Important
choices to be made
By
Will Collette
If
you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain. On Tuesday, Rhode Islanders will
have the opportunity to pick who will go on through to the General Election in
November to compete for the positions of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, General
Treasurer and Secretary of State. Democrats are embroiled in hot primaries for
all four positions.
On
the Republican side, the only hot race is the one for Governor that pits two
RINOs, Ken Block and Allan Fung, against each other. Lieutenant Governor Catherine
Taylor (R) faces only token opposition from perennial candidate and full-time
crazy Kara Young.
All
of these positions are open seats because the present office holder is either
term-limited from running again or has chosen a different future. There is no
primary for Attorney General because incumbent Peter Kilmartin faces no
Democratic primary opponent and Republican Dawson Hodgson does not have a
Republican challenger.
Click here
for the sample ballot. Don't forget to bring your photo ID.
There
are no local primary races for any Charlestown positions. In neighboring
House District 35, incumbent Spencer
Dickinson (D) is in a rematch primary battle with Kathy Fogarty.
Polls
open in Charlestown at 9 AM.
- Clay Pell for Governor
- Seth Magaziner for General Treasurer
- Guillaume DeRamel for Secretary of State
- Ralph Mollis for Lieutenant Governor
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| I just didn't buy Mollis' answer to my questions about voter ID |
I
am with my former colleagues on the CDTC on three out of four of their picks,
but I
prefer late-filing candidate Rep. Frank Ferri for Lieutenant Governor.
When Mollis came before the CDTC to ask for its endorsement, Ferri was not in
the picture at all.
While I appreciated many of the improvements Mollis made in the office of Secretary of State, I remained dismayed at his most dubious achievement, the enactment of an unnecessary Voter ID law.
While I appreciated many of the improvements Mollis made in the office of Secretary of State, I remained dismayed at his most dubious achievement, the enactment of an unnecessary Voter ID law.
I
quizzed Mollis on this issue and I was not at all happy with his answers.
Summed up, he said that he thought it would be a good idea to enact Voter ID
rather than have it continuing to dangle out there as an issue. Except voter ID
is still
a big issue in Rhode Island where we have the sad distinction of being the only
Democratic state to enact what is, at its core, a Republican voter suppression
tool.
But
the CDTC endorsed Mollis anyway because his only primary opponent at the time
was Cumberland Mayor Dan McKee whose only real issue is to privatize public
education and whose main base of support are the corporate interests pushing
charter schools.
By
the time Frank Ferri declared his candidacy, it was too late. Plus, I had also
stepped down from the CDTC. But Frank is a solid progressive and a close friend
and ally to our own Rep. Donna Walsh.
I don't fault my former CDTC colleagues - the committee endorsed Mollis for good reasons at the time and they are honoring that pledge. But since I am no longer on the committee, I don't feel bound to support Mollis, so I don't.
I don't fault my former CDTC colleagues - the committee endorsed Mollis for good reasons at the time and they are honoring that pledge. But since I am no longer on the committee, I don't feel bound to support Mollis, so I don't.
For
Governor, my choice was easy. I think Clay
Pell is the only candidate with fresh, new ideas who has kept his promise
to run an issue-oriented
positive campaign despite extreme provocation and smear jobs by his
thoroughly nasty, old school opponents General Treasurer Gina
Raimondo and Mayor Angel
Taveras.
Clay is a person we can trust to be faithful to his promises, scrupulously
honest, positive and inclusive and, in lots of ways, a 21st century
version of his grandfather.
And
that’s in sharp contrast to Gina Raimondo, despite what her daily mailers say.
If you want to understand how Raimondo has screwed Rhode Islanders to the tune
of $372 million – click
here. It may matter to some Charlestown voters that Jim Mageau is a big booster of Taveras' candidacy.
Making my pick for General Treasurer was also easy. I
also trust Seth
Magaziner to be a smart, honest and faithful General Treasurer. It’s hard
for me to even believe that there’s a primary, given that his opponent Frank
Caprio is, in my opinion, a total disgrace who seems to have no other
reason to run than personal
redemption from his past failures and to please his father.
I
am supporting Guillaume DeRamel for Secretary of State.
Like Clay and Seth, my main reason for supporting Guillaume is that I trust him. Like Clay and Seth, this would be the first time he has held public office – and I think that’s a good thing.
His opponent Nellie Gorbea has been all over him, on the attack for his lack of experience. Yet Gorbea has largely gotten a pass on two very serious problems that are evident in her own experience, which I documented in detail (click here).
Like Clay and Seth, my main reason for supporting Guillaume is that I trust him. Like Clay and Seth, this would be the first time he has held public office – and I think that’s a good thing.
His opponent Nellie Gorbea has been all over him, on the attack for his lack of experience. Yet Gorbea has largely gotten a pass on two very serious problems that are evident in her own experience, which I documented in detail (click here).
First,
she failed in her duties as a director in five different non-profit groups by
allowing them to miss mandatory deadlines to file Annual Reports with the
Secretary of State – which is, ironically, the office she is seeking. One of
those organizations was her own – HousingWorksRI where she served as executive
director.
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| Thousands of Puerto Rico workers took to the streets to protest Gorbea's boss |
Second,
she took a position as economic advisor to the notoriously corrupt, anti-union
Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Rosselló right after Rosselló put thousands of
public workers out of their jobs by selling off the Puerto Rico Telephone
Company to Verizon at a bargain basement price.
After
I published that information on Progressive Charlestown, her campaign removed
all references to that part of Gorbea’s experience from her campaign website.
I
trust Guillaume. I don’t trust Nellie Gorbea.
Obviously,
who you vote for is your own very personal choice. I like Clay Pell, Frank
Ferri, Seth Magaziner and Guillaume DeRamel, and that’s my own personal choice.
I am obviously not speaking for the town Democrats, since I am no longer a
member of the CDTC, and am only supporting three out of four of their
endorsees. I’m also not speaking for any of my Progressive Charlestown
colleagues.
Like
you, I will go into that voting booth by myself on Tuesday, September 9, and
will exercise one of the greatest rights of citizenship, the right to vote.