Projo Politics Blog

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.

U.S. presidential candidates have learned to live in a world where every slip-up seems to find its way onto the Web, but Rhode Island legislators seemed to have escaped that fate thus far.

With the exception of the few poor souls watching Capitol TV at 5 p.m. on a Wednesday, most of the state never saw what happened on the House and Senate floors.

Until now.

House spokesman Larry Berman said the state does not have any policy that restricts people from posting on YouTube.

“Once it’s on Capitol TV it’s open for people to use,” he said. “For instance, the local TV stations use part of our broadcast in their [daily] newscasts and radio stations often play clips from Capitol TV.”

Should we expect to see more of the General Assembly on the Internet in the future?

“Maybe,” Berman said. “And I hope that members realize that what is being said is not only broadcast live for people of Rhode Island to see, it may be saved for posterity.”

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