Her hard work earns support against challenger
By Will Collette
The Committee is filing this endorsement in all towns included in the district. House District 36 covers all of Charlestown and Block Island, plus small sections of Westerly and South Kingstown.
The last time Charlestown voters faced a Democratic primary
over who will represent House District 36 was twenty years ago. In 2006,
longtime State Representative Donna Walsh defeated DINO incumbent Matt McHugh
by 685 to 461 in that year's primary.
Donna never faced another primary opponent and served until
2016 when she was defeated by Blake “Flip” Filippi (Republican/Libertarian), an
all-round strange guy who in recent years has railed against seals and vaccines but has mostly stuck to raising cattle and his family’s Block
Island businesses.
Flip's surprise announcement in 2022 to drop out of Rhode
Island politics opened the door for Tina’s election as our Representative where
she has been a productive and effective legislator.
From Tina’s website:
Tina has spent the last decade advocating for people with disabilities, and is currently Executive Director of the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island. Her own experience as the parent of a child with significant health challenges led her to become an ardent advocate for families of children with disabilities. She has been a frequent presence at the State House over the last decade, working to defend Medicaid benefits, increase wages for caregivers and help win paid leave for people who must leave work to care for a new child or an ill family member.Opposing Tina in the September 9 Democratic Primary is Leah J. Boisclair who is a self-described “Sex Crimes Defense Attorney in Rhode Island.” On her law practice’s website, she graphically lists what types of crimes she will defend, including child rape, domestic violence, homicide, drug crime, white collar crime and so on.
Don’t take my word for it – go to her website.
I was especially surprised at the way she depicted how she
would defend against sex crimes. Here’s a screenshot from her website:
Now, if you switch to Boisclair’s campaign website, you’ll see a
very different tone as well as content. She mimics Tina’s priority issues of
education, environment, affordable housing and health care. There is no record
of Boisclair having actually done anything on these issues, but hey, if you
want to run as a Democrat, you must at least pretend.
Boisclair glosses over the sordid details of her law
practice saying only:
I went through our local schools, earned a political science degree at URI, and graduated cum laude from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2019. I’m licensed in multiple states and federal courts. Before opening my own firm, I worked on criminal and union cases — and then built The Law Office of Leah J. Boisclair, LLC from the ground up…. As an attorney, I stand up for people who need someone in their corner. [Emphasis added].
Make of that what you will. But remember that attorneys,
especially those in private practice, CHOOSE who represent.
And those of us who are registered Democratic voters living
in House District 36 also CHOOSE who we want to represent us. So, on September
9, please support Rep. Tina Spears in the Democratic Primary.
DISCLOSURE: For years, I have been a member of the House
District 36 Democratic Committee and proudly voted today to support Tina Spears
in her campaign for re-election. – Will Collette