Dennis Algiere returns to public life

Former state Senator Algiere represented the southern half of Charlestown for years

By Will Collette

Dennis Algiere is one of the few surviving members of a nearly extinct species: a moderate Republican. Actually, Algiere had hoped to launch his political career but was told by the then old-school Westerly Democratic machine that he had to wait in line.

On his own and as a Republican, Algiere went on to win Senate District 38 which he held for 30 years until declining to run for re-election in 2023. He was replaced by a smart young Democrat, Senator Victoria Gu.

During his long term, Algiere created an office that was a model of efficient constituent service. On the issues, he was usually center-left. These qualities meant he faced almost no challengers and usually won re-election unopposed.

I noticed a dramatic change in Algiere right after Donald Trump took the White House for his first term. He went silent. Algiere was never a self-promoter, unlike his local House colleague Blake "Flip" Filippi who would never pass up the chance to show off. Algiere pretty much stopped being the face and voice of state Republicans and that void was filled by such local radical MAGAnuts as Filippi, Sen. Elaine Morgan (who represented the northern half of Charlestown), and January 6 participant ex-state rep. Justin Price.

While others were surprised when Algiere made his 2022 announcement that he wasn't going to run, I wasn't. It had already seemed like Algiere had checked out of politics.

Accepting our hapless Gov. Dan McKee's invitation to serve on the Rhode Island Board of Education may be a one off. As usual, Algiere isn't saying whether this means he is coming back into the fray. All he said was:

“I am honored that the governor has asked me to return to public service. I am especially enthusiastic about supporting our students who deserve an innovative and accessible education system that can help them on the path to success.”

Incumbents are unopposed in nearly half of General Assembly races

Charlestown rep. Tina Spears (D) unopposed

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Left, Rep. Tina Spears (D) and right, Sen. Victoria Gu (D)

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm compiling analysis of the contenders for Charlestown's municipal offices. Some interesting developments and surprises. Stay tuned/ - Will Collette

Former Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt will not attempt a comeback run for the Rhode Island Legislature this year, despite commissioning a voter survey and telling local news outlets she was considering challenging Rep. Jon Brien, an independent, for the seat she once held.

In an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon, mere hours before the 4 p.m. filing deadline for state and local candidates to submit their declaration paperwork, Baldelli-Hunt cited her commitment to her health as reason for her decision not to run. Prior to winning the mayoral race in 2013, Baldelli-Hunt was a state legislator for seven years. 

“It was recently confirmed and I am now scheduled for a procedure on my heart later this summer with the hope of a successful outcome and a full recovery,” Baldelli-Hunt wrote.

Health concerns were also the reason she gave when she resigned from the mayoral post last fall, on the heels of a WPRI-12 investigation exposing her role in a controversial city land deal.  

However, controversy has not deterred former Rep. Justin Price, an Exeter Republican, from trying to regain his seat. Price, who served four terms beginning in 2014, narrowly lost the 2022 general election to Democratic challenger Megan Cotter. During his 2022 campaign, Price faced scrutiny for attending the Jan. 6 march on the U.S. Capitol, though he said he did not enter the building.

The rematch between Cotter, who is seeking reelection, and Price is one of a handful of high-profile races expected this fall.

Senate Democrat Victoria Gu will also face her 2022 Republican competitor, Westin Place, for the seat representing parts of Charlestown and Westerly. Gu bested Place in the 2022 general election by a decisive 19 percentage points. Prior to Gu’s win, however, the seat was held by Republican Dennis Algiere for 20 years.

Election updates show even better results

Democrat Megan Cotter flips Justin Price’s seat

By Will Collette

It's over when the Fat Lady sings

The day before the Election, I looked up from my desk and saw a bald eagle swooping by, maybe 100 feet above the trees. Classic black body and pure white head. Beautiful. I wondered at the time whether this was an omen and, if so, of what? 

Reflecting on the Election, I now think the eagle’s appearance was an omen that things were going to turn out all right. From local races to the fight for control of Congress, the biggest losers were the pollsters, Donald Trump, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) and Republicans who were anticipating a big Red Wave while the rest of us were wondering if we’d still have a democracy on November 9. 

But we survived. In the weird politics of our sharply divided America, survival is a genuine victory, especially when the pollsters were predicting a Republican sweep. It helped that so many of the GOP candidates were MAGAnuts, charlatans and incompetents. 

As the last votes are counted, it looks like three progressive South County Democratic women – Tina Spears, Victoria Gu and Megan Cotter made the difference in dealing the state GOP a General Assembly defeat when they were predicting they would make substantial gains. 

It helped that Seth Magaziner won a hard-fought battle for House District 2 when all the pollsters had him losing and that state Democrats swept every state elected office.

Tina’s strong, positive campaign looked like a winner from the start to replace our unlamented, departed Blake “Flip” Filippi. 

Victoria Gu was one of two Rhode Island women to become the first Asian Americans elected to the Rhode Island Senate. To do that, she raised a ton of money and ran a sharp aggressive campaign. 

She beat two supposedly unbeatable Westerly pols, Town Council President Sharon Ahern in the primary and Caswell Cooke, a well-known politico who had lined up the support of dozens of Westerly celebrities to support his candidacy. 

Cooke expected to assume retired Sen. Dennis Algiere’s seat by divine right, except he came in an embarrassing third place behind a Trumplican who is in hock to the IRS for back taxes. It didn’t help that Cooke did not receive the expected endorsement from Dennis Algiere. 

Exeter Democrat Megan Cotter won a slim victory over right-wing nut Rep. Justin Price. She initially had a 4-vote lead, but as mail in ballots were counted, her lead grew to 29, enough to be called the victor everywhere except the Westerly Sun. Even the RI House Republican Caucus dropped Price’s from their membership list. 

The Sun ran a pro-Price piece focused on Price’s grievance that: 

“There is something wrong; this process needs to be reviewed…There are flaws in the system, and they need to be identified and addressed.”

Price didn’t tell the Sun what those flaws are, other than he lost. As if the stupidest member of the General Assembly would have a clue. Like the Trumplican he is, Price is expected to file for a recount. As a participant in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, perhaps Price is thinking of getting his militia friends to assault the State House. 

After he’s done whining, I hope Price will go back into his bomb shelter to polish his weapons and count the cans of beans he has stockpiled in case of a zombie apocalypse. 

