Monday, November 3, 2014

Election Summary

The List
By Will Collette

Ac3 Gaming animated GIF

Charlestown voters won’t have to deal with local ballot questions calling for Charter changes (amen). CCA Party-aligned CRACers[1] pushed a collection of ill-conceived measures in 2012 and then they mostly went on to take patronage positions in the CCA Party town government. But for 2014, no charter changes this year.

The CCA Party has nominees for every open elected office in Charlestown – five for Council, five for Planning Commission, two for Chariho School Committee and one for Town Moderator.

Town Democrats have fielded three endorsed Democrats for Town Council – Paula Andersen who is running for a second term, Brandon Cleary who was elected to Planning in 2012 but is now running for Council and Ron Russo. Henry Walsh is defending his position as Town Moderator.

For the first time in a long time, you won’t see Jim Mageau or CCA Party Council member Dan Slattery on the ballot. Councilor Lisa DiBello cancelled her re-election campaign after receiving a $450,000 pay-out from the town. However, she is still on the ballot[2]. It will be interesting to see what she decides to do if she comes in among the Top Five.


General Assembly races

Phony Filippi's Massachusetts law license
Charlestown’s state Representative Donna Walsh has been under attack by Blake Filippi, who claims to live on Block Island despite almost twenty official documents showing that he actually lives in Lincoln. Filippi says that the documents that show his address on Block Island are all that matter and that voters should forget all the other times he listed his address as Lincoln, including one just three days before he filed his election papers.

Phony Filippi[3] has also tried to conceal his extremist politics by failing to list them on his Ethics Commission disclosure report. He also claims to support increased state regulation of the Copar quarry – though, as a libertarian, he doesn’t believe in government environmental regulation. His aversion to government regulation is understandable seeing that labor regulators nailed the Ballard’s Inn, the Filippi family flagship business, for cheating 154 workers out of their just wages.

Nor does he believe that Social Security is Constitutional under the Tenth Amendment, yet he is campaigning to drop state income taxes on Social Security benefits. Presumably, that’s before he gets a chance to abolish Social Security altogether.

Senator Cathie Cool Rumsey, who represents the northern end of Charlestown, faces opposition from Hopkinton dry cleaner Elaine Morgan (R). Morgan has campaigned based almost entirely on the state Republican campaign talking points – 38 Studios, etc., etc. Morgan has held only one elected position – that of honorific town sergeant. However, even that job did not go without controversy – see the attached report that was posted on Channel 10’s Facebook page.

Similarly, Rep. Larry Valencia (D) who used to represent half of Charlestown before redistricting, also faces a Republican opponent, Justin Price, whose campaign is also almost entirely based on the State Republican Party script. Price’s one past experience in politics was to run as a Ron Paul delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2012. Not only did Ron Paul lose, but Price came in last among the five Ron Paul delegate candidates.

Photo: Me with my banner! :)
From Lacey McGreevey's campaign website
Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D), a close ally to Donna and Larry, faces a nasty challenger, Stephen Tetzner. Tetzner has already broken the record for campaign spending, putting over $100,000 into some of the nastiest negative advertising I think South County has ever seen. Tetzner is a mortgage bankster who drew loan after loan after loan from the family’s Homestar Mortgage Bank for personal real estate acquisitions during the time when most homeowners and small businesses couldn’t get credit. Tetzner just sent out a mailer to all voters saying the his Number One Priority if he is elected is the Second Amendment.

Former SK Town Council President Kathy Fogarty (D) who beat incumbent Spencer Dickinson in the primary faces Lacey McGreavy (R), who like all of the other South County Republicans is sticking to the state party script. She’s used to following a script, though, because her major qualification to run is as a frequent contestant in beauty pageants. I’m not making this up.

Senators Sue Sosnowski and Dennis Algiere are running unopposed. Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy and Donald Lally are also running unopposed.

The State Slate

Rhode Island has five statewide general officers – Governor, Lieutenant Governor, General Treasurer, Attorney General and Secretary of State. At least four of those offices will have a new occupant, either because the incumbent is term-limited, not running or running for another office.

The state Democratic Party is urging you to vote for Gina Raimondo for Governor, Dan McKee for Lieutenant Governor, Peter Kilmartin for re-election as Attorney General, Nelly Gorbea for Secretary of State and Seth Magaziner for General Treasurer.

Almonte blew it as Auditor.
I am very enthusiastic about Seth who has the vigor, ideas and character for the job. His opponent Ernie Almonte flunked the test when he was Auditor General by failing to spot 38 Studios or the public pension crisis when, had he done his job, we might have caught those problems before they exploded in his face. In his campaign ads, Almonte wants you to look at his experience. Please do. And also look at him advocating privatizing Social Security and public pensions.

In the September primary, I supported the opponents of Gina Raimondo and Nelly Gorbea. But in this election, I am confident that both will do so much more good for the state than their opponents. I grew up in Peter Kilmartin’s neighborhood in Pawtucket and have watched his career of public service over the years. He has done a good job as Attorney General and I will vote to re-elect him.

