On losing

Winners and losers in Tuesday’s primary

By Will Collette

I hate to lose. That’s one reason why, through most of my adult life, I have stayed away from electoral politics and focused instead on classic, Alinsky-style community organizing and strategic campaigns. In electoral politics, you put all your money on a single-roll of the dice and it’s win or lose on election day. In organizing or in strategic campaigns, there’s always a Plan B.

Since I’ve gotten more heavily engaged in electoral politics after returning home to Rhode Island in 2002, I have rediscovered how much I dislike that one-throw-of-the-dice aspect of electoral politics.

When I pick a candidate, I am almost always fully dedicated to what that person believes in. I’ve turned down work this year as in past years for candidates I didn’t know or didn’t like. Before I commit my time, I want to believe in that candidate.

So Tuesday’s primary results were a big disappointment since only one of the four candidates I supported won. I had picked Clay Pell for Governor, Frank Ferri for Lieutenant Governor, Seth Magaziner for General Treasurer and Guillaume DeRamel for Secretary of State. I made each choice based on whether I felt I could trust them and whether their values aligned with my own. Even after Tuesday’s result, I would not change one of my picks.

Come out and vote in Tuesday’s primary

Important choices to be made

By Will Collette

If you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain. On Tuesday, Rhode Islanders will have the opportunity to pick who will go on through to the General Election in November to compete for the positions of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, General Treasurer and Secretary of State. Democrats are embroiled in hot primaries for all four positions.

On the Republican side, the only hot race is the one for Governor that pits two RINOs, Ken Block and Allan Fung, against each other. Lieutenant Governor Catherine Taylor (R) faces only token opposition from perennial candidate and full-time crazy Kara Young.

All of these positions are open seats because the present office holder is either term-limited from running again or has chosen a different future. There is no primary for Attorney General because incumbent Peter Kilmartin faces no Democratic primary opponent and Republican Dawson Hodgson does not have a Republican challenger.

Click here for the sample ballot. Don't forget to bring your photo ID.

There are no local primary races for any Charlestown positions. In neighboring House District 35, incumbent Spencer Dickinson (D) is in a rematch primary battle with Kathy Fogarty.

Polls open in Charlestown at 9 AM.

If you're on the fence about Secretary of State...

Questions about Nellie Gorbea’s track record

By Will Collette

Nellie Gorbea's former boss, former Puerto Rico Governor 
Pedro Rosselló (R), called the most corrupt governor of the century. 

I’ve met Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea on a number of occasions. 

Before I left the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee, I was in on the extensive interview the committee had with her before it decided to endorse Guillaume deRamel instead. She was always charming and friendly. 

I liked her and liked the idea of supporting a Latina, though, on balance, I liked Guillaume deRamel better.

But then I looked closer at her as I have with just about all the candidates running for state office this year. Part of it was professional interest. Even though I am retired, I spent most of my worklife doing political research. But it's also my personal interest as a voter to know more about candidates than  what they are willing to tell us.

I saw two major issues with Nellie Gorbea’s candidacy that raise questions about her qualifications to be the next Secretary of State and about her espoused progressive values.

Public records show that at least five of the non-profit organizations Nellie Gorbea has served (as staff, board member or registered agent) failed to comply with the simple annual reporting requirements set by the Secretary of State.

Ms. Gorbea also has claimed as part of her credentials that she served as an economic advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico. However, that resume bullet point comes with some troubling history.

DeRamel event in Wakefield on Wednesday

Charlestown Tapas

More than a dozen juicy bits just for you

By Will Collette

Register to Vote!

If you aren’t registered to vote, you really have little right to complain how things go in state or town government. Decisions are made by those who show up, and when it comes to elections, you must be registered. To vote in the September 9 Primary, either party, the deadline to register is Sunday, August 10. While there are no primaries for Charlestown town offices or General Assembly, there are red-hot primaries for Governor (both parties), as well as General Treasurer, Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor. To download voter registration forms, please visit here.

June 7 Grapes & Grain event

 For the benefit of URI women’s athletics

Dave Lavallee, URI

KINGSTON, R.I. –An evening of exquisite wines, craft beers and food and a great lineup of auction items are among the offerings at the fifth annual Evening of Grapes & Grain Saturday, June 7, from 5 to 8 p.m.

