Two South County right-wing nuts win delegate slots to Republican National Convention

Lots of questions for Rhode Island Republicans to answer

By Will Collette

If you were wondering whether Rhode Island’s Republican Party had succumbed to Trumpmentia like the GOP nationwide, RI's April 2 Presidential Preference Primary provided an answer.

While, as expected, Trump (and Joe Biden) easily won, although both saw around 20% of primary voters vote for someone else or selected “uncommitted”, the more interesting results were seen in the vote count for individual delegates.

All of Rhode Island’s Republican delegates are pledged to vote for Donald Trump. Delegates pledged to other candidates, such as Nikki Haley, lost. That included prolific Westerly Sun letter-to-the-editor writer Scott Bill Hirst of Hopkinton who only received 751 votes out of 12,905 GOP votes cast.

The three slots for Congressional District 2 Republican delegates were filled by three peculiar choices. In order, the three elected were:

#1: Lacey McGreevey with 3,781. McGreevy was an unsuccessful Tea Party candidate for state Representative for South Kingstown in 2014 losing to present incumbent Kathy Fogarty (D).

#2: Justin Price with 3,749. Price was a Tea Party state representative from Richmond, first elected in 2014, the same year McGreevey lost. Price achieved national notoriety as an insurrectionist, MAGA devotee and far right crank. Incumbent Megan Cotter (D) ousted Price from office in 2022.

#3: Sean Todd with 3,326. Todd is a former East Greenwich town council member who first drew statewide attention for an incredibly sexist comment in 2017 that led to protests, calls for his resignation and ultimately his ouster from office in 2018.

All three are Trump delegates.

In Charlestown, 153 Republicans voted, giving Trump 86.9% which is higher than Trump’s margin statewide. 98 of them also picked Price over McGreevey.

These vote totals now justify challenging every Rhode Island candidate running as a Republican whether they support Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda: his national ban on abortion and punishment for any woman who gets one; his racism; his pro-Nazi, pro-Putin authoritarianism; his calls for violence and death for his opponents; His corruption and lies; And this is hardly an all-inclusive list.

If you are an “R” where do you stand on these issues?

Let’s take a closer look at the two top GOP vote-getters, Lacey McGreevey and Justin Price.

You may not remember McGreevey since she was only a blip on the political scene with her 2014 state rep bid. But I remember her well. Here’s how I wrote about her in 2014:

Progressive Charlestown: September 17, 2014

Kathy Fogarty will now go on to battle Lacey McGreevy (R) in the November 4 general election. I swear I am not making this up, and working hard to not make this sound sexist, but when McGreevy announced her candidacy, she gave her frequent efforts as a beauty pageant contestant as her main qualification.  

Sarah Palin also included this in her resume, but she also had Mayor of Wasilla and a view of Russia from her window to complete her qualifications.

 

From McGreevey's campaign website

Here’s how she describes herself in her campaign bio: “Lacey McGreevy attended South Kingstown high school then went on to Southern New Hampshire University with a double major of marketing and fashion merchandising. She currently works as a trade show consultant and helps to keep women safe with princess pepper spray.” [emphasis added and I am NOT making this up.]

Kathy Fogarty went on to win the Representative District 35 seat by thumping McGreevey by 16 points.

Here she is with The Donald. Where is Trump's left hand?

McGreevey pretty much fell off the political map after that, perhaps too busy home schooling her kid. She was an early Trumpnik, even posting a link to Amazon and a $20 Trump pool float ring. On her Facebook page, she has only increased her love for Trump and posted photos of her and Trump. In one of them, you’re left guessing where Trump’s left hand is.

So, do you think Lacey is going to try running for local office again? What exactly does she stand for other than Trump-love and Trump tchotchke?

Finally, let’s look at Justin Price and how renewed RI GOP support for him raises questions about where they stand, not to mention whether they plan to back him if he tries a General Assembly comeback.

Price was a part of what I called “The Revenge of the Swamp Yankees.” In 2014, three of the best members of the General Assembly – Donna Walsh, Cathy Cool Rumsey and Larry Valencia – were beaten by three right-wing nuts: Blake “Flip” Filippi, Elaine Morgan and Justin Price.

All three were hard-right, but Price was really out there. In his four terms as state Representative, Price accomplished nothing other than garnering state and national exposure for his positions not only on guns and taxes, but - believe it or not - “chemtrails,” an obscure right-wing conspiracy theory that contrails from high-flying jets are actually spewing mind-altering chemicals on an unsuspecting public.

If there was even a germ of truth to this, I guess Price must have been an early victim.

His great legislative achievement was winning passage of a bill to create a “geo-engineering” study commission" to study chemtrails and other far right boogeymen. The commission never met and of course issued no findings.

Absolutely none of this is true.

Price managed to top that by being one of several serving state legislators to participate in the January 6 insurrection to overthrow the 2000 election.

He responded to calls for his resignation by claiming that (a) he didn’t actually enter the Capitol building though he has never said how deep into the fray he went and (b) that he saw Antifa actually lead the attack.

Both claims are bullshit and here’s why.

I worked on Capitol Hill for 10 years out of an office in the United Methodist Building just across the street from the Capitol. I know the area well and how the Capitol Police set up security cordons. For major events, police “do-not-cross” lines are set well away from the building.

It is virtually impossible for Price to have not breeched those lines and certainly must have done so if we are to believe his claim that “Antifa did it.”

As for the briefly popular Antifa conspiracy claim, we now know beyond a doubt that the insurrection was planned by Trump supporters as well as right-wing militias and white supremacists including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

The Antifa theory never made sense since there is no reason the Left would storm the Capitol to overturn Joe Biden’s rightful election victory.

But Price also needs to account for his conduct and subsequent statements. His Antifa claim is either a lie or an admission that he breeched his own sworn oaths. 

As a member of the Marine Corps and as a member of the General Assembly, Price sworn oaths to uphold the Constitution and to protect the country from “all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

If he truly believed he saw Antifa (or for that matter anyone), attacking police and the Capitol Building, why did he rise to defend against these enemies of the nation? It was his sworn duty, and he admits he did nothing. So is he a liar or a coward? 

Can Rhode Island Republicans explain why this ignorant man is going to represent them at their national convention? Oh, oh, oh…wait, I forgot. Donald Trump. Never mind.