September 06, 2008
The Journal editorial board, once a GOP redoubt, offers its view on Sarah Palin's coming-out party, dubbing it "Fine entertainment":
Governor Palin didn’t mention that she’s a global-warming denier, that she opposes stem-cell research and would set back science education by teaching creationism in public schools. She also didn’t note, of course, that she opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest.
Some Americans might be put off by the image of a noisy social conservative who harasses librarians over their book selections but whose own family displays the ambiguities of some sexual matters that come to mind. Meanwhile, while some viewers were moved by the relentless televising of her infant child with Down syndrome, others saw this as her using her children as a campaign prop.
You’d never have known from listening to Ms. Palin that Republicans have been running this country for most of the past 26 years. Rather than address some of her party’s shortcomings, she tried to revive the “culture war” with self-pitying riffs on how mean the big media allegedly are to small-town working folk.
Her much-hyped latter-day opposition to the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” is dishonest given her support of the infamous boondoggle before it became the subject of national public anger. And as mayor of Wasilla, she played the federal-welfare game as well as any other master pol from Alaska or West Virginia. Mr. McCain, who has made much of his opposition to pork, has a running mate who hired lobbyists to reel in $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700.
Whether the blue-collar persona she engagingly presents will distract a stressed middle class from pinning at least part of its decline on Republican policies remains to be seen. Americans are besieged by rising health-care costs, stagnant or falling real wages and a White House and Congresses (Democratic and Republican) that have all too often showed themselves obsessed with rewarding rich friends. We didn’t hear anything about that on Wednesday night. We have a couple of months in which to see if her personality and personal story will trump all else.
Sarah Palin has shown herself as someone to be reckoned with. If only her positions were as convincing as her speaking ability and her speechwriters’ acumen.
September 05, 2008
Matt Auten, one of the more visible enviros in RI, sends this word:
After five wonderful years of running Environment Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group and serving on the Environment Council of Rhode Island I have decided to move on to a new opportunity and will be leaving Environment Rhode Island and the Environment Council in the next few days.
Over the past few years I believe we have made tremendous progress for Rhode Island's environment and citizens. Working collaboratively (or as adversaries) we have helped make Rhode Island a better place to live. While your hard work and dedication sometimes get overlooked, the changes we've made surround us each and every day. Every new car pollutes less, our drinking water and gasoline are safer, electric efficiency programs are growing, Rhode Island now has a statewide natural gas conservation program, ground has been broken on Rhode Island's first municipal wind turbine and more are coming, and we have become one of the first states to regulate global warming pollution from power plants.
Although I will miss working directly with you in my capacity with Environment Rhode Island I am excited to tell you that , I have recently accepted an offer from Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts to serve as her Senior Policy Analyst. As you may know, I had the opportunity to work extensively with Lt. Governor Roberts on identity theft legislation and energy efficiency legislation during her tenure as a State Senator and was always impressed by her work ethic, integrity and principles.
Rhode Island is currently faced with a number of serious interconnected challenges to our economy and our energy, transportation, health care and education systems. I firmly believe Lt. Governor Roberts is one of the leaders we need to help guide us through these trying times and challenges, and I am honored to have the opportunity to work on her staff.
September 05, 2008
A day after Sarah Palin ridicules Obama and glides past her own hard-right positions, how can John McCain credibly say that the time has come to move past partisan politics?
Speaking of Palin: the prevailing meme among critics when a strong woman happens to be a Democrat is that, at minimum, she's some kind of uppity bitch. So how comen when the woman is a Republican, her putative strength is celebrated?
McCain's military service, particularly his experience as a POW, is unimpeachable. Yet isn't there some irony in how some of the same GOP supporters who now trumpet his military credentials had no problem with the slimy effort that transformed John Kerry from war hero to wuss?
After McCain's halting delivery last night, it's clear that Palin is vastly superior in the public-speaking department. But after George W. Bush won plaudits as the kind of guy with whom you'd want to have a beer, is America going to move a bit beyond personality-based politics?
September 05, 2008
Jim Taricani and Bill Rappleye typically do a strong job with 10 News Conference, and Matt Jerzyk and Dan Yorke aren't shy when it comes to sharing their opinions, so it should be a lively show when the latter two offer their thoughts this Sunday on the recent Democratic and Republican conventions.
Btw, I'll join Matt and the folks from Anchor in thanking Charlie Bakst for mentioning our respective blogs in his recent column on useful Web sites for news junkies. I ran into Charlie at last Sunday's Sox game and he seemed content and very relaxed as he prepares to end his tenure on Fountain Street. He also showed off his iPhone, with which he has become adept at taking pictures, among other things.
September 05, 2008
Secretary of State Ralph Mollis says he supports Clean Elections' legislation as a way of making elections in Rhode Island more competititve, and he thinks campaign-finance reform could become law once the state moves past its ongoing budget woes. Mollis make the remarks this morning during a taping of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers.