November 15 was the last day to count ballots including those that were “cured” by voters who turned in faulty ballots. Under Rhode Island law, if you make a mistake on your ballot such as messing up your signature or “over-voting” for too many candidates, you are notified by the Board of Elections that you can fix your error – “cure” it – and resubmit. Theoretically, Price could still somehow win, but I doubt it. 

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) made its best effort to put lipstick on the pig: 

“Six out of eleven of the local candidates that CCA endorsed and supported in the November 8 election were elected. This is good news and we are grateful to the voters.”

While the 6 out of 11 claim is true, the CCA got crushed on the big prize: control of the Town Council, holding only one seat out of five. This is the first time since 2008 that the CCA’s slate has failed to win. As I wrote before the election, all empires fall eventually, usually due to arrogance and corruption. So it goes with the CCA. 

Whether the new Charlestown Residents United (CRU) majority can overcome party differences and govern effectively remains to be seen. If they don’t, I would expect the CCA to try a comeback in 2024. 

Moving on to Block Island, I had reported that Steve Filippi, owner of Ballard’s and brother to our now ex-state representative Blake Filippi, was in danger of losing his bid to get elected to the Block Island Town Council even though he was running unopposed. 

He and Democratic incumbent Martha Ball were the only candidates to fill three open seats. On election Day, Martha Ball received 513 votes and Filippi got 92. But Block Island electors filed 1,061 write-in votes, making Filippi’s fate very questionable. 

As election workers went through the pile of write-ins to validate which were properly cast and to tally how many votes were awarded to each write-in candidate, the results changed. 

According to the Block Island Times, Democrat Martha Ball did come out first with 509 votes (she lost 4 in the validation process). She was followed by Molly O’Neill (369) and Neal Murphy (363) to fill out the three open seats. 

They were followed by two runners-up and finally by Steve Filippi in last place with the same 92 votes he had gotten on November 8. 

As the old saying goes, “decisions are made by those who show up.” That comes to running for office and showing up at the polls.

Charlestown changes

So what happens next?

By Will Collette

They both won big

Statewide, the Blue Wave is sending Seth Magaziner to Congress from our District and every state general officer seat will be filled by a Democrat.

Locally, we're going to get the change that many of us wanted (in fact, the majority). We flipped both open General Assembly seats representing Charlestown from red to Blue. We elected Victoria Gu to the state Senate, replacing retiring Dennis Algiere (R). Tina Spears will be our new state Representative, replacing the odious Blake "Flip" Filippi (Trumplican).

Tina and Victoria both won by impressive 20+ point margins.

But perhaps the biggest news is that for the first time since 2008, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) failed to win a Council majority, soundly beaten by Charlestown Residents United (CRU). In fact, it looks like only incumbent Susan Cooper will represent the CCA on the Council. Oh, I forgot, all these CCA people are "independent," right?

Deb Carney easily won the most votes, so she will return as Council President. Rippy Serra came in second, earning the position of Vice-President. Deb is a Democrat and her three CRU colleagues - Rippy, plus incumbent councilor Grace Klinger and Steve Stokes - are Republicans. 

Hopefully they'll be able to work and play together and Charlestown can be different than the rest of the country.

There probably is no joy in the CCA clubhouse, wherever that is, tonight. It wouldn't surprise me if Ruth Platner starts planning to storm Town Hall to overthrow the election results. Imagine the CCA insurrectionists marching up West Beach Road from Quonnie to Town Hall.

It wouldn't be the first time that the CCA organized a riot at Town Hall. In 2011, they lead a mob of non-resident property owners to scream about a proposed Homestead Tax Credit that would have given full-time Charlestown residents $1000 off their tax bills.

There may be some small shifts in the town election numbers when all mail-in ballots are counted, but it is very unlikely to affect the outcome on the Council.

One race where counting every ballot carefully will be critical is House District 39 where Democrat Megan Cotter holds the lead over radical Trumplican Justin Price by ONLY 4 votes! 

Charlestown Democrat Jennifer Douglas had her third swing and miss at unseating radical Trumplican incumbent Elaine Morgan. Even though Morgan was caught committing campaign finance fraud, it wasn't enough to sway the vote.

Last but not least, Charlestown voters approved the idea of a cannabis store in Charlestown by almost 10 points. I'd still like to see the Narragansett Tribe get the state license and re-purpose the Smoke Shop. They wouldn't even need to change the sign. We'll see if the new Council majority is open to it.

CHARLESTOWN: Get out and vote tomorrow

Important local Senate race, plus Congressional District 2 and crucial state offices on the line

By Will Collette

There are 6,748 registered voters in Charlestown – 100 new registrations just in the past week! Many of those voters have a stake in the Democratic or Republican primaries which are being held tomorrow, Tuesday September 13. You can vote in person at Town Hall.

As of this writing, 237 of Charlestown’s voters have already sent their primary ballots in by mail or voted early at Town Hall (116 by mail, 131 in person).

The final step in the process to choose the slate for the November 8 election takes place tomorrow when you can turn out at Town Hall to vote in person.

The main local race is the choice of which among three qualified Democrats will become the Party nominee for the Senate District 38 seat that became open upon the retirement of long-time Senator Dennis Algiere.

All three Democrats – Victoria Gu, Michael Niemeyer and Sharon Ahern – strike me as serious candidates who would make good senators, but I favor Victoria for her positions on sensible gun legislation and a woman’s right to choose. Her main opponent Sharon Ahern is backed by the gun lobby and Right to Life.

The winner will face long-time Westerly politico Caswell Cooke, a former Republican who is running as an independent and maybe Westin Place representing the Republicans. Place has yet to file required campaign finance reports (CF-1) as required by law, so it’s unknown whether he is running any sort of campaign. 

Also on the ballot is Congressional District 2 being vacated by Rep. Jim Langevin. Leading in all the polls is term-limited state General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. There are four other active candidates: Joy Fox, Sarah Morgenthau, David Segal, and Omar Bah. The winner will face Trumplican Allan Fung in November.

All of the Democrats running for state General Offices have primary challenges, except for Attorney General Peter Nerohna. 

However, some races are hotter than others. The Governor’s race is red-hot with our hapless accidental Gov. Dan McKee facing strong challenges from term-limited Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and former CVS executive Helena Foulkes.

I’ve already voted for Nellie.

The winner will face a carpetbagging Trumplican Ashley Kalus Weinzweig who may also be registered to vote in Florida and Illinois – that’ll take some serious investigation.

