A Blog Called Hope

The governor’s office has responded (finally) and you’re not going to believe what they had to say.

No, Mike, it has nothing to do with the Governor voicing his personal opinion. As Chairman Lynch said earlier today, if the governor wants to oppose marriages of same sex spouses, that’s his right. He just can’t stick the taxpayers with the bill.

What bill?

Per WPRO AM, Spokesguy Mike Maynard says the governor’s office expects to receive a bill of “no more than $15,000.” for the Bopp brief. 15 large for a document that was less than 40 pages long?? That’s about $416 a page! Sounds like good work if you can get it. The governor has no official role in the matter that was considered by the Supreme Court.

So, at the end of the day, he doled out $15 grand to a ring-wing Republican buddy to publicly state something everyone already knew: The governor opposes marriage equality!

The bottom line is simple. The governor is using taxpayer money to advance his own personal, political agenda. It’s wrong. It’s an abuse or power. And we’re going to make sure Rhode Islanders know about it.

No, we’re not talking about a Hanson comeback tour…

Today Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairman Bill Lynch filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Governor Carcieri’s office seeking details of how much right-wing Republican attorney James Bopp was paid to file a friend-of-the-court brief with the Rhode Island Supreme Court on behalf of the governor.

“The governor is using taxpayer money to advocate his personal opinion, and whether you’re for or against marriages of same sex spouses, you have to be outraged by that. This is nothing less than a gross abuse of the governor’s authority, and I believe Mr. Carcieri should be held accountable,” Lynch said.

Bopp has been a zealous defender of right-wing candidates and special interest groups charged with skirting and sometimes shattering campaign finance and election laws. In fact, as the chairman points out in today’s release, Bopp was the man picked to represent Carcieri and the Rhode Island GOP for committing the most egregious violation of campaign finance law in the state’s history.

Some of Bopp’s other notable clients have included the Christian Broadcasting Network; Traditional Values Coalition; the Christian Coalition, as well as the Republican parties of Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont.

In June, Chairman Lynch questioned the governor’s management ability after a story in the Providence Journal exposed another no-bid deal engineered by the Carcieri administration that could end up costing the taxpayers close to four million dollars. No one in Carcieri’s office could explain how Sutherland Asbill, a high-profile Washington law firm, was picked to handle the state’s case against Southern Union, who the state contends is responsible for an environmental nightmare in Tiverton.

And while the administration has still failed to fully explain why there was no public bidding process in the Southern Union case, Carcieri’s own ties to Bopp and Bopp’s backing of GOP presidential wannabe Mitt Romney (who Carcieri supports), may offer insight into how and why he got the job.

According to today’s Boston Globe Massachusetts lawmakers are renewing efforts to restrict the sale of certain junk foods in schools. Our own Rep. Joseph McNamara and Sen. Susan Sosnowski championed the idea last session and ultimately earned passage of legislation that prohibits the sale of unhealthy beverages and snacks in schools across the state.

From Rep. McNamara

“Every day, students are confronted by vending machines filled with soda and other sweet drinks. With many schools cutting back on physical education and after-school athletic programs, it’s no wonder there is a significant population of school-age kids who are overweight and even dangerously obese. It’s an unhealthy environment and one that needs corrective action.”

From Sen. Sosnowski

“We need to set a better example for school children. By stocking school vending machines with candy, soda, chips and cookies, how can we expect students to make the right food choices? Replacing soft drinks and junk food with healthy snacks will help students to make better choices and lead healthier lives.”

This is from Metro Networks.

Several Rhode Island communities are expected to take part in tonight’s National Night Out. The annual event seeks to expand community involvement and fight back against crime. Communities typically celebrate with a carnival- like atmosphere including demonstrations, music, and other family fun activities. Providence will host its National Night Out celebration at the George West Park on Mount Pleasant Avenue.

Pawtucket held their ‘nite out’ last week, as report Jon Baker reported in last week’s Times.

According the NNO website, Central Falls, Foster, Newport, Pawtucket, Portsmouth, Providence, Warwick have all planned or are planning to hold community events.

The Boston Globe has a short piece today about Gov. Deval Patrick’s idea to study free public education for Massachusetts residents from age three all the way through community college.

Just like his effort to bring biotech jobs and research to the Commonwealth, this latest idea shows broad vision and a recognition that investment, particularly in higher education, can pay long-term dividends to a state’s economy.

Oh, and in case you were wondering….By comparison, Gov. Carcieri, who in addition to going back on his word to boost Hope Scholarships by $20 million, also enacted some of the highest tuition increases in our state’s history last year.

“The right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies.” – President Johnson after signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Yesterday marked the 42nd anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and we couldn’t let this week go by without recognizing that sadly, there are still some places in this country where American citizens still fear intimidation at their local polling station.