While there might be just one legislative primary -- House District 39 -- with both Democratic and Republican opponents on Tuesday, Mollis said that many other candidates are running in local races.
Also appearing on this week's show, to be broadcast Sunday, at 5:30 am on Channel 12 and at 10 am on Fox 65, are state Senator James Doyle (D-Pawtucket) and Deputy US Marshal C.J. Wyant. The duo, who recently traveled to a conference in Dallas about sex offenders, talk about efforts to curb such crimes.
September 04, 2008
UPDATE: How many?
Some ProJo insiders remain justifiably concerned that the pending layoffs could be greater in number than the difference between those taking the buyout (22) and the minimum target (35). The parent Belo Corporation has cited a company-wide plan to cut 500 jobs, and the rumored number of takers in Dallas is about 22-29. So while it's bad enough that Charlie Bakst, Mark Arsenault, and Scott MacKay are among those going, the potential bottom line could be very severe. Stay tuned.
----
After a recently offered buyout failed to reach its 35-person goal, Providence Journal management has informed the Providence Newspaper Guild that layoffs "will be necessary."
According to a Guild e-mail to union members, the number of layoffs is not yet known, and further information will not be available until next week. Twenty-two Journal staffers, including some of the paper's top political writers, are among those who've agreed to take the buyout.
The Guild and the company plan to confer on how the union's contract language will apply to layoffs. The language has long been interpreted by some Guild members to mean that part-time workers would be the first to be laid off, followed by full-timers with the least seniority.
The last day on the job for Journal staffers who subscribed to the buyout is scheduled to be September 12.
September 04, 2008
The gifted political speechwriter Peggy Noonan has always been quick on her feet.
During the 1992 presidential campaign, N4N heard her speak to a college audience in another state. During the Q&A, I asked how it felt to be going back to work for George H.W. Bush after he had violated one of her most memorable lines -- "Read my lips: no new taxes."
The crowd murmured at the directness of the question, but Noonan was unruffled. Rather than answer, she turned the query around by asking, in effect, who might be a better candidate than her guy.
Noonan efforts to wriggle out of her disparagement of Sarah Palin, though, are a bit more complicated.
September 03, 2008
The McCain camp doesn't like the press looking into Sarah Palin and her time in public life.
From the Washington Post:
In an extraordinary and emotional interview, Steve Schmidt said his campaign feels "under siege" by wave after wave of news inquiries that have questioned whether Palin is really the mother of a 4-month-old baby, whether her amniotic fluid had been tested and whether she would submit to a DNA test to establish the child's parentage.
Arguing that the media queries are being fueled by "every rumor and smear" posted on left-wing Web sites, Schmidt said mainstream journalists are giving "closer scrutiny" to McCain's little-known running mate than to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
The McCain camp has been unusually aggressive in pushing back against the media, and it seems to hope to persuade journalists to back off in their scrutiny of Palin. Obama campaign officials have complained to news organizations that their man has been subjected to considerably more investigative reporting than McCain has, but they have done so in more low-key fashion.
Yet doesn't this woman deserve serious scrutiny, considering the role for which she has been chosen? Of course, she does.
As a category, the media isn't very popular. As with overheated and inaccurate rhetoric about "the liberal media," the right is trying to browbeat the press into doing as little questioning as possible.
Over at Anchor, Andrew makes the case that Palin has been productive as the governor of Alaska.
A review of Sarah Palin's administrative orders (what many other states call "executive orders") shows action taken on a range of statewide issues. In two years as Governor of Alaska, she has implemented policies in areas ranging from healthcare reform to housing policy to mental health reform to energy production.
Yet some might draw the conclusion that the more one learns about Palin, the more she seems designed mostly to energize the far right and to play a leading role in wedge politics. Here are some of the takeaways from a NYT story today about Palin's entry to politics as a mayor in Wasilla, Alaska:
Two years after Representative Newt Gingrich helped draft the Contract With America to advance Republican positions, Ms. Palin and her passion for Republican ideology and religious faith overtook a town known for a wide libertarian streak and for helping start the Iditarod sled dog race.
“Sarah comes in with all this ideological stuff, and I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ” said Mr. Stein, who lost the election. “But that got her elected: abortion, gun rights, term limits and the religious born-again thing. I’m not a churchgoing guy, and that was another issue: ‘We will have our first Christian mayor.’ ”
“I thought: ‘Holy cow, what’s happening here? Does that mean she thinks I’m Jewish or Islamic?’ ” recalled Mr. Stein, who was raised Lutheran, and later went to work as the administrator for the city of Sitka in southeast Alaska. “The point was that she was a born-again Christian.”
Deciding what's "appropriate" at the library:
Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.
Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article. ....