The Lieutenant Governor race also features a toss-up among three contenders. Sabrina Matos is running as Dan McKee’s running mate (nuff said); Cynthia Mendes is running as Matt Brown’s running mate and may be polling better than Brown’s single digits in his second bid for Governor. Then Deb Ruggiero is running by actually campaigning on her long and impressive legislative history.

General Treasurer is also a pitched battle and toss-up between former Central Falls Mayor James Diossa versus a stuffed shirt narcissist Stefan Pryor who is, according to himself, the single-handed savior of every mess he’s gotten into. James Diossa simply saved Central Falls after everybody had written it off, but is too modest to claim the full credit he deserved. Obviously I’ve voted for James.

Finally, the Secretary of State opening left when Nellie Gorbea was term limited has East Providence school teacher and long-time legislator Greg Amore versus virtually unknown novice Stephanie Beaute.

As a progressive Democrat, I will probably support the whole Democratic ticket that is chosen by the voters tomorrow, but obviously I have my favorites, as I’m sure you do too.

But as the saying goes, if you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain.

Who should RI Democrats pick for Governor in the September 13 Primary?

Five candidates offer wide variety

By Will Collette

With the start of early voting and mail-in ballots, some of you may have already made your choice. But for those of you who haven’t, I’d like to offer my opinion of the field.

The five candidates are accidental incumbent Dan McKee, term-limited Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, left-wing guru Matt Brown and activist Dr. Luis Daniel Munoz.

To be blunt as well as consistent with my past criticisms, I think Dan McKee has been a lousy Governor, a post he got by virtue of Gina Raimondo’s decision to go to Washington to become Joe Biden’s Commerce Secretary.

McKee was a lackluster, almost invisible Lieutenant Governor and only stayed in that office when challenged in 2018 by Aaron Regunberg who actually wanted to make something out of that office. McKee won the primary by only 2,466 votes. In my opinion, he would have lost if more voters actually cared about the office of Lieutenant Governor.

Other high-ranking Rhode Island politicos describe him as “lazy” and “stupid,” not able to focus on more than one issue at a time. It used to be McKee’s sole focus was charter schools. Now it’s “small business” (whatever that means) to the exclusion of all else.

I am especially furious at McKee for his COVID practices. In the name of small business, McKee ended all restrictions and pretty much has tried to make COVID invisible. He closed down state testing and vaccine sites. 

The State Health Department only reports statistics, such as they are, once a week now. (By the way, we remain at a community infection rate that is ten times higher than it was on July 4, 2021 and that only includes cases the state knows about, not those discovered on home test kits).

I blame him for people no longer masking and, frankly, not even paying any attention. Yet, ask yourself: can you remember any time during the pandemic when you’ve had so many friends and family come down with COVID?

McKee is in a statistical dead heat in the polls with his top competitor, term-limited Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea. In many ways, Nellie is the opposite of McKee. He is as inspiring as Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup® while she is dynamic and creative.

She has also had eight years to show us an outstanding record as Secretary of State – running efficient, fraud-free elections, handling COVID’s potential to disrupt the 2020 election, expanding her department’s services and fighting hard for every citizen’s right to vote.

Her office is always coming up with innovations. I just ran across a new one where she tracks the early votes as they come in. Using this new RI Voter Turn-out Tracker, as of August 30, 33 Charlestown voters have voted early at Town Hall. No mail-in ballots for Charlestown has turned up yet.

Nellie has my vote without doubt or question.

Behind McKee and Nellie, there are three also-rans.

Helena Foulkes is the only one to break into double digits in the polls, largely based on her ability to use her considerable fortune to buy a lot of advertising. Her downside is that she takes the blame whenever CVS gets negative headlines, such as the recent court award of millions in damages against CVS for its role in pushing opiate drugs and contributing to our national overdose epidemic.

I saw her when she met with the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee and found her to be a knowledgeable and likeable person. I don’t see her as Governor, but I do hope she stays in Rhode Island politics. Her main hope of winning lies in Nellie and McKee attacking each other so badly that voters turn to her instead.

Behind her is the enigmatic Matt Brown, leader of the Rhode Island Political Coop. I think of Brown as an anti-Democrat, as his driving motivation seems to be the belief that Rhode Island’s entire political structure is corrupt and needs to be torn down completely and replaced by him and his followers.

Brown harbors a deep-seated grudge against the state Democratic Party. After serving as Secretary of State from 2003 to 2007, Brown declared for US Senate in 2006 seeking to unseat then Senator Lincoln Chafee.

That campaign ended on accusations that Brown engaged in a practice called “donation swapping” to evade campaign donation limits. In this case, Brown received large donations from state Democratic Parties as far away as Hawaii while Brown’s own high-roller donors sent equivalent donations to those out of state parties. He was exonerated by the FEC in 2007.

Brown left Rhode Island to run an anti-nuclear non-profit in Washington, only to return 12 years later to run against Gina Raimondo in 2018. That was an ugly campaign, as Raimondo reminded voters Brown was accused of political money-laundering. Brown called Raimondo’s charge “defamatory,” citing the FEC findings, but the damage was done.

While I take no joy in grudge matches and find that Matt Brown offers little else in his run for Governor, I do acknowledge his creation, the RI Political Coop, and the boost it has given to progressives running for local and General Assembly seats.

We have three local Coop candidates: Charlestown’s Jennifer Douglas who I hope will be successful at defeating ultra-rightwing Sen. Elaine Morgan; Megan Cotter of Exeter who hopes to defeat insurrectionist state Rep. Justin Price and Michael Niemeyer of Westerly who is one of three Democrats on the September 13 Primary ballot seeking to replace retired state Sen. Dennis Algiere.

The last of the five Democratic Primary candidates for Governor is Dr. Luis Daniel Munoz. This is his second run for Governor, having run as an independent in 2018. He received only 6,223 votes.

I heard him speak at the state Democratic Convention and, despite the severe limits on speaking time, I thought he was quite impressive. Nonetheless, he is polling last.

Like a number of other good people running for state offices they have no chance to win, I just wish he would try to build some experience in local office. He’d make a great state senator or representative or city council member.

Final note

No matter which candidate emerges as the Democratic choice for Governor, they will be far better than the nightmare represented by the GOP choice, Ashley Kalus. 

Up until recently, Kalus' only connection to Rhode Island was to run a COVID testing company based in Westerly. The state decided to terminate her contract. That led to an altercation on January 16 at the job site that required the intervention of Westerly Police.

Days later, Kalus registered to vote in Rhode Island for the first time and then declared her intent to run for Governor in March. Does anyone smell pay-back?