Here’s a list of just some of the recent stunts Republicans and GOP operatives have pulled in recent years to suppress voter turnout. It’s only part of why Rhode Island Democrats have signed on to the DNC’s national effort to protect every eligible American’s right to vote.

• Bush Administration Politicizes Justice Dept., Twists Its Mission to Undercut Voting Rights for Partisan Purposes. The Bush Administration’s politicized Justice Department, under the direction of political hacks planted to twist its mission for partisan purposes, has launched an outright attack on voting rights rather than promoting voting rights. The Bush Justice Dept has aimed to create roadblocks for Americans to exercise their right to vote by approving restrictive state voter ID laws, voter purging, and voter intimidation tactics. And as is now well-known, top Justice Dept officials improperly, and illegally, pressured U.S. Attorneys to bring phony voter fraud cases against Democratic and progressive organizations and individuals, to influence the outcome of elections for the Republicans. [Washington Post, 1/22/04; Boston Globe 6/6/07; Charlotte Observer, 5/31/07]

• GOP Suppression Tactics in 2006. In Maryland, just days before the 2006 general election, copies of the Election Day manual for the Maryland Republican Party were obtained; in that manual, Republican Party workers were given false information about voters’ rights, were told systematically to challenge voters and were advised to threaten election judges with jail time. Also in Maryland, on Election Day, flyers were distributed in Prince George’s County, by the Ehrlich/Steele Republican campaign, falsely stating that African American elected officials had endorsed the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and for Governor and misleading voters about the party affiliation of those candidates. [Washington Post, 11/3/06; Baltimore Sun, 1/20/07]

• Email from Bush Campaign in FL to RNC Includes List of Voters to Be Challenged from African-American Neighborhood. “Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign’s national research director in Washington, DC, contain a 15-page so-called ‘caging list.’ It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida. An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: ‘The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day.’” [BBC Television News Online, 10/26/04]

• In 2005 RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Vowed to Challenge Voters at the Polls. During an appearance on behalf of the GOP gubernatorial candidate in Virginia in 2005, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman vowed to “do whatever we can to help make sure Jerry Kilgore becomes the next governor of the state” – including, according to the AP “having poll workers on hand to challenge voter eligibility.” [AP, 05/26/05]

• RNC-Funded Company Trashed Voter Registration Forms in 2004: “Voter’s Outreach of America aka ‘America Votes’ is responsible for ripping up democratic voter registrations in Nevada. According to the investigative report, hundreds and perhaps thousands of individuals who think they are registered to vote actually are not. The organization has reportedly left Nevada and gone to Oregon. Full transcript of story attached… Well, the company [Voter's Outreach for America, aka America Votes] has been largely, if not entirely funded by the Republican National Committee. We should also point out that similar complaints have been received in Reno, where the registrar there has asked the FBI to investigate. It’s a complicated story and we’ll have a lot more tonight and I think in the days ahead.” [KLAS Las Vegas Channel 8, 4pm news, Oct. 12, 2004]

• Republican Admits Systematic Challenges of Black and Hispanic Voters in 2002. “In the 2002 antifraud experimental run, hundreds of Republican activists slipped on their green vests and tested out the role of poll monitor. In Milwaukee, the volunteers contested the residency of some black voters and in the Hispanic communities they questioned the nationalities of others. Overall, not much came of it. Even Mr. Graber [Wisconsin Republican Chairman] concedes there were ‘few reports of trouble.’ But he says the “dry run” two years ago has better prepared the party for the challenges today.” [Wall Street Journal, 10/22/04]

• Republicans Tried to Scare Hispanic Immigrants From Voting. State investigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to thousands of Southern California Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorney general said. In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens can vote. [USA Today, 10/19/06]

• Florida Election Officials Sought To Purge African-Americans From Voter Rolls. Florida Officials Struck Over 2,000 Eligible Voters From Voting Rolls, 62% Were Democrats, More Than Half Were Black. An analysis by the Miami Herald found that the Florida Division of Elections had improperly included 2,119 voters who were on a list of more than 47,000 felons potentially ineligible to vote in the November elections. Florida law requires convicted felons to request clemency in order to regain their right to vote. Of the 2,119 people on the list, 62% were registered Democrats, almost half were Black and less than 20% were Republican. Only sixty-one Hispanics were included on the list of over 47,000 felons though they comprise 11% of the prison population, a politically significant fact for the November elections since Hispanics in Florida vote overwhelmingly Republican while Blacks vote Democrat. [Miami Herald, 7/2/04; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 7/7/04, 7/8/04; New York Times, 7/10/04]

• Native Americans Told “To Go Home” In June Primary. Poll workers demanded identification from Native Americans in South Dakota’s June primary, and they illegally turned away Native American voters from the polls when they did not have it. The state’s elections auditor sent out a memo to state poll workers stating that all voters must have IDs, but did not widely disseminate information that said that voters could sign an affidavit in lieu of showing identification. State Democrats say that the actions by poll workers were an extension of a wider move by the GOP controlled state legislature to suppress Native American turnout. The law requiring voters to show identification was passed in 2004. One South Dakotan voter turned away from the poll was told by an elections worker that “if she didn’t’ have a photo ID, she could just turn around and home.” [Argus Leader, 6/11/04]

