The campaign so far, Part 2

A scorecard on the state races

By Will Collette

Click here for Part 1.

Every statewide office in Rhode Island, except perhaps Attorney General, will get a new occupant after the November 2014 election which is now just one year away.

This is a rare occurrence brought about by two officials who are term-limited from running for re-election (Lieutenant Governor Liz Roberts and Secretary of State Ralph Mollis). 

In addition, Governor Lincoln Chafee (D) read the tea leaves and the poll numbers and declared he will not run again. 

And our Wall Street land shark, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, hopes to parlay her millions in donations from her hedge fund and Wall Street cronies into becoming Rhode Island’s first woman governor.

Each state office, except the Attorney General, has more than one Democrat who hopes to win the primary to run as the Democratic candidate in 2014.

Here is a run-down of who’s in so far, along with their latest fund-raising numbers and, SPOILER ALERT, some of my snarky, far-from-unbiased commentary.

Governor

Todd Giroux making his pitch that he be giving a state rep
seat in return for dropping his challenge to Sheldon
Whitehouse Wonder what he wants this year?

There are four Democrats and two Republicans currently in the running. The first Democrat to officially declare was Todd Giroux. 

Giroux caught my eye at the 2012 state Democratic Convention when he spoke to the body as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s only declared primary opponent. Giroux told the Convention that he would drop his campaign against Senator Whitehouse if the state Party awarded him the District 68 State Representative seat. I am not making this up.

Since the State Convention had no authority to make such an award (and Giroux may have broken the law by asking for this deal), Giroux did not go over very well. No one at the Convention would even nominate him. He never made it onto the ballot, failing to collect enough signatures to qualify. He’s the first one officially in for 2014 and will likely be the first one officially out.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras has also declared. If elected, Taveras would become Rhode Island’s first Latino Governor. He successfully pulled Providence away from the financial brink (though the city still has profound problems) and negotiated a deal with the city’s public employee unions for cuts to the city’s pension program. Taveras reports having a campaign balance of $759,000.

General Treasurer Gina Raimondo has not declared that she is running though she reports a cash balance of over $2.3 million, raised mostly from her Wall Street bankster friends. Raimondo is such a disappointment. Charlestown Democrats happily endorsed her in 2010.

At least Frank Caprio had the decency to wait a while before showing that he was actually a Republican. Raimondo turned into an anti-worker Wall Street Democrat almost from the start, siding with conservatives to screw state workers out of their pensions. Now she’s screwing them again by investing their pension money with her bankster hedge fund buddies who charge outrageous fees while producing minimal yields and no transparency.

Clay Pell while still in the
Coast Guard

The final Dem with an eye to become Rhode Island’s next Governor is Clay Pell, grandson of the late beloved Sen. Claiborne Pell. Pell’s position on the issues is as unclear as Todd Giroux’s. 

Up to this point, Clay Pell has been making the rounds of political events in the state, usually accompanied by his recent bride, champion figure-skater Michelle Kwan. I have to admit that having Michelle Kwan, one of my all-time favorite athletes, at his side brings Pell way more attention than just being Senator Pell’s grandson.

I had the wonderful experience of getting to talk to Michelle for a few minutes when they visited the monthly meeting of the RI Association of Democratic City and Town Chairs. I wasn’t the only fool in the room to be star-struck by her.

Since he is not a candidate and hasn’t even formed an exploratory committee, Pell did not submit a campaign finance report. I don’t know if he really plans to run. If he does, it’d be nice to hear what he stands for.

On the Republican side, it looks like there will be a big primary fight with Cranston Mayor Allan Fung squaring off against erstwhile Moderate Party guru Ken Block.

Block decided to ditch his so-called moderation to run as a Republican. Block has $547,685 on hand so far, against Fung’s $336,553.

Lieutenant Governor

I really like Liz Roberts’ performance as LG. She put a lot of hard work into the job, particularly in making sure that Rhode Island got a good start with its health care exchange under Obamacare – notice there haven’t been any public complaints, in sharp contrast to the national exchange.

We're gonna miss Liz Roberts. Here she is speaking at a CDTC event
in Charlestown on health care reform

After long service in the General Assembly and two terms as LG, Roberts has declared that she is not going to run for another office. Hopefully, she will get her wish and serve in some other capacity.

There are two likely candidates to replace her – current Secretary of State Ralph Mollis and Cumberland mayor and charter school pusher Dan McKee. I don’t care who wins this one.

Up until Mollis decided to spearhead Voter ID in Rhode Island, I was pretty impressed with the improvements he made at the Secretary of State’s office in improving information access and streamlining the business permit process. 

But his awful decision to lead Rhode Island to adopt one of the leading voter suppression strategies being pushed by the Republican Party pretty much wiped out all of his positive points in my book.

Mayor Dan McKee is hardly any better. He has a thin record with his main claim to fame being his “invention” of the “mayoral academy” model of charter school. Screw him, too. In fact, if this is all we have to choose from, I think this might be a good year to consider abolishing the LG office.

McKee has $176,000 in the bank versus on $47,000 for Mollis so far.

No one on the horizon yet for the Republicans. Maybe they don’t care about this office, either.