She and her doctor husband bought a house in Newport in May 2021. As of last March, she was still registered to vote in Monroe County, Florida - while declaring her candidacy for Rhode Island Governor!

Her Florida history is interesting in itself. According to tax records, she and her husband own a condo in the Florida Keys (where she had been registered to vote) but paid ZERO taxes based on what appears to be a homestead exemption EVEN THOUGH her billing address is listed on the tax bill as 151 Belle Ave., Highland Park, IL 60035-2503. The property ownership is listed as WEINZWEIG JEFFREY / ASHLEY.

I wonder if she was ALSO registered to vote in Illinois where she worked as "director of public engagement for Illinois' former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner" failed 2018 campaign.

She is a true Trumplican. In an interview with WPRI's Ted Nesi, when asked which living political leader she admired most, she picked fascist Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. OMG!

Elaine Morgan worst in Senate. Justin Price tied for 4th worse in the House

Environmental Council of Rhode Island issues biennial legislative scorecard.

By Will Collette

Morgan and Filippi photo op shows where they stand on the environment

Environmental Council of Rhode Island (ECRI) released its much anticipated scorecard raking each legislator in the RI General Assembly on their environmental record.

You can read the full report to understand ECRI's ranking criteria. They used a broad range of energy and environmental legislation and ranked legislators based on only on their votes, but whether they sponsored or co-sponsored legislation. 

For example, Sen. Sue Sosnowski of South Kingstown received several credits in the report for her frequent leadership on environmental legislation. Others singled out for praise were Rep. Deb Ruggiero who is running in the September 13 Democratic primary for Lieutenant General, and Reps. Teresa Tanzi and Carol Hagan McEntee, and Sens. Bridget Valverde and Alana DiMario, all of South Kingstown.

By contrast, Charlestown's General Assembly delegation were among the very worst. Sen. Elaine Morgan ranked LAST in 37th place. Retiring Sen. Dennis Algiere eked out a 31st place finish in his final year in the state Senate. 

Rep. Blake "Flip" Filippi, who is also retiring, came in near the very bottom in the House rankings, just one slot above the embarrassing right-wing nut Rep. Justin Price (R-Richmond) who tied for 4th from the bottom. 

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) continually points to the recent Community Survey done in the town and the top ranking given to the environment by respondents. Yet Charlestown has been represented in the General Assembly for the past eight years by perhaps the worst bunch of anti-environmental senators and representatives of any town in the state.

Throughout those eight years, the CCA has supported them all! And admit it: you only trot out cherry-picked parts of the survey when it supports your agenda of making irresponsible bad land deals.

Here are the complete ECRI rankings tables:

Campaign money, money, money

Sad but true, money drives politics

By Will Collette

Candidates for public office were required to file CF-1 forms by August 1 reporting on their income, expenses and balance for the quarter ending June 30. All but three local candidates did so. Despite the time lag, these figures give us a pretty good idea about the status of local races.

In Charlestown, nearly every elected office is being contested in what is shaping up to be another “Battle of the PACs.” The campaign finance reports also show the resurgence of the long-dormant Republican Party in Charlestown.

Two far-right Republican General Assembly incumbents face strong progressive Democratic challengers, plus there are two open seats vacated by the two top Republican leaders in the General Assembly and, just based on the financial reports, both seats seem likely prospects to flip Blue.

Senate District 38 (Charlestown, Westerly, South Kingstown)

This is the local race getting the most statewide attention. Long held by Westerly Republican Dennis Algiere, his decision to retire set off a flurry of declarations. After signatures on nomination papers were fully validated, three Democrats will go into a September 13 primary and then will face well-known Westerly pol Caswell Cooke running as an independent and novice Republican Westin Place.

So far, that five-person field has raised $67,199.67, but it’s more interesting to see how that money was distributed:

First, Charlestown’s Victoria Gu raised $50,000 in the quarter ending June 30 with a balance of $49,339.89. Almost all of that money came from the Asian-Pacific community around the country.

Running a distant second is independent Caswell Cooke with $9,167.23. Cooke was a long-time Republican until Donald Trump’s 2016 election win when he disaffiliated from the Republican Party.

Third is Westerly Democrat Michael Niemeyer with $7,691.89. He is running under the auspices of the RI Political Coop.

Fourth is current Westerly Town Council President, Democrat Sharon Ahern. She shows only $1000, her own money, in her campaign account. She entered the race late so her lack of cash is not surprising.

Finally, there is Republican Westin Place who has apparently not yet filed a CF-1 report. That will probably cost him a fine and raises some question about how serious he is about campaigning.

House District 36 (Charlestown, Westerly, South Kingstown, Block Island)

This race is for another open seat left behind by Republican House Minority Leader Blake “Flip” Filippi.

In this race, Democrat Tina Spears of Charlestown is running hard and reports a June 30 balance of $23,189.08.

Her opponent is recent Charlestown transplant John Pacheco III. Instead of a CF-1, Pacheco filed an application for filing exemption based on his declaration that he does not plan to raise much money. His campaign fund is currently in debt. He declared $262.75 cash on hand and $2,682.45 in debt. It appears that these numbers are carried over from his political career as Town Council chair in Burrillville. He bought a house in Charlestown on December 29, 2020.

So far, he has shown no signs of being a serious candidate. Without money, he can’t run a competitive race.

Senate District 34 (Hopkinton, Richmond, Charlestown, Exeter, West Greenwich)

This is the seat currently held by right-wing nut Sen. Elaine Morgan of Hopkinton. She was recently in the news after the state Board of Elections nailed her for taking money out of her campaign funds for personal use. She was required to put the money back and pay a $1,200 fine. With payback, she reports a balance of $16,160.

She faces progressive Democrat Jennifer Douglas of Charlestown, another RI Political Coop member. Jennifer reports a June 30 balance of $6,681.34.

Normally, serious campaign finance crimes end political campaigns as it did for Matt Brown in his 2004 Senate campaign. Brown was out of Rhode Island politics for years until he created the RI Political Coop in 2019 to make a comeback. But Republican Elaine Morgan might be able to count on the GOP’s tendency to reward law-breaking. We’ll see which way it goes when she files her next report on October 11.

House District 39 (Richmond, Hopkinton, Exeter)

Technically, this isn’t a Charlestown race but it might as well be since incumbent right-wing loon Justin Price of Richmond has been running in a pack with Blake Filippi and Elaine Morgan since they were all elected in 2014. 

