Projo Politics Blog

June 22, 2008 - June 28, 2008 Archives


Obama courts mayors, wins Cicilline's support

4:46 PM Fri, Jun 27, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Mike McKinney    Email

Sen. Barack Obama may be in Unity, N.H., today cultivating party harmony, but earlier this week he was in Florida to push for another kind of togetherness. Obama traveled to Miami to address the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference......

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Raptakis takes aim at his majority leader, Paiva Weed

2:59 PM Fri, Jun 27, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Susan Areson    Email

In the state Senate where debate is rare – and dissent even rarer – Sen. Leonidas “Lou’’ Raptakis, D-Coventry, has done the unusual. He has launched a political grenade aimed at taking out Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed,......

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Whitehouse gains time to weigh electronic surveillance bill

12:56 PM Fri, Jun 27, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Mike McKinney    Email

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has not finished retooling the law that governs foreign intelligence surveillance, so Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has until after the Fourth of July recess to decide whether he’ll vote for it -- despite his opposition to a......

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Waiting in Unity

11:56 AM Fri, Jun 27, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Brandie Jefferson    Email

UNITY, N.H. -- More than 1,000 people are gathered so far today in the tiny New Hampshire village of Unity in anticipation of this afternoon’s rally, when Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama –– the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee......

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Jobless in R.I.? Extended benefits await Bush's signature

11:31 AM Fri, Jun 27, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Susan Areson    Email

WASHINGTON -- Rhode Island is among the states in line for an immediate extension of unemployment benefits provided in a bipartisan spending bill that the Senate sent last night to President Bush. Rhode Island workers who have already exhausted the......

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Candidate deadline brings accusations of backroom dealings

10:53 AM Fri, Jun 27, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Brandie Jefferson    Email

At least five more Republicans are joining the party’s effort to crimp the Democrats’ overwhelming majority on Smith Hill. But state GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione and Senate Finance Chairman Stephen Alves tell very different stories about how one — and......

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State GOP names 3 to challenge Democrats in Assembly

6:49 PM Thu, Jun 26, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Mike McKinney    Email

Three more Republicans are joining the party’s effort to break the Democratic stranglehold on the city’s General Assembly seats. Ten Republican candidates declared their intention to run for the General Assembly yesterday, the deadline for filing individual declarations. The state......

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Rep. Kennedy 'disappointed' in U.S. Supreme Court decision

6:45 PM Thu, Jun 26, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Mike McKinney    Email

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy said he is "disappointed" the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned a handgun ban in the District of Columbia. In a statement, Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, said he belives the nation's capital "will be less safe......

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Obama's R.I. primary chief will run his Montana campaign

6:00 PM Thu, Jun 26, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Mike McKinney    Email

Michael Dorsey, who ran Barack Obama's Rhode Island primary campaign, has been selected as the Democratic presidential candidate'ss campaign chief in Montana for the general election in November. Dorsey, 34, is no stranger to Rhode Island. He was the chief......

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Projo blogs upgrade set for Saturday

7:00 AM Thu, Jun 26, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Saturday morning we plan to upgrade the active projo blogs to a new version of the Movable Type software. All blogs will remain available during this process. Afterwards you’ll see a new look and some new features, and we’ll welcome......

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2 Democrats, 1 Republican file to run against Reed

5:33 PM Wed, Jun 25, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Mike McKinney    Email

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, will face several challengers for his congressional seat heading into election season, according to candidate filings. Christopher Young, of 184 Angell St., Providence, has filed a declaration to run as a Democrat,......

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Sen. Moura won't seek reelection; Mayor Ramos steps in

3:43 PM Wed, Jun 25, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Mike McKinney    Email

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Mayor Isadore S. Ramos declared his candidacy today for the Senate District 18 seat being vacated by Sen. Paul Moura. Moura, who has not said why he isn’t seeking reelection, switched to the Senate from the House......

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Senate to return to confirm judges with familiar ties

2:06 PM Wed, Jun 25, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Steve Peoples    Email

PROVIDENCE -- The state Senate returns for a one-day special session Thursday to confirm, or re-confirm, several judges or magistrates to the state's court system. Most of the appointees have strong connections to the General Assembly, and specifically the Senate,......

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Governor will sign state budget tomorrow with ceremonial flourish

1:01 PM Wed, Jun 25, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Andrea Panciera    Email

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri plans to sign the state budget tomorrow at 1 p.m., the final step in finalizing the $6.9 billion tax-and-spend approved by the General Assembly last week. The plan will become law after it is signed, and......