General Treasurer

The line-up so far offers the most politically diverse array of Democrats yet. On the far right, we have (gulp) Frank Caprio. Former state Treasurer preceding Gina Raimondo, Caprio defeated Patrick Lynch for the Democratic nomination to run for Governor in 2010. 

He's baaaaack! Two words for Frank Caprio: "Shove It!"

During the primary and general election, Caprio took a hard turn to the right and discovered fiscal conservative issues he didn't even seem to know existed while he was General Treasurer.

His money and political connections allowed him to crush Lynch, but in the general election, he ran one of the worst campaigns ever, hitting its peak just before Election Day when he said President Barack Obama could take his endorsement and “shove it.” That won him a third-place finish behind Governor Chafee and the Republican candidate John Robitaille.

After the election, Caprio disaffiliated from the Democratic Party and went to work on Wall Street. Now for no good reason, he’s back. When he first leaked the word that he planned to run for his old job as state Treasurer, the big question was as what? Democrat? Republican? Bull Moose? Tea Party?

The answer is Democrat although the big question in Democratic Party circles is “where’s Frank Caprio?” due to his conspicuous absence from all Democratic events. Caprio reports $192,000 in cash, all of which is money he loaned to himself.

This is not the way a real candidate behaves, so whether Caprio will actually run in next year’s primary is, for me, still an open question. I doubt if he will stick it out, especially since I'm sure that somewhere down deep below his huge ego, he knows the ass-kicking he'll get in the Democratic primary will make his 2010 loss seem like a close call.

Frank Jr.’s brother David was just installed as the state Democratic Party chair.

Ernie Almonte

Caprio’s two rivals, former state Comptroller Ernie Almonte and Ira Magaziner’s son Seth, are running serious campaigns. Cathy and I had dinner with Almonte and were impressed with his command of the issues and the depth of his experience. 

In addition, he talked and acted like a regular guy, albeit one with knowledge of the complex issues of government finance and clear ideas about the future. Almonte reports a campaign treasury of $205,000.

Seth Magaziner may turn out to be an interesting candidate but less on his own merits than those of his famous parent Ira Magaziner. Around 40 years ago, Seth’s dad first hatched the scheme for downtown Providence that centered on removing the architectural mistakes of the past such as completely paving over the Providence River and the giant wall of railroad tracks that hacked through the middle of downtown. Those monstrosities are gone and their absence profoundly improved the look and feel of the city.

Seth Magaziner

Seth’s dad also went on to fame and failure as the architect of President Bill Clinton’s health care reform plan. Americans with their short memories don’t remember that this was a far worse debacle than any real or alleged flaws in Obamacare. It nearly ruined Clinton’s Presidency.

Magaziner’s family has remained dedicated to Rhode Island, and Seth’s candidacy may be the start of a new generation taking its part in public affairs. Or not. Again, I’m not sure what Seth Magaziner brings to the table besides his heritage, but I would like to find out more. This is almost no substance on his website.

He has a treasury of $98,000 and can raise a lot more, especially if he gets a boost from an appearance by Bill and/or Hillary.

Secretary of State

This competition for office was potentially the most difficult decision of all, with three highly qualified, attractive candidates declaring early. Before he withdrew from contention, former state Rep. and state Party Chair Ed Pacheco was my personal favorite for his hard work to make the state Party effective and for his attention to Charlestown. 

Now it comes down to a difficult choice between the two remaining contenders, Nellie Gorbea and Guillaume deRamel.

Nellie Gorbea

Nellie Gorbea is the former director of HousingWorksRI. She had a very good meeting with town Democrats and, for a first-time candidate, is a hard-working campaigner. She has credentials as a former deputy Secretary of State as well as experience in the state Department of Administration. She has good ideas for the office. Her campaign has $103,000 in cash, according to her latest report.

Then there’s Guillaume deRamel. Guillaume (a name very few can pronounce correctly) was endorsed by Charlestown Democrats in 2006 when he made his first run for office in the primary against Ralph Mollis. He carried Charlestown and even though he did not have the state Party endorsement, he came close to an upset.

Guillaume deRamel

He also had a very good meeting recently with Charlestown Democrats.

He comes from a very wealthy Newport family which is known for its charitable giving to Rhode Island especially through the Prince Charitable Trust and deRamel Family Foundation. He also runs a small air charter service. He reports a current campaign treasury of $439,000.

It looks like deRamel will be campaigning with Ed Pacheco’s support and perhaps with an even more substantial role for Ed in his campaign.

Based on their qualifications and positions, I find it’s still a tough choice between deRamel and Gorbea. I think deRamel has the edge in electability. I wish Nellie Gorbea was running for another office - like Lieutenant Governor - where she would present a sharp, positive contrast to the current likely contenders.

Whoever becomes the party standard-bearer is likely to face Republican Catherine Taylor, current director of the state Department of Elderly Affairs, who almost defeated Ralph Mollis’s reelection bid in 2010.

Attorney General

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin is the only current statewide officeholder who is running for reelection. No Democrat is likely to run against him in the primary. 

Kilmartin is popular, and though there are things I’d like to see him do with the office – such as take on a more active role in community and environmental protection – he has been a pretty good state top cop. He has a treasury of $104,000.

His declared Republican opponent is Republican state Senator Dawson Hodgson of North Kingstown, but a campaign fund of $7,347 ain’t gonna cut it. That’s not even enough to defend his Senate seat.