Adding to that Charlestown feeling is that Price got his seat by ousting a great legislator, Larry Valencia, who did at one time represent the northern half of Charlestown.

Anyway, Price who hopefully may be indicted for his acknowledged participation in the January 6 Trump coup attempt reports a June 30 balance of $4,543.57. 

He has a rematch with Democrat and RI Political Coop member Megan Cotter. She reports an impressive June 30 balance of $35,561.93. If money truly equaled votes, Price is toast. However, this is a very conservative district.

Charlestown Municipal races

CCA logo?

The November 8 general election has two political action committees squaring off for control of the town: the ruling Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) and the good government Charlestown Residents United (CRU). Click HERE to see CRU’s slate of candidates.

Nearly every elected position is up for grabs. Most candidates, other than those who are for-real independents, will be financed through one of the two PACs perhaps with help from Charlestown Democratic Town Committee (CDTC) or the resurgent Charlestown Republican Town Committee (CRTC).

These four political entities report these June 30 balances:

    Charlestown Citizens Alliance: $7,164.55

    Charlestown Residents United: $5,420.03

    Charlestown Republicans: $3,803.91

    Charlestown Democrats: $1,507.18

The campaign finance reports show the CCA hasn’t even gotten started on fund-raising yet. Their usual practice over the past 12 years has been to hit up major donors, especially rich absentee property owners, from July to Election Day. The Charlestown Democrats also haven’t done much fund-raising yet.

Mageau does what Mageau does

One of the only actual independents in the race is  👈 town curmudgeon Jim Mageau running for Town Council. He was ousted by the CCA in 2008, has been disowned by both parties and seeks a comeback. Maybe or maybe not.

Mageau dissolved his campaign finance account in June 2013 and hasn’t filed anything since. Including this year where he had enough signatures on his nomination papers to qualify for the General Election ballot. 

If he’s going to run any sort of campaign at all, he’ll need to get his account in order with the Board of Elections or he will face fines.

Over the coming weeks, I will be running articles comparing the candidates especially because there are a lot of new faces and names on the ballot in Charlestown.

In case you are wondering, I am neither dispassionate nor unbiased in this election. I am NOT the League of Women Voters because I do think there are sharp differences among the candidates. Elaine Morgan and Jennifer Douglas are polar opposites, as are Justin Price and Megan Cotter.

So, the race is underway and may the BEST candidates win.

Wood River Health Services grows and changes

Group celebrates all those who helped

Photo by Seth Jacobson Photography

On Monday, June 27, Wood River Health Services (WRHS) hosted a Groundbreaking Ceremony to mark the commencement of excavation work for its new building and to celebrate the donors who have made the expansion possible. The new building is an addition to its 823 Main Street property and is projected to cost $5 million. It was designed by Vision 3 Architects and A/Z Corporation has been secured to oversee construction. 

The expansion will enable the federally qualified health center to better serve its current patient base and expand its community’s access to medical, dental, behavioral and social services and supports. It will increase its clinical space by 57%; increase dental patients by 1,200 visits per year; and expand behavioral health services access for individuals, families and groups. The expansion will also enable WRHS to offer Radiology, Physical Therapy and Specialist services. 

There were over 100 attendees at the Groundbreaking Ceremony. Event speakers included The Honorable Jack Reed; The Honorable James Langevin; The Honorable Dennis Algiere; Nadia Duvilaire, MD, Associate Medical Director at WRHS; Ruth Morgan, Vice Chair, Capital Campaign Committee and WRHS Board Member; Peter Marino, President & CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island; WRHS patient Chris Hedenberg; and Alison L. Croke, President & CEO of WRHS. 

CCA publishes Flip’s lament

Filippi makes belated pitch for shoreline access bill

By Will Collette

This fence across the beach is from the Block Island Times. The photo was taken by the Block Island Land Trust. Who put up this fence? It was BLAKE FILIPPI!

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) published an open letter from Rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi where he makes the pitch to every reader to contact their state senator to ask them to save House Bill 8055. Flip is a co-sponsor for this bill which is about to die in the Senate after passing the House unanimously last week.

This letter is, as usual for Flip, too little, too late. Serious efforts to actually get legislation passed usually means you line up a sponsor in the other House – in this case the Senate – to expedite passage and you do that at the beginning of the process, not the very end.

Flip skipped that step and having only a few days left in this General Assembly virtually dooms passage, regardless of the merits of the bill.

Why he didn’t ask Sen. Dennis Algiere (R-Westerly) or Sen. Sue Sosnowski (D-SK) to co-sponsor a Senate bill?

As for the merits, even the CCA understands that this bill only addresses “lateral passage,” which is walking along the beach. It does nothing to resolve such barriers to beach access as parking, lack of public access to the beach and rigid enforcement by fake fire districts such as Shady Harbor and Central Quonnie.

Here's Blake Filippi's Ballards blocking the access route to
the beach using a dumpster and a car. The Block Island FD
said that if they needed access they would take their equipment
through Ballard's dining room unless Filippi removed this
obstacle. Source: Block Island Times using photos from the
Block Island Land Trust. Read the story HERE.

Plus, there is no mention of Filippi’s past history as a shoreline access abuser at his own shoreline properties on Block Island that include running a fence across the beach and down to the water, blocking “lateral access” and moving a dumpster to block beach access to Block Island’s fire and rescue.

These abuses were documented in the Block Island Times HERE. The photos in this article are from the Block Island Times.

Filippi has been able to count on the CCA’s unqualified support even though he has failed the town time and again. In fact, Flip’s entire tenure in the House has been a monument to failure.

And now the CCA gives Flip a platform to try to preserve his tattered reputation by blaming the Senate when it is his own special brand of sloppy legislating that is to blame for yet another betrayal of the public trust.

Here’s what the CCA ran on its website:

Finally we have some new common sense gun control bills going on the books

Gun-nuts and Republicans fight a pitched battle for their right to kill...and lose!

By Will Collette

Sign shown by yellow-shirted gun nuts

The RI General Assembly has passed three common-sense gun control bills that will help reduce the threat and reality of gun violence. These bills will raise the age limit for buying guns and ammunition from 18 to 21; ban open carry; and ban high-capacity magazines. 

A bill to ban AR-15 military-style weapons was spiked by the Democratic leadership in both the House and Senate before it could come up for a vote. I understand their political calculations to go with a package where they knew they had the votes, though I disagree. 

