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December 2007 Archives
9:28 AM Mon, Dec 31, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter  Email
Christmas Eve was not a merry time in the State House. There were no family dinners, no Christmas carols. And state workers were on ladders in the rotunda, dismantling the state Christmas tree. They had stripped the tree of nearly......
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9:26 AM Mon, Dec 31, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
It was the day before Christmas and all through the Department of Administration’s Conference Room B, not a creature was stirring except for state Personnel Administrator Anthony Bucci. Bad poetry aside, Bucci was indeed the only one to show up......
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9:24 AM Mon, Dec 31, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Christmas brought a brief reprieve for those in state government facing layoffs. Had the next action date on the Carcieri administration’s layoff calendar not been lifted, letters would potentially have gone out on Dec. 24 informing dozens of employees that......
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9:18 AM Mon, Dec 31, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Legislators who missed Frank Ferri’s pre-Christmas swearing in need not fear. YouTube is here. Footage of Ferri’s inauguration, along with a smattering of hearings from the last session, are featured on the popular video-streaming Web site, courtesy of Capitol TV.......
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9:17 AM Mon, Dec 31, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Santa brought Political Scene a surprise this year. When former U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee failed in his reelection attempt, one of the casualties was his gregarious spokeswoman Debbie Rich, a former radio personality perhaps best known during the holiday......
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9:16 AM Mon, Dec 31, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
House Minority Leader Robert Watson, R-East Greenwich, will be busy with tomorrow’s opening of the 2008 General Assembly session, but his heart and mind will be elsewhere, nervously watching the polls in Iowa in advance of the Thursday GOP caucuses.......
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6:49 PM Wed, Dec 26, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Andrea Panciera Email
PROVIDENCE — Republicans Mitt Romney, John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul and Democrat Christopher Dodd have submitted enough validated signatures to appear on Rhode Island’s March 4 primary ballots, according to local boards of canvassers. They join Democrats Barack......
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12:35 PM Wed, Dec 26, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Andrea Panciera Email
Presidential hopefuls have until 4 p.m. today to get their names on the ballot in time for the March 4 Rhode Island presidential primary. Candidates will need to collect 1,000 certified signatures. See how close they are to their goal......
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6:22 PM Sun, Dec 23, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Christmas may not be a day of comfort and joy for dozens of campaign workers. Political Scene has learned that just three presidential candidates had submitted enough signatures as of yesterday to qualify for Rhode Island’s primary ballot. The deadline......
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6:21 PM Sun, Dec 23, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
This Political Scene reporter fended off signature requests by several campaign volunteers late last week scrambling to fill their quota. And while each party has hundreds of volunteers, most of the major candidates have paid staff coordinating the signature collection.......
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6:20 PM Sun, Dec 23, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
The governor’s communications director, Steve Kass, views the Dec. 13 snow storm that stranded drivers and schoolchildren for hours as “reinforcement” for his belief that the governor and lieutenant governor should be “bracketed” on the ballot, so a vote for......
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6:15 PM Sun, Dec 23, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
In the days following the snow storm, former Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty emerged from what he calls his year of self-imposed exile. Called by one reporter after another for his memories and perspective on how the state Emergency Management......
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6:14 PM Sun, Dec 23, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Tracey Manni, a contracted spokeswoman for the state Office of Health and Human Services, is calling it quits. She finished clearing out her office in the Pastore Complex on Friday and has no plans to return to state government after......
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1:46 PM Wed, Dec 19, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline tomorrow afternoon will announce the results of a review of the city's response to last Thursday's snow storm, his office says. Cicilline ordered Police Chief Dean Esserman and Chief of Administration John Simmons to conduct......
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9:55 AM Tue, Dec 18, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
NEWPORT — Voters will decide today who will fill the legislative seat of Paul W. Crowley, who died Sept. 25 as the longest serving Democratic in the state House of Representatives. The race for Newport’s Dist. 75 seat pits Democrat......
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11:21 AM Mon, Dec 17, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
By promising a hearing in Newport if a 24-hour gambling proposal makes it to his chamber, House Speaker William J. Murphy averted a protest outside the House of Representatives’ annual Christmas party at Newport’s Viking Hotel last Friday. Here’s the......