That leaves Cumberland Mayor and charter school junkie Dan McKee who’s Wal-Mart-funding campaign tried to paint him as the guy to vote for. He is running against one of the few moderate Republicans left on the planet, Catherine Taylor. I have never in my life voted for a Republican, but that might change tomorrow.

Congress

Senator Jack Reed and Representatives Jim Langevin and David Cicilline are all up for re-election against amazing weak opposition. 

Re-elect our hard-working Rep. Jim Langevin
Jack Reed faces former state GOP chair Mark Zaccaria who is known in Charlestown as the person who recruited Tina Jackson to run against Donna Walsh in 2012, after apparently failing to check out Jackson’s long criminal record. Later, Zaccaria backed Jackson in a failed coup attempt aimed at taking over the Charlestown Republican Town Committee. The only question tomorrow is whether Reed’s final margin turns out to be the largest in the nation.

Our local Congressman Jim Langevin faces a virtual unknown and almost invisible opponent Rhue Reis. Reis is a failed businessman who lives in a bank-owned house and has nothing to offer other than the standard GOP script.

David Cicilline also faces a virtual unknown whose name I can’t remember and who doesn’t even inspire me to look it up. Yeah, my bad…but hey, that’s not my district.

Important Ballot Questions

Voters should be sure to go through the seven statewide ballot questions.

To me, it’s a no-brainer to vote YES for Questions 4, 5, 6 and 7, all of which will fund critically needed projects that will not only create thousands of short-term jobs in construction, but will make vital infrastructure improvements for the state’s economy over the long haul.

Vote Yes on 7: Clean Water, Open Space, Healthy CommunitiesQuestion #4 would fund creation of a new consolidated engineering headquarters at URI that will attract new businesses and good paying jobs, as it already has (click here for a prime example).

Question #5 would fund much-needed physical upgrades to important cultural icons, such as Trinity Theater, to help us continue to make Rhode Island a tourist destination as well as enrich the quality of our lives.

Question #6 would fund major improvements and efficiencies for public transportation. While it won’t bring a bus stop to Charlestown, it will make it easier for Rhode Islanders to get around the state without always needing to hope into a private car.

Question #7 is another in the ever-popular series of bonds to fund our environmental infrastructure, parks and open space. Really a no-brainer for Charlestown which has benefited greatly from past bond issues.

Questions #1 and #2 ask for state voters to authorize upgrading the run-down Newport Grand slot parlor to allow it to become a full-fledged casino with all the amenities. Yes, gambling is a crappy way to fund state government, and yes, encouraging working people to waste their money is pretty awful. 

However, for us in Charlestown, there are two self-interest reasons to say YES. One is that without the upgrade, Newport Grand will be toast as soon as the Massachusetts casino in the works for southeast Mass gets built. When they close, state funding will take a huge hit. Second, a second full casino in Rhode Island increases the odds against some future Charlestown casino from improbable to insurmountable.
NoConConAd

I suppose the CCA Party folks will still vote NO simply because they like being able to campaign against a Narragansett Indian casino boogey monster every two years.

Finally, there’s Question #3 which asks voters if the state should undertake to hold a Constitutional Convention (often called the “Con-Con”). Past history with state constitutional conventions shows that they are almost always more expensive than anyone expected and generally results ranging from negligible to malicious. 

Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has promised that he would not push his anti-choice, anti-gay agenda if voters approve the Con-Con. An array of extremist groups have lined up to support the Con-Con, on the assumption that, once the process starts, there will be lots of opportunities to sneak radical changes into our most important governing document.

I plan to vote NO because I simply don’t see anything good coming from it.

Get out and vote

A fact of life for Democrats is that the more people come out and vote, the more likely it is that Democrats will win. In Charlestown, the CCA Party is very good at its Get Out the Vote (GOTV), especially in Charlestown’s third precinct (the southwestern quadrant where most of their wealthy supporters live).

If you don’t vote, don’t even think about complaining about the outcome. But please, VOTE.
If you don’t know where to vote, you can find out by clicking here.



FOOTNOTES



[1] CRAC stands for “Charter Revision Advisory Committee.” For months, this group, dominated by the anti-wind energy NIMBYs, tried to use the Charter revision process to pay back people whom they felt were insufficiently supportive of their anti-wind position. Most of their worst ideas got shot down.

[2] DiBello’s campaign is still listed as “active” with the Board of Elections and she is subject to fines for failing to file campaign finance reports.

[3] Filippi also claims to be an “Independent.” However, he is registered to vote as a Republican, has had Michael Napolitano, head of the state Republican candidate recruitment “strike force” writing supportive comments in the Westerly Sun and Filippi is using the state Republican script for 2014 – 38 Studios, Gordon Fox, drop taxes on pensions, etc.