Ms. Palin also upended the town’s traditional ways with a surprise edict: No employee was to talk to the news media without her permission.
A seeming litmus test:
When Ms. Palin completed her second and final term, in 2002, her stepmother-in-law, Faye Palin, was running to succeed her. It seemed like a good idea, except that Faye Palin supported abortion rights and was registered as unaffiliated, not Republican, people who remember the race said. Sarah Palin sided instead with Dianne M. Keller, a religious conservative and an ally on the City Council. Ms. Keller won.
September 03, 2008
I'm pleased to share the word that my friend Tim White, the investigative reporter at WPRI/WNAC-TV, has gotten the nod as the new host of Newsmakers, the station's Sunday morning public affairs show.
There's some nice poetry here, considering how Tim's late father, the mighty Jack White, hosted the program for many years.
Steve Aveson, who had hosted the show since Jack's passing in 2005, in addition to working as an anchor at the station, marked his last day at Chanel 12 last Friday. Steve, a bright, genial, and very well-rounded guy, is also a friend, and I wish him the best with his future efforts. I left a phone message with him earlier today and will post an update if he wants to talk about his departure and future plans.
September 03, 2008
The Phoenix is out with some legislative endorsements for next week's September 9 primary. Here are some of them:
It’s a measure of the diligence and hard work of Representative DAVID SEGAL that those who scorned him as a too-young carpetbagger when he ran for the Providence City Council in 2002 are now among his biggest supporters. Segal, of House District 2, is a passionate and thoughtful voice for progressive causes, respected across the partisan aisle, who periodically highlights topics broad (renewable energy) and obscure (net-metering) before they gain wider attention. His Democratic challenger, Richard Rodi, might be a welcome presence in any number of other districts. In this case, though, Segal’s record and his advocacy make him the easy choice.
On the surface, Representatives THOMAS C. SLATER of District 10 and GRACE DIAZ of District 11, both in Providence, might seem to have little in common. Slater is more of an old-school social conservative (who nonetheless played a lead role in helping to pass Rhode Island’s medical marijuana law), while Diaz is an unabashed liberal from the Dominican Republic. Each faces a renewed challenge from a previous opponent, Wilbert W. Jennings Jr., (along with John P. Tomasso) in the case of Slater, and Laura Perez for Diaz. Because of the useful role they play in the Democratic presence on Smith Hill, Slater and Diaz merit your vote.
In House District 16, JOHN C. DEGENOVA is emphasizing the issue of affordable health-care, among other core Democratic values, while mounting a challenge to incumbent Peter G. Palumbo of Cranston. Palumbo is among the Democratic legislators who have sounded more like Republicans in their embrace of Governor Carcieri’s rhetoric about illegal immigration. Because of this distinction between the two candidates, we favor DeGenova.
House District 39 offers one of the more compelling legislative races, with a field of four Democrats and two Republicans. We don’t agree with all of his positions, but Democrat ROD DRIVER, a gadfly, former legislator, frequent candidate, and anti-war activist, has the courage of his convictions, and the Richmond resident would bring a much-needed dose of independent thinking to the General Assembly.
House District 43 presents a rematch between two combatants from 2006, Deborah M. Fellela, who won the election, and ANNETTE M. BERARDUCCI, who received our endorsement at the time. Beraducci was and remains the more progressive of these two candidates from Johnston.
In House District 51, CHRISTOPHER FIERRO of Woonsocket is the progressive favorite among a busy field of six Democrats — and with good reason. Fierro has a close focus on trying to attract good-paying jobs to northern Rhode Island. More than his competitors, he has the energy and sensibility to make a positive impact in the General Assembly.
September 03, 2008
After following the rise and fall and rise of WRNI, it's good to see how Rhode Island's public radio station has finally separately itself from Boston University, its previous license-holder. And this statement from station GM Joe O'Connor, which he shared with me last year, is truer than ever:
With the local acquisition of WRNI, he says, “The burden is where it should have always been — it is now on Rhode Islanders. It is not on Boston University, who is trying to set us up for success. It is up to the residents of the state to really support this. They’re telling me they want this and they want this excellence [of public radio] on a regular basis. Well, that’s going to take their support “
With the well-publicized cutbacks at the ProJo, WRNI could play an important role by offering an expanded report of thoughtful news.
September 03, 2008
A day after Kathy Gregg raised some pertinent questions about state cleaning contracts, the ACLU sends word that it is suing Governor Carcieri over his executive order on immigration:
The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the controversial “immigration executive order” that Governor Donald Carcieri issued in March. Specifically, the lawsuit, filed in R.I. Superior Court by RI ACLU volunteer attorney Randy Olen, challenges the order’s requirement that all vendors and contractors with the state participate in the federal employment authorization system known as E-Verify.
