But with far less money
By Will Collette
Levesque’s League of Rhode Island Business (LORIB) galaxy of 40 – yes, forty – state and local political action committees sunk around $200,000 in the primary, all for nothing.
One of his top candidates, Charlestown sex crime defense lawyer Leah Boisclair, lost her bid to unseat popular incumbent Rep. Tina Spears by a margin of 82 to 18%. Tina has no opponent in the November 3 General Election so she will return to the General Assembly for her third term.
But LORIB still has candidates running in the General Election. I wrote about the LORIB candidates running in both of Charlestown’s state Senate districts HERE.
That leaves four RI House of Representatives races here in South County where LORIB has endorsed candidates.
House District 39
State Rep. Megan Cotter of Richmond is running for re-election after two outstanding terms representing citizens of Richmond, Hopkinton and Exeter. Like the other Democratic South County women legislators, she showed herself to be effective and responsive to community needs.
She told the South County Star she “supports legislation to cap utility company profits…improve health care access and provide towns with tools developed by the Water Capacity and Housing Commission…efforts to improve fire management, including additional forest rangers, fire suppression equipment and $200,000 for forest protection….She also highlighted her efforts to secure $2.5 million for state forest management plans and her work to provide a van for Wood River Health.”
Her record shows that she can achieve these goals.
By contrast, Megan has championed legislation to support Chariho (CLICK HERE).
Roy is big on guns and anti-green energy, especially wind and solar and wants to promote logging and farming.
Her one big new idea is this: amethyst mining:
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| I bought this specimen in Ontario. Photo by Will Collette |
Aside from the ten bucks I paid the guy in Ontario, we didn’t do much for their local economy.
Maybe Jasmin Roy can promise District 39 voters $5,000 worth of local amethyst (about a ton) if they elect her. Roy is mostly getting local Republican support and gun money with only $715 coming from three of Dave Levesques’ LORIB PACs. She has $5,147.96 in cash according to her last campaign finance report.
Rep. Megan Cotter’s fundraising was far more successful, and she went into the final month with $28,600.
House Districts 33 and 35
Two veteran Democratic women represent these South-Kingstown centered districts. Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee represents District 33 and Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty represents District 35.
Since her 2015 election, Carol McEntee has risen high in the House leadership and chairs the Judiciary Committee. That has made her a much sought after sponsor for important legislation. She faces MAGA Republican Jessica Drew Day for the third and probably final time.
Though Drew Day is LORIB-endorsed, she has received no LORIB money as of her last campaign finance report. Going into the final month, she had $5,311.61 in her campaign treasury.
By contrast, Rep. McEntee reported a cash balance of $83,983.
Kathy Fogarty’s LORIB challenger Jennifer Poirier Nerbonne is almost as weak. Nerbonne did very little fundraising and went into the final month with $2,239.16 in the bank. She not only received NO LORIB money, but LORIB also spelled her name wrong on their website. Her main political experience was as a member of the South Kingstown Republican Committee and as a Donald Trump Convention delegate.
According to the South County Star, “Fogarty serves as First Assistant Speaker of the House, chair of the House Rules Committee and first vice chair of the House Municipal Government and Housing Committee.” Kathy went into the final month with $10,721. In her campaign fund.
House District 37
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| That's Sam on the right |
Sam is a very conservative octogenarian most known for his interests in veterans and the elderly, and for opposing any legislation condemned by the Catholic Diocese.
I’ve noted earlier that Sam fits the profile of candidates that Dave Levesque likes to support. Levesque has hedged his bets in the General Election by endorsing at least eight incumbents, since incumbents have an automatic edge.
In addition to Charlestown’s MAGA Senator Elaine Morgan, LORIB has endorsed DINO Sen. Leonidas Raptakis (Coventry), Gregory Costantino (Johnston), Marie Hopkins (R-Warwick), Paul Santucci (Glocester), Robert Phillips (Woonsocket), Independent Jon Brian (Woonsocket), and Richard Fascia (Cranston).
Sam is at least as conservative as most of these LORIB incumbents.
But nonetheless, he is being challenged by developer Christopher Stanton (R). LORIB has put no money into Stanton’s campaign. Stanton loaned his campaign $7000 of his own money, and he received $1500 from the Westerly Republican Committee. His balance going into the last month was $1,911.15 compared to Sam’s balance of $20,129.92.
What's next for LORIB?
Overall, the numbers show Levesque cut his payments to his slate of candidates drastically after his September 9 ass-kicking. Clearly, he’s still licking his wounds. Of his remaining candidates in the General Election, I doubt any of them will beat any of the Democratic incumbents.
I believe the best Levesque can hope for is that some of his endorsed conservative incumbents will hold their seats, allowing him to claim some victories, though those claims would be hollow given how much he scaled back the amount he has doled out.
Will LORIB be back in 2028? Levesque hasn’t said anything yet, though he must be thinking about what comes next. The Nov. 3 General Election results will certainly factor into his decision.
House has-been hopes for a political comeback
Price self-destructed after he took part in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol on Donald Trump's behalf.
Price sealed his fate with his debunked claim that it was "antifa" who actually did the deed, although he did not explain why he, a red-blooded Marine patriot, did nothing to stop them.
Justin Price wants to get back into politics by campaigning for a seat on the Richmond Town Council. If you look at his campaign statement on the Richmond GOP town committee website, you'll see that he has NOTHING to say about what he would do for Richmond, relying instead on a fanciful recap of his career in the state House of Representatives. He omits his long campaign while a state Rep against the menace of "chemtrails."
Maybe Justin is hoping he can get fellow insurrectionist and GOP candidate for Governor Vic Mellor to campaign for him. Or maybe he's banking on getting LORIB money in 2028 to make another run at Megan Cotter.
