Projo Politics Blog

And speaking of the speaker…

House Speaker William Murphy has made no secret of his love for the film and television industry’s presence in Rhode Island. Now he’s getting his first starring role.

A new half-hour weekly show, Straight from the Gavel, (cue up the dramatic music), will premier tonight at 8 on Capitol TV with Murphy as its host.

The speaker and Senate President Joseph Montalbano will take turns hosting the program on alternate weeks. Other legislators will be invited to appear as guests to discuss issues that come before the legislature.

The idea is to give Rhode Islanders a closer look at the legislative process and at their elected officials.

Tonight’s guest: House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino, who will talk about the state budget process.

A week from tonight, Montalbano will host Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed and Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture. The topic: recycling.

David Barber, of Capitol TV, will help cohost the show.

And if you miss the Monday night broadcast, fear not, it will rerun throughout the week.

Also debuting this week is a second Capitol TV program, Capitol Spotlight, a series of five-minute interviews that Barber will conduct with state legislators each week.

Capitol TV airs on channel 15 for Cox Communications and Full Channel subscribers, and on channel 34 for Verizon subscribers.

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