Should Rep. Peter Palumbo resign?
Representative
Peter Palumbo, is perhaps best-known for calling my niece, Jessica Ahlquist, an
“Evil Little Thing” on the John DePetro Show and in the process creating an internet meme demonstrating
the casual way in which politicians dehumanize atheists and women with their
rhetoric.
Or maybe he’s better known for the hateful anti-refugee letter he recently sent to Governor Chafee,
or his anti-immigration appearance on Fox News.
But
now he’s in the news because there’s an investigation involving beach concession stands he managed for
now-former Democratic Party chairman David Caprio. Palumbo won the
bid to manage the three concession stands, and then declined the contract. It
was assumed, at a lower price by Caprio, who then hired Palumbo to manage the
concession stands. The people lost out on $266,000 in revenue as a result. Caprio resigned Tuesday.
This,
in the middle of an election season.
Should
Peter Palumbo step down? If he and David Caprio colluded to profit $266,000 at
the people’s expense, then yes he should. Certainly everyone is entitled to a
presumption of innocence, and no one is sure as of yet that this entire affair
involves anything precisely illegal, but the stench of insider politics and
profits at the expense of taxpayers hovers over this mess in a way familiar to
those who follow Rhode island politics.
At the very least it should move the
citizenry to demand that the Ethics Commission be granted oversight of the
General Assembly, and we should all be wondering why elected officials are free
to bid on state contracts, an obvious preventable conflict of interest.
[Edit:
Common Cause RI tweeted to me, "the Ethics Commission still has
jurisdiction over GA for not legislative actions such as this."]
Scandal
aside, Palumbo’s policy proscriptions are wrong for Rhode Island.
Politically,
Palumbo is to the right of most Republicans in this state. His conservative voting record paints
him as a true Rhode Island DINO, a Democrat in name only. Palumbo has a 100%
rating from the NRA, voted for Voter ID, is rated at 22% on Civil Rights by the
ACLU and somehow avoided voting for or against marriage equality when it passed
last year.
How
conservative is Palumbo? In 2010 Palumbo appeared on Fox News touting an immigration bill he introduced that mirrored a
controversial immigration bill from Arizona. Palumbo ended his appearance
saying, “Thank God for Fox News.”
That’s
pretty conservative.
Steve Ahlquist
is a writer, artist and current president of the Humanists of Rhode Island, a
non-profit group dedicated to reason, compassion, optimism and action. He also
maintains the blog SteveAhlquist.com where almost all his writing can be found.
The views expressed are his own and not necessarily those of any organization
of which he is a member.
His
photos and video are usable under the Creative Commons license. Free to share
with credit.
Email:
atomicsteve@gmail.com.
Twitter: @SteveAhlquist
Twitter: @SteveAhlquist