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11:20 AM Mon, Dec 17, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Towering above the other singers performing Handel’s Messiah in Veterans Memorial Auditorium a week ago was a familiar face in governmental circles: state Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher Koller. With a tinge of self-deprecating humor, the 6-foot, 7-inch Koller describes his......
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11:18 AM Mon, Dec 17, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Dave Talan, of Providence, a longtime Republican operative in Rhode Island, is worried that the GOP is not doing a good job of getting the 1,000 signatures required of each presidential candidate to qualify for placement on the March primary......
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11:18 AM Mon, Dec 17, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
This just in from the Economic Policy Institute, a national research organization: Once again, Rhode Island is near the top in New England in a dubious-distinction category — the percentage of manufacturing jobs lost between March 2001 and October 2007.......
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11:17 AM Mon, Dec 17, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts was the only Smith Hill official to blast the state response to last week’s snowstorm that caused gridlock the likes of which the state hasn’t seen since 1978. “Clearly, the response that was shown across the......
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5:03 PM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Andrea Panciera Email
Most Decembers, the cups at the State House runneth over this time of year, as legislators, lobbyists and their friends flock to the Capitol for a holiday bash featuring drinks and fancy food. But not this year. With Rhode Island......
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1:11 PM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Andrea Panciera Email
As presidential hopefuls know, it's never too early to start thinking about the next election. But it can be tough keeping up with which candidate suits you best. Want to get a jump on which candidate you may favor in......
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11:49 AM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Those who sipped cider and munched gingerbread cookies in the State House rotunda during Friday’s tree lighting ceremony Friday night probably didn’t know that the tree they applauded was not the original. Political Scene has learned that for the second......
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11:48 AM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Driving down Providence’s College Hill on a cold morning last week, Political Scene was somewhat startled to hear the once-familiar radio voice of Steve Kass hawking food from Federal Hill’s Venda Ravioli on the Don Imus show, which began airing......
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11:47 AM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
President Bush last week nominated two Rhode Islanders — William E. Smith and Lincoln D. Almond — to seats on the federal bench. But it probably wouldn’t be prudent for either Smith or Almond to get measured for black robes......
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11:38 AM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin has hit the campaign trial for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Rhode Island Democrat was scheduled to make three appearances in New Hampshire yesterday for the New York senator. This coming weekend — House......
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11:37 AM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
The good news is that it appears that Rhode Island will not be completely forgotten in the coming presidential primary season. Representatives of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans candidates filed the necessary paperwork with the secretary of state’s office Friday......
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11:36 AM Mon, Dec 10, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Sen. Joe Lieberman was right on time last week when kicked off a Senate committee debate about global warming on the first day of Hanukkah. The eight-day celebration, he reminded his audience, dates to an ancient victory for Jewish freedom......
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3:27 PM Thu, Dec 06, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Mike McKinney Email
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may be slugging it out with dueling polls and fighting words in the big primary states, but in teeny Rhode Island Obama's campaign is hauling out the humbler term "grassroots" to get on the primary......
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9:45 AM Mon, Dec 03, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Amid the layoffs, the Carcieri administration has posted a hiring notice for a new $89,135-to-$101,499-a-year administrator of the state Division of Motor Vehicles, known more familiarly to most Rhode Islanders as the Registry. What’s this about? After threatening for more......
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9:44 AM Mon, Dec 03, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
When Governor Carcieri said “Amen to you buddy” to the WHJJ caller who questioned why the state needs so many English-language interpreters, devoted radio talk-show listeners heard: “Amen to you, Buddy.” In recent days, that now-famous caller has emerged from......
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9:43 AM Mon, Dec 03, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Governor Carcieri spent most of the last work week in California, attending a conference hosted by the Republican Governors Association. In response to Political Scene inquiries Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said on Thursday: “The Governor’s flight, hotel and meal expenses......
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9:42 AM Mon, Dec 03, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
Governor Carcieri put his best arguments for a more politically balanced General Assembly before Warwick voters last week. But his coattails were not long enough to help Republican Jonathan Wheeler, a manager at MetLife and administrator at Warwick Municipal Court,......
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9:41 AM Mon, Dec 03, 2007 | Permalink |
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By Pamela Reinsel Cotter Email
One of the expenses in the $186,000 spent so far on public-relations campaign for the new “Iway” is a shiny, multicolored Commemorative Program which starts “How The Iway came to be,” provides a photo layout of “project milestones,” and offers......
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