Filippi tells these two 4^th graders they might have to die
to protect the Second Amendment

Yellow-shirted gun nuts were all over the State Capitol during the committee debates and then the floor votes screaming that any new gun control measures were an infringement on their sacred Second Amendment rights. 

And they did have some allies, such as Sen. Elaine Morgan (R-Lalaland) who represents the northern half of Charlestown who said: 

“It’s little by little by little by little. You can’t just take your Second Amendment away, our Second Amendment away. But you can whittle it down, whittle it down and whittle it down, until it doesn’t exist. It’s like throwing a frog in boiling water.”

The House opposition was led by another Charlestown representative, Rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi, leader of the 10-member House Trumplican caucus. Flip took a few hours off from whipping up his gun-nut caucus and allied DINOs to visit a local 4^th grade.

Flip stumped by question from 4^th graders asking why he cares more
about gun rights than about them.

Coincidence or not, the 19 murdered children in Uvalde, Texas were all 4^th graders. Yet Flip gave these children his smarmiest smile while fighting against measures to keep these kids from suffering the same fate as their fellow 4^th graders in Uvalde. There is a special place in hell for creatures like Flip Filippi.

One small surprise to me was the tactical decision by the gun nuts, Flip and his Trumplicans and their Dino allies, to hold their fire (no apology for the deliberate metaphor) for the bill to ban high-capacity magazines, defined as more than 10 bullets. 

Under this bill, according to WPRI, 

"Rhode Islanders who already own [high-capacity magazines] have 180 days to comply with the ban. They can either modify their magazine so it does not hold more than 10 rounds, surrender it to police, or sell it to people in other states where they’re still legal.” 

Most of the votes were pretty solid in approving the three bills, except there was a surprise hang-up in the Senate Judiciary Committee where the gun nuts mounted their last stand. The ban on high-capacity magazines failed to get out of committee on a 6-6 tie vote. 

This despite Senate President Dominic Ruggerio, rated “A” by the NRA, who cast an ex officio vote YES for passage. If retiring state Senator Dennis Algiere (R-Westerly and southern Charlestown) had exercised his ex officio right and voted his conscience, the final committee vote would have been 7-6 to pass. 

Blocking the high-capacity magazine in the Senate committee gave the yellow-shirts something to cheer about, at least for a few hours. Then Ruggerio invoked a parliamentary maneuver to bring the bill directly to the Senate floor where it passed along with the two companion bills. 

Local state Senators Dennis Algiere and Elaine Morgan. He took a walk
while she took a hissy fit. Shame on them both.

In the final vote, it came down to Republicans and DINOs voting against the bills and everyone else voting for common-sense gun control. 

Local Republicans all voted no: Flip of course, his wingnut colleague Justin Price (R-QAnon) in the House and Elaine Morgan in the Senate. Two Westerly DINOs, Sam Azzinaro and Brian Patrick Kennedy, joined them to vote NO against the bill banning high-capacity magazines. 

Dennis Algiere took a walk as he did when the Judiciary committee voted, not voting in the floor on any of the gun bills. That’s a pretty sad way for a decent person like Algiere to end his legislative career. 

The Rhode Island GOP issued a statement claiming the high-capacity magazine bill is “MAKING LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS CRIMINALS.” 

“Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill that will cause law-abiding citizens to be charged with a felony for possessing a semi-automatic firearm magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition. 

“This is rather breathtaking. (Editor's note: WTF?) In just a few months (ED: Six months to be accurate), tens of thousands of Rhode Island gun owners could become felons…Never have so many law-abiding citizens been put at risk for jail time since the days of Prohibition when possession of alcohol was a crime.” (OK, to be clear, if you deliberately possess something that is illegal to possess, you are no longer law-abiding, whether you agree with the law or not).

The tirade continued for several more paragraphs that cataloged things that are no longer illegal, such as cannabis possession as if that had any relevance. Then the Trumplicans launched into personal attacks against Democrats who voted for these gun control bills. 

In closing, state Trumplicans said: 

There is something fundamentally wrong in a state where politicians, who have difficulty following the law, can pass a law that makes people, who never broke a law in their lives, into potential felons.” 

Some key facts were omitted in the GOP screed: owners of high-capacity magazines have 180 days (that’s six months) to comply and they are offered options to do that. Also, their guy Donald Trump holds the title for the most lawless politician ever.

Mass shooters love high-capacity magazines for both handguns and rifles since it means you can kill more people before you have to reload. 

I’ve read some sources that say the cost to comply by modifying a ammo clip is around $5. But during the final debate in the Senate, the yellow-shirts were screeching “We will not comply.” 

Wouldn't these guys look great in a trench in the Donbas region?

If all these yellow shirts really want to fire off automatic weapons, why not volunteer for Ukraine’s International Legion. Be sure to bring all your guns, especially your assault rifles, high capacity magazines and all your ammo. Ukraine needs you. Seriously. Although if you’re a Putin supporter and want to fight for Russia, never mind. 

No piece of legislation, no executive order, no amount of money can resolve our gun violence problem. It will take a wide-range of approaches to address the fact that the US has more than 400 million guns in circulation and gun deaths far in excess of other industrialized countries. While the three bills just passed may be baby steps, they are baby steps definitely headed in the right direction. 

I’ll save the final words for friend and neighbor Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-Peacedale), prime sponsor of two of the three gun bills that passed. She has championed sensible gun control for her entire legislative career. 

Teresa explained the rationale for one of her bills that raises the purchase age to 21: 

“When our existing law prohibiting people under 21 from buying handguns was enacted in 1959, AR-15s were weapons that even the military didn’t have…No one envisioned that 63 years later, there would be millions of these high-velocity, extraordinarily lethal weapons in the hands of civilians. Certainly no one ever imagined that a teenager would go out and legally buy two of them on his 18th birthday along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, then use them to massacre 19 innocent children and two teachers at school. 

“In 2022, we need laws that recognize the incredible killing capacity of modern weapons, and the serious gun violence epidemic we have in this nation. We need to put an end to the years of political inaction that is enabling mass shootings. I’m proud that today in Rhode Island, we are moving in the right direction.”

Charlestown Chunks, #3

Unfortunately, we live in interesting times

By Will Collette

Guns

In the wake of the slaughter of innocents in Uvalde, Texas, we have still heard nothing from Charlestown’s State Rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi who is also House Republican leader. 

Several important gun control measures are about to come up for a vote as the General Assembly nears the end of its session.

Filippi and his MAGA colleagues Rep. Justin Price (R-Richmond) and Sen. Elaine Morgan who represents the northern half of Charlestown have always opposed any and all efforts to control gun violence.