The E-Verify program is an internet database run by the Department of Homeland Security that allows employers to verify the employment eligibility of new hires. However, since its launch, the E-Verify program has been riddled with significant flaws, and returns inaccurate information regarding the immigration and employment status of new hires – and particularly lawful foreign-born workers – at more than a minimal rate. Studies have also shown that the program has a substantial rate of employer abuse, leading to discrimination against potential employees perceived as “foreign.”
In response to the Governor’s order, the Department of Administration sent a notice to all persons and businesses on the state’s vendor registration list at the end of July, requiring them to certify within 45 days that they and their subcontractors are registered with, and use, the E-Verify program. The notice states that failure to comply will prohibit the recipient from obtaining business from the State in the future and may adversely affect their current contracts.
The ACLU lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence (RICADV) and two Rhode Island College professors – Ann Marie Mumm and Daniel Weisman – who have contracts with the state and object to participation in the program. The suit argues that the Governor exceeded his executive authority in having the order apply to private businesses, and that the order also violates detailed statutes in place governing the state purchasing process.
Noting that the program is being implemented without the adoption of any formal regulations, the suit further argues that implementation of the order, to the extent it is valid, violates the Administrative Procedures Act. That Act requires state agencies to provide advance public notice and an opportunity for public comment before adopting any rules affecting the public. The suit seeks a court order preventing enforcement of this part of the executive order. A hearing on the ACLU’s request for a temporary restraining order is expected within a few days.
September 03, 2008
It's pretty sad -- here in the Ocean State -- that the Providence-to-Newport ferry seems to be on the way out.
And as recently reported in the Phoenix, Rhode Island's transit system is contracting when it should be getting better.
Bruce Landis has the latest:
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority said the cutbacks would affect 50 regular routes, eliminating some and chopping off sections of others. They would reduce the number of buses on some lines, increase the time between buses on others and eliminate some evening and weekend service.
Mark Therrien, a RIPTA assistant general manager, said the cutbacks would eliminate about 4.7 million rides, or about 20 percent of its total annual ridership, and eliminate service to Tiverton, Scituate, Burrillville and Glocester.
“We want to improve and expand the system,” not cut it, said RIPTA General Manager Alfred J. Moscola. “We need a first-class transit system if we want economic development in Rhode Island. Unfortunately, after years of cost-cutting, we’ve run out of options.”
September 03, 2008
Steve Peoples has the details:
Ari Savitzky, the young director of the advocacy organization FairVote RI, is going to law school. The 24-year-old had been on the job for a year.
New FairVote director Matt Sledge, who could be seen at Savitzky's side during the final days of the recent legislative session, announced the job change late this afternoon.
"When you walk into the State House with Ari, everybody knows his name, and for good reason. He's smart, he's politically savvy, and above all he's passionately dedicated to electoral reform," Sledge said in a statement. "Ari deserves a lot of credit for the impressive work he did, along with the other members of our coalitions, on both the national popular vote and youth voter pre-registration bills."
Savitsky will attend New York University School of Law.
Sledge, 22, a recent graduate of Brown University, had been training to take over the director's job since April.
"We have big plans for FairVote Rhode Island this year -- including a dramatic expansion of our youth education program, and key organizational development steps," Sledge said.
Good luck in NYC, Ari.
September 02, 2008
A.J. Pacitti, the Providence Phoenix's summer news intern, wrote in our Rookies' Gude last week about the outlook for aspiring journalists and there's a bit of news on some of her intern predecessors, quite a few of whom went to Brown:
California native Te-Ping Chen, 22, recently moved from a Washington, DC-based blogging position with the news-and-opinion magazine the Nation to work for the Interna-tional Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which is also based in DC and which backs investigative reporting projects.
Te-Ping, of course, besides helping to introduce Clean Elections' legislation in RI, later interned and freelanced at the Phoenix, writing about bank robbers and a paucity of drug treatment slots, among other things.
Cranston native Sarah Rainone, 29, is an editor at HarperCollins. She used networking to score a deal for her first novel, Love Will Tear Us Apart — about old friends meeting again at a wedding in Rhode Island — which is scheduled to be released next summer by Three Rivers. ...
Arizona native Alexander Provan, 25, has a freelance position at the men’s magazine GQ, where he is a re-searcher, fact-checker, and writer. Provan, a 2005 Brown grad and a former Phoenix intern, says he needed a job, and was hired after completing an internship at Harper’s.
He writes for a slew of other publications, including the Chicago-based music magazine Stop Smiling and the arts-oriented the Believer. Following graduation, he did some work for a non-governmental organization in Bolivia, where he did some reporting, including stringing for the Associated Press.
“One hundred dollars can last an entire month in Bolivia,” Provan says, via e-mail. “The downside, of course, is that it can be tough to convince someone in New York City that you, as a 23-year-old freelance journalist with only a modicum of experience, are the person to write that lengthy article on the Bolivian separatist movement.”