The event to benefit University of Rhode Island women’s athletics will be hosted by Lynn Baker-Dooley on the lawn of the president’s house. 

Charlestown Dems complete their endorsements for state candidates

CDTC calls on town Democrats to support endorsed slate in the September primary

By Will Collette

I wear two hats in Charlestown, and not just because I’m bald. One hat is as co-editor of Progressive Charlestown. The other is as a member of the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee (CDTC). 

This is one of those occasions where I am reporting on decisions that I was part of making. It may not make for the best journalism, but so it goes.

After interviewing nearly every candidate running as a Democrat for state office, the CDTC finalized its list of candidates it recommends to Charlestown voters who go to the polls in September’s primary:

• For Governor: Clay Pell
• For Lieutenant Governor: Ralph Mollis
• For General Treasurer: Seth Magaziner
• For Secretary of State: Guillaume deRamel
• For Attorney General: re-elect Peter Kilmartin

Charlestown Democrats become first to endorse deRamel for Secretary of State

CDTC repeats its 2008 choice

By Will Collette

In 2008, the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee bucked the Party establishment by backing first-time office-seeker Guillaume deRamel of Newport in his bid for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State. 

DeRamel was running against the establishment pick, then North Providence Mayor Ralph Mollis.

Mollis eventually won the Democratic primary, but by a narrow margin, against deRamel, who handily carried Charlestown. Mollis went on to win the General Election, and by a razor-thin margin, a second term, as Secretary of State.

DeRamel has waited until Mr. Mollis ended his term-limited tenure to declare his intention to run again. When the campaign season started, he had two rivals: former Democratic State Party Chair Ed Pacheco and former director of HousingWorksRI, Nellie Gorbea, who had also served as a deputy Secretary of State. It was a tough choice since all three candidates were qualified and easy to like.

The choice became a little easier when Ed Pacheco decided to drop out of the race and endorsed deRamel. Nonetheless, town Democrats interviewed both candidates, Gorbea and deRamel, before deciding on which one to endorse. Though the committee was impressed with Nellie Gorbea, they voted unanimously to endorse deRamel as their pick for the September Democratic Primary.

That made Charlestown the first municipal Democratic committee to endorse deRamel, a fact noted in the deRamel campaign’s news release (below). Last Tuesday, deRamel told the monthly meeting of the RI Association of Democratic City and Town Chairs that since then, Johnston Democrats have voted to endorse him.

Here’s the news release from the deRamel Committee:

The campaign so far, Part 2

A scorecard on the state races

By Will Collette

Click here for Part 1.

Every statewide office in Rhode Island, except perhaps Attorney General, will get a new occupant after the November 2014 election which is now just one year away.

This is a rare occurrence brought about by two officials who are term-limited from running for re-election (Lieutenant Governor Liz Roberts and Secretary of State Ralph Mollis). 

In addition, Governor Lincoln Chafee (D) read the tea leaves and the poll numbers and declared he will not run again. 

And our Wall Street land shark, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, hopes to parlay her millions in donations from her hedge fund and Wall Street cronies into becoming Rhode Island’s first woman governor.

Each state office, except the Attorney General, has more than one Democrat who hopes to win the primary to run as the Democratic candidate in 2014.

Here is a run-down of who’s in so far, along with their latest fund-raising numbers and, SPOILER ALERT, some of my snarky, far-from-unbiased commentary.

SCOOP: Pacheco is dropping out of contention for Dem nomination for Secretary of State

Puts his young family and the non-profit group he runs first

By Will Collette

Ed brought his daughter along on  one of his many trips to
Charlestown, in this instance, a CDTC fundraiser for Senator
Whitehouse

Former Democratic State Party Chair Ed Pacheco told us he is withdrawing from the race for Secretary of State. 

Pacheco faced a three-way primary fight with Newport philanthropist Guillaume DeRamel and former HousingWorksRI Executive Director Nellie Gorbea. The race pitted three well-qualified, progressive candidates against each other for the chance to fill the office currently held by term limited incumbent Ralph Mollis.