Filippi, as the highest ranking Trumplican in the General Assembly, needs to take a stand on this issue. Instead, he tweeted out this:

Can anyone tell me why the hell Flip sent this out?

Filippi will finally have a serious opponent in the November election in Tina Spears, Democrat of Charlestown. Flip at one point might have faced two Dems for his House District 36 seat when Victoria Gu, also of Charlestown, announced her interest. 

But the retirement of Sen. Dennis Algiere who represents the southern half of Charlestown as well as all of Westerly, presented Ms. Gu with the opportunity to run for the open Senate District 38 seat. Spears and Gu are no longer prospective primary opponents and have announced they will support each other.

Victoria Gu

But Gu will face at least one, maybe two Westerly Democrats, in September primary. Michael Niemeyer, a member of Matt Smith’s RI Political Coop, had announced for District 38 earlier. Sources tell me another Westerly Democrat is likely to run.

Legal weed

Photo by Will Collette

The General Assembly has approved, and the Governor has signed, legislation to legalize recreational use of cannibis. Up to 33 retail licenses to sell will be allowed.

It’ll be interesting to see if anyone  wants to start up a cannabis store in Charlestown as a nice contrast to our existing gun shops. Maybe the Narragansetts will try to re-purpose the old Smoke Shop on Route 2.

Beth Comery (who was formerly in law enforcement and is a long-time legalization advocate) summarizes the legislation in the Providence Daily Dose:

• Permits adults to possess and purchase up to one ounce of cannabis and cultivate up to three cannabis plants at home;
• Directs the Rhode Island Judiciary to automatically clear past convictions for cannabis convictions by July 2024;
• Creates a cannabis retail excise tax of 10%, in addition to the normal sales tax rate of 7%, with another 3% local sales tax;
• Reserves a quarter of all new retail cannabis licenses for applicants that qualify as social equity businesses while another quarter of new licenses will be awarded to worker-owned cooperatives; and
• Establishes a social equity assistance fund to provide grants, job training programs, and social services for communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis criminalization.

Those conditions about social equity seem to me to be favorable to a Tribal enterprise (will someone please pass the smelling salts to Ruth Platner?). The town would get a 3% cut. Maybe the Tribe could work out a parking deal with Town Hall since there are lots of unused parking spaces available and it's a short walk to the Smoke Shop.

American Rescue Plan money in Charlestown

Because Stankiewicz doesn't trust town
staff, he hired this guy instead

As I’ve reported earlier, Charlestown stands to receive $2.3 million in federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz told the Providence Journal he decided the town needed consultants to help the town figure out how to spend it because Town Hall staff lacked “the bandwidth” to handle the money properly.

You would expect that an experienced town manager would have “the bandwidth.” 

Stankiewicz never explained why his staff, who apparently haven’t been properly trained or supervised by Stankiewicz can nevertheless handle federal and state funding all the time, including large chunks we receive after every major storm.

Nonetheless, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance Council majority (the CCA-3) agreed with Stankiewicz. Finally, after spending almost half a million ARPA dollars in our proposed town budget (up for a vote by mail or in person up to June 6) without the benefit of the consultants’ advice, the town held a meeting with the consultants.

The Sun’s Jason Vallee covered the meeting. He reports the Council considered:

“grants or conditional funding to aid with affordable housing reconstruction and rehabilitation, investment in small businesses, construction of the Maddie Potts Memorial Field House, purchase of fire and ambulance equipment, and financial assistance to Wood River Health Services.”

One of the consultants the town hired is Trumplican candidate for Congress, Second District, Allan Fung – a potential ethics breech since Fung is an active candidate for Congressional District 2 which includes Charlestown. He has an open-ended contract with Charlestown for $250 an hour.

Not one single Republican in Congress – which Fung seeks to join – voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan.

Anyway, according to Jason Vallee, Fung said: 

“the community may be better situated to limit conditions, however, as providing unnecessary oversight can cause delays that would potentially lead to money going unused and returned.” And that “the town needs to be cautious in allocating funding directly to construction projects, noting that it would require following uniform federal RFP guidelines and other stringent regulations, or the town would risk the money being forfeited.”

That’s a big help, Allan, especially since Charlestown is still snakebit over controversies involving the management and spending of public money.

Vallee ended his article with a quote from the senior member of the CCA-3, Councilor Bonita Van Slyke of Arnolda: “We certainly need to take some time and digest this. We have only really just begun to look at where we might spend this.”

Yeah, well, we’ve only known about this money for about six months so in CCA time, I suppose that’s not enough time to digest it.

One observer expressed surprise that CCA leader Faith LaBossiere didn't come forward with some bicycle-related project, like a Bicyclists' Hall of Fame. But as it turns out, that idea come up 122 years ago in Newport. So sorry, Faith, you're too late.

Coverage of Fake Fire Districts wins coveted journalism award

Charlestown resident Will Collette poses for a photo at the Shady Harbor Fire District boat launch in Charlestown.  ALEX NUNES/THE PUBLIC'S RADIO

These fake fire districts do not fire fires. They don’t have fire stations, firefighters or fire trucks. But they do offer fire district residents an array of amenities such as public water, snow plowing, tennis courts, and are on the front line in fighting off any public access to their private beaches.

Alex Nunes, South County Bureau chief for The Public’s Radio, won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for his series on South County’s bevy of fake fire districts. In this series, Alex took a hard look at two of Charlestown’s fire districts – Shady Harbor and Central Quonnie – as well as others like Bonnet Shores, Watch Hill, etc.

They get huge tax breaks on the large quantities of prime shore property they own – in the case of Shady Harbor, they pay no property tax at all. Residents can take an income tax deduction for the “tax” the fire districts are allowed to levy for what would otherwise be non-deductible home owner association fees,

These fake fire districts are simply plush gated communities who found a way to game the system and rip off other taxpayers. Congratulations to Alex for his fine writing.

CLICK HERE to read Alex’s work on this subject.

The Bishop, abortions and donuts

Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has decided to pick a fight with one of South County’s most popular donut shops, Allie’s Donuts in North Kingstown.

Now why would the state’s highest ranking Catholic cleric – who is, not coincidentally, a registered Republican and conservative activist – pick this fight?

It’s because Allie's employees chose Planned Parenthood as their charity of the month. Tobin called for a boycott against Allie’s without even confirming it was true, according to WPRI.

