of his own constituents? Has his extensive training and years of experience as a paid lobbyist on Smith Hill for a major national insurance company tainted his reasoning so that he is incapable of feeling empathy for those unfortunate Cranston residents who have lost their jobs and now find themselves -- through no fault of their own -- in a position of losing their homes to some out-of-state bank with an '800' telephone number."

He continued: "On behalf of all those Cranston homeowners who are affected by Mayor Fung's callous, cold-hearted veto, I implore him to get real, come to his senses and reconsider the fallacy of his reasoning."

Republican City Committee Chairman James Quinlan said Fung's vetoes show that he is looking out for taxpayers and trying to spare the city the cost of defending ordinances that won't hold up in court.

Of Sepe and the council, Quinlan said the Democrats are focused on trying to win votes when they should be concerned about budget deficits and cuts in state aid.

"You can see where the council's financial priorities are," he said.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Despite less-than-stellar fund-raising in the last quarter, former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee says that his exploratory campaign' for governor is alive and well after a major cost-cutting move, and that he has poll results that show him with a credible shot of winning a three-way race.

To help quell rumors he is not long for the race, Chafee went so far as to make public the results of a telephone survey of 403 likely voters conducted for his campaign by Alpha Research Associates. The poll showed where he would place in a three-way race with newly emerged Republican candidate Rory Smith and either one of the leading Democratic contenders, "if the election were held today.''

Among the findings of the Oct. 26-29 poll:

* In a general election race between Chafee, Smith and Gen. Treasurer Frank Caprio, Chafee would draw 36 percent, Caprio 34 percent and Smith 8 percent, with a majority of those who chose no side saying they did not yet know.

* In a race between Chafee, Smith and Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch, Chafee led the attorney general 37 percent to 24 percent, with Smith drawing 15 percent, and the balance undecided.

"To be honest,'' Chafee said, he was surprised at his apparent edge over the high-visibility Lynch, and believes the numbers mean "it is going to be a competitive race, no doubt about it.''

He also made this observation: when the Democratic nominee is Caprio -- instead of Lynch -- the "social conservatives abandon Smith and go to Caprio.''

He said he was also struck by the number -- 84 percent -- who said they were willing to give "a serious look'' at all candidates, even independents. People interviewed had the option of saying they would vote for whoever emerged as the Republican or Democratic nominee.

Caprio spokeswoman Margie O'Brien responded in an e-mail: "The Chafee-sponsored poll showing a former senator in a statistical dead heat with Frank Caprio speaks for itself.''

Lynch campaign manager Mike Mikus, meanwhile, said: "We are one year away from Election Day and, as with most elections at this point, a large number of voters are undecided, and many will ultimately change their mind over the course in time. Once the voters focus on the race, they will see that Patrick Lynch is the candidate who has fought tirelessly on their behalf for the last seven years and is best equipped to fix the economy and bring real change to Rhode Island."

The poll, of course, did not look at where Chafee or any other likely candidates would stand in an even more crowded race, featuring an as-yet-unknown Moderate Party candidate and other possible candidates, including former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, who was Chafee's '06 Republican nemesis in the U.S. Senate race. (Chafee won the primary, then lost the seat in the general election to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.)

But the Alpha poll found that no other issue comes close to "jobs/economy'' in the minds of voters, with an overwhelming number convinced the the state has veered seriously off track. It also test-marketed the campaign theme, "A new way forward.'' Chafee has been using it ever since.

From the poll and his campaign travels so far, Chafee said he has come to a conclusion: "They don't want to hear what I have done. ...They want to hear what I am going to do. I think that is going to be the campaign, and people know these decisions are not going to be easy. They do not want glossy pie in the sky.''

But he still trails Caprio and Lynch by wide margins in dollars in his campaign account, having added $120,210 in the three months that ended Sept. 30. That included a new $50,000 personal loan. Caprio netted $135,377 during the same period, and Lynch, $112,653. At the end of the quarter, Chafee had $200,122 left, Lynch, $562,167 and Caprio, $1.504 million.

To save money, Chafee said, his campaign coordinator -- former bank executive James DeRentis -- agreed at the end of October to shift over to unpaid fund-raising for him, leaving him with one paid campaign staffer, administrative aide Cara McAllister. Between July 1 and Sept. 30, the campaign paid DeRentis $23,000.

"Like any business, you've got to raise the money,'' Chafee said. "We've got to do better at fund-raising.''

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal staff writer

CENTRAL FALLS, RI -- George L. Ortiz Jr., who was named interim director of the advocacy organization Progreso Latino in late September, has resigned.

A statement released Friday announcing Ortiz's departure, is dated Nov. 5.

Ortiz wrote in a letter to the board of directors, "My admiration for the staff of Progreso Latino and the people they serve cannot be summed up in a few lines." He added, "Progreso Latino is not just another non-profit in Rhode Island. It serves as a beacon of hope for many that have no other place to turn."

Ortiz, who served as a consultant to Progreso Latino for the past three years, and was chief operating officer when he took over as interim director, said he plans to expand his consulting business.

He replaced Ramon Martinez, who resigned Sept. 25 to pursue a new career, possibly including "national endeavors." Martinez had served as executive director for three years.

The Rev. Eliseo Nogueras, chairman of Progreso Latino's board of directors, could not be reached.