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Cicilline to share podium with Michelle Obama at gay council bash

9:18 AM Wed, Jun 25, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Andrea Panciera    Email

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline will share the podium with Michelle Obama tomorrow night at a New York City gala for the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council. The Democratic National Committee announced that the wife of the party’s presidential candidate,......

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Some legislators pay toward health insurance, some don't

5:47 PM Tue, Jun 24, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Susan Areson    Email

Despite the state Senate’s refusal to consider a bill requiring state lawmakers to pay a portion of their health-insurance premiums, the number doing so voluntarily grew during the closing days of the General Assembly. House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West......

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Board of Elections has 2 new members, filling vacancies

5:36 PM Tue, Jun 24, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Mike McKinney    Email

The state’s Board of Elections has two new members, filling longtime vacancies just in time for the 2008 election season, which kicks off with tomorrow’s deadline for candidates to declare their intent to seek office. The Senate last week unanimously......

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R.I. candidate filings on Secretary of State's site

4:58 PM Tue, Jun 24, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Mike McKinney    Email

As tomorrow's 4 p.m. deadline nears for filing declarations of candidacy, you can see some of those who are running for Rhode Island's local, state and federal offices on the Secretary of State's Web site. The information is being posted......

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Lt. Gov. Roberts' spokeswoman moves to Obama campaign

4:54 PM Tue, Jun 24, 2008 | | Comments (2)
By Steve Peoples    Email

PROVIDENCE -- The spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts is stepping down. Larkin Barker, 23, told Political Scene today that she has taken a job with Barack Obama's New Hampshire campaign. This is her last full week in Roberts' State......

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House follows its own lead on accessibility

1:20 PM Tue, Jun 24, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Susan Areson    Email

WASHINGTON – The speaker's rostrum in the House of Representatives will be equipped with wheelchair lifts, Democratic and Republican leaders have announced, winning praise from Rhode Island Rep. James R. Langevin, who declared, "I have long said that I may......

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GOP director Perry to challenge Sen. Paiva Weed

11:27 AM Tue, Jun 24, 2008 | | Comments (6)
By Mike McKinney    Email

Donna Perry, the state Republican Party executive director, announced today she is running against Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva Weed, a Newport Democrat, in the race for Senate District 13. Perry, of Jamestown, said in a news release today that......

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Longtime legislator Revens won't run again

6:59 PM Mon, Jun 23, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Mike McKinney    Email

WARWICK -- Sen. John C. Revens Jr., a Warwick Democrat who began his State House career as a House page in 1965 and then won his own first legislative election in 1968 while a Providence College junior, announced today that......

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With documentary's showing, Kennedy praises his uncle

6:04 PM Mon, Jun 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Susan Areson    Email

WASHINGTON – Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy plans tonight to introduce a documentary film about a politician whose performance in a memorable campaign made it clear, in the congressman’s words, that he was not "not just reading off a set of......

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Reporters on videotape, take two

4:28 PM Mon, Jun 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Susan Areson    Email

Some of the unanswered questions about Governor Carcieri’s new penchant for videotaping the State House press corps have been answered. For those who missed the first chapter: Carcieri’s office asked a state employee to videotape reporters as they asked questions......

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Rep. Langevin makes run for fifth term official

3:12 PM Mon, Jun 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Andrea Panciera    Email

It’s official: Democratic Rep. James R. Langevin will stand for reelection. Langevin filed today with the Secretary of State’s Office (which he occupied before he came to Washington) to run for a fifth term as representative of Rhode Island’s Second......

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Running for office in R.I.? Make it official by Wednesday

2:12 PM Mon, Jun 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Mike McKinney    Email

Rhode Islanders who intend to run for office have until Wednesday to make it official. Candidates for federal office must file declarations of candidacy with Secretary of State Ralph Mollis at the Elections Division, 148 West River St., Providence, Mollis's......

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Reed, Frank help push housing market rescue bill

12:17 PM Mon, Jun 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Andrea Panciera    Email

WASHINGTON -- Despite a veto threat from President Bush, the Senate is prepared to press ahead this week with a sweeping rescue of the housing market that could protect hundreds of thousands from foreclosure. With Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., in......

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State still paying $2,000 a month for vacant D.C. office

9:31 AM Mon, Jun 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Pamela Reinsel Cotter    Email

State government may be awash in red ink, but Rhode Island taxpayers are still paying the rent on an empty office in Washington, D.C., that was once occupied by Governor Carcieri’s Capitol Hill lobbyist, a position that has been vacant......

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