Tobin also weighed in on the controversy stirred by one bishop’s decision that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi should be denied Communion because of her support of women’s right to choose.

Tobin told RI News Today that “all Catholics need to be in union with the Church, spiritually prepared, and in the state of grace, before they presume to approach the Table of the Lord to receive Holy Communion.“

Tobin has often criticized Pope Francis for his far more tolerant views on a broad range of issues including the conservative tendency to deny Communion to Catholics who are not “in union with the Church.” Pope Francis pointedly said “I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone.” 

Not only has Pope Francis expressed his tolerance for Catholics who are not 100% with the program, he just elevated the liberal Bishop of San Diego to Cardinal and has him ranking over arch-conservative Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone who had banned Nancy Pelosi from Communion.

If you happen to be passing Allie’s, you might want to stop in to buy some donuts. Tell them Bishop Tobin sent you.

Wood River and the Peacedale Jonnycake Center are teaming up.

Wood River Health Services’ Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program will soon be offered at the Jonnycake Center for Hope in Peace Dale. WIC is free and open to income-eligible pregnant, breastfeeding and post-partum mothers and children up to the age of five. Participants will receive access to infant formula through an EBT card, one-on-one nutrition counseling services and referrals to services that address each child's unique needs.

Individuals who enroll in the WIC program at the Jonnycake Center for Hope will receive a $25 gift card from Shaw’s supermarket; free diapers or pull-ups; wipes and socks; and underwear for toddlers and children. Following the appointment, mothers will be invited to become a Jonnycake Member and have immediate access to the Jonnycake Market.

For more information about available services, visit jonnycakecenter.org and WRHSRI.org.

Legislation of local interest advances in closing days of the General Assembly

Legislation to expand residents’ right to beach access advanced in the House of Representatives but is going nowhere in the state Senate. Even if it does pass, though, as the Boston Globe’s Brian Amaral pointed out, the proposed new law provides much less access than people think. 

Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (D-Jamestown) got the full House to approve her legislation (2022-H 7540) to speed up emergency closures of aquaculture operations by moving responsibility for them to the Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

Casino workers represented by Laborers Union Local 271 called for Rep. Teresa Tanzi’s bill (2022-H 7855) to be moved out of committee where it was sent “for further study” (i.e. to die) to give it a chance to pass. But before that could happen, management at Twin River announced they would unilaterally impose the ban. That’s a win for the workers and for Teresa (D-South Kingstown).

Two CCA elders cross the rainbow bridge

On May 22, a memorial service was held for former CCA Steering Committee member Rev. Jan Knost who actually died in 2021. His service in Dedham, MA was delayed due to the pandemic. On May 13, another CCA stalwart, Dr. Milton Krantz, died at age 94 in Mystic, CT. His lengthy and detailed obituary appears in the New London Day. While his obit notes his time on Charlestown’s Zoning Board, it makes no mention of the years he spent on the CCA Steering Committee nor his CCA officer status.

ProJo features Ninigret

Retired ProJo editor John Kostrzewa still writes the occasional column. This week, he wrote a nice article entitled Walking RI: Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge harbors naval, tribal history

While the article details the landscape of the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge and tangentially Ninigret Park, the main focus of the article is on the historical and cultural history of the land, especially the Narragansetts, the colonial plantation owners who displaced them and farmed the land with slaves, and the World War II era Naval Auxiliary Air Field (NAAF).

A good example of Kostrzewa’s style and approach can be seen in this sidebar on Chief Ninigret:

Trail fact

Ninigret (1600-1676) was a sachem of the Niantic and Narragansett tribes and a major figure during inter-tribal rivalries and wars with the colonists. He led a decades-long war against the Mohegans and formed regional alliances with the Mohawks and Pocumtucks.

In 1637, Ninigret, also called Juanemo, joined the colonists and the Narragansetts to fight the Pequots. He refused to fight the English during King Philip's War (1675-1676) and died at the end of the conflict.

Affordable Housing?

Earlier, I reviewed the Westerly Sun’s coverage of Charlestown’s meeting with consultant and Trumplican Congressional candidate Allan Fung on how Charlestown should spend its $2.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding. 

Mentioned in the Sun headline and briefly in the article without detail is affordable housing as a possible use. As Progressive Charlestown readers know, the CCA has long fought to block affordable housing in town especially for families with children. I seriously doubt the CCA will approve one nickel of ARPA spending on affordable housing.

Families have been barred entry and the children of Charlestown residents who have started their own families have had to look elsewhere for housing. All the while, the cost of housing in Charlestown has skyrocketed.

Data published by What’s Up Newport, taken from Zillow, name Charlestown as the 11^th most expensive town to buy a home, showing these price rises:

• 1-year price change: +$106,132 (+21.5%)
• 5-year price change: +$238,344 (+65.7%)
• Typical home value: $600,872 (#11 most expensive city in metro)

An example of what’s driving these higher prices is the recent record highest sale in Charlestown - $9.5 million for a nice little cottage on West Beach Road in Quonnie (right).

According to detail in the GoLocal article on the sale, this property had actually been flipped for a tidy $3 million profit, having been bought in September 2020 for $6.5 million.

The added $3,000,000 in valuation will mean an additional $25,000 in Charlestown property tax.

Southern Rhode Island Volunteers get Bank grant

Sometimes it seems that What’s Up Newport gives Charlestown more coverage than the Westerly Sun. A case in point is a short article noting BankNewport’s $10,000 grant to Southern Rhode Island Volunteers, headquartered in Ninigret Park.

The grant will support SRIV’s independent aging adult services.

SRIV director Deb Tanner said: 

"BankNewport provides vital funding that is used to provide transportation and delivery services for our seniors to access healthcare providers, food to maintain nutrition and security, as well as other vital assistance necessary for healthy aging.”

Gina screws Rhode Island again

Former Gov. Gina Raimondo may have hopped the first opportunity she got to leave the state to join the Biden Administration as Commerce Secretary. She left us with our ethically-challenged, inept accidental Governor Dan McKee.

Following the debatable custom of using public money to pay for a fancy portrait of former Governors to hang in the State House, a request for proposals went out from the RI Council on the Arts. The state raised its budget for the portrait from $15,000 to $25,000 and the National Governors Association kicked in another $50,000. If they spend all that money, it will be the most expensive portrait ever to hang in the State House.

There were 350 applicants, including 75 Rhode Island artists.  Of all those artists, Gina picked New Yorker Patricia Watwood for the gig. Thanks, Gina, for another nice hit to the Rhode Island economy.