Projo Politics Blog

There’s a new face in the legislative press bureau, and it’s one you may have seen on TV.

Kerry Mone, formerly a freelance reporter for WPRI Channel 12, started work as a legislative publicist April 19. She succeeds Dana Laverty, who did not return last year after taking maternity leave.

Mone, 26, a native of Beulah, N.D., holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Minnesota State University. She had covered a political beat for a TV station in Fargo, N.D., and said she is looking forward to being around politics again and writing about “issues that matter to everyday people in Rhode Island.” Besides freelancing for WPRI, she had recently been working as assistant manager at the Sephora beauty-product store at Providence Place mall.

Mone moved to Providence in December 2005 with her husband, John Mone, a full-time reporter at WPRI. They live on the East Side.

While the Mones could find themselves on opposite sides of an issue — one seeking sensitive information, the other one privy to it — Kerry Mone said she isn’t worried about a conflict of interest arising. In her $36,207-a-year job, Mone will write news releases and organize news conferences. She will generally deal directly with the media only on relatively non-controversial issues — the respective spokesmen for the House and Senate tend to field media inquiries on anything beyond basic factual matters.

When she and her husband first met, they were reporters for competing TV stations in Fargo, and ended up being assigned to the same beat, covering the county courthouse. Mone said she learned the importance of discretion from one particular incident in which her now-husband called her during the workday just to say hello, and she mentioned that she was at the courthouse for an important hearing. When he showed up at the courthouse shortly thereafter, Mone realized he hadn’t known about the hearing until she told him about it.

After that, she said, the couple made a rule to stick to non-content-related topics when discussing work. Mone said she has assured her coworkers: “Just because we’re married doesn’t mean we’re the same person,” and telling one person something doesn’t mean the other will find out.

speoples@projo.com

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