• Convicted Republican Phone Jammer Blamed GOP “Culture” and Was Afraid to Push Back on RNC Official. As he finished serving a prison sentence for “jamming Democratic phone lines in New Hampshire during the 2002 US Senate race,” Allen Raymond told the Boston Globe that the “scheme reflects a broader culture in the Republican Party that is focused on dividing voters to win primaries and general elections. He said examples range from some recent efforts to use border-security concerns to foster anger toward immigrants to his own role arranging phone calls designed to polarize primary voters over abortion in a 2002 New Jersey Senate race.” The scheme led to “the convictions of Raymond and two top Republican officials, and a Democratic lawsuit that seeks to determine whether the White House played any role.” Allen said “he got caught up in an ultra-aggressive atmosphere” and that “he had been reluctant to turn down a prominent official of the RNC, fearing that would cost him future opportunities from an organization that was becoming increasingly ruthless.” [Boston Globe, 06/10/2006]

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Congressman Kennedy’s slot on the powerful Appropriations Committee continues to pay big dividends to one of Rhode Island’s leading industry’s. Thanks in part to Kennedy’s efforts, defense initiatives in our state received around $24 million.

“In reviewing the vast number of defense-related firms throughout the country, it is clear to me that Rhode Island ranks among the highest when it comes to designing quality tools for our military in protecting our national security. Rhode Island’s defense industry is a critical component of our economy, and I am pleased that this bill funds so many of the important projects they are tackling,” said Kennedy.

• BEAMHIT – Laser Marksmanship Training System for active Army (LMTS)- $5 MILLION
• RAYTHEON – Project Athena Beta Site-$8 MILLION. Project Athena is an open architecture system of systems for Maritime Domain Awareness using proven NORAD building blocks. It integrates wide area surveillance capabilities, multiple sensor inputs and geo-registered ISR data and data bases using a proven fusion engine and visualization processor. (Congressman Jim Langevin also supported this funding.)
  
• ASPEN-AEROGEL Flexible Aerogel Material Supplier Initiative-$2 MILLION. This initiative will address the critical production capacity issues for these essential, high temperature flexible aerogel materials in order to transition from the nascent pilot plant, low rate of production-stage to the domestic production of high quality, low-cost materials.
  
• TPI MILITARY AND INTERSTATE COMM. – $3 MILLION. The Military and Commercial Truck Commercial Weight Reduction Program will design and build prototype lightweight roofs and other components for the Line Haul Truck Platform. All prototypes built will be ready for road testing by the Army.
• CURESEARCH- COG USOC – Consortium on Pediatric Cancer- $2 MILLION. In order to meet the needs of military families who have children with cancer, the COG developed the Uniformed Services Oncology Consortium (USOC). This funding will expand ongoing research by Children’s Oncology Group with the Department of Defense, and improve investigations of the genetic, epigenetic and signal transduction pathways. CURESEARCH has facilities nationwide and Congressman Kennedy was proud to work with his Congressional colleagues on this project.
• CYBERKINETICS-Neural Control of External Devices- $1 MILLION. Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems will use these funds to accelerate the development of products which are critical pieces of enabling technology for individuals within the Military healthcare system who are suffering from disability due to ALS, Spinal Cord injury, strokes or other motor diseases. These funds will accelerate the development of products which will revolutionize the field of prosthetics.
  
• AMERICAN METALCASTINGS-Castings for Defense Readiness- $2 MILLION. This Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) Castings for Improved Defense Readiness program will provide rapid, cost-effective solutions in the procurement of high-quality critical castings used in new technology and procurement processes to maintain or improve weapon systems’ reliability, availability, and maintainability.
• MIKEL Advanced Intercept & Rangigan System – $1 MILION. Current sonar and combat systems for US undersea war fighters do not provide an accurate and timely picture necessary to make critical decisions required to maintain tactical control, avoid collisions and safely execute a variety of peacetime and wartime missions. These funds will help develop technology providing early warning to vessels being prosecuted by active search and localization sonar and under torpedo attack.
  

Yesterday’s New York Times has a great editorial about the mounting evidence that Alberto Gonzales and Bush’s Justice Department singled people out for criminal prosecution to help GOP candidates win targeted races.

Putting political opponents in jail is the sort of thing that happens in third-world dictatorships. In the United States, prosecutions are supposed to be scrupulously nonpartisan. This principle appears to have broken down in Alberto Gonzales’s Justice Department — where lawyers were improperly hired for nonpolitical jobs based on party membership, and United States attorneys were apparently fired for political reasons.

Of the many in Congress who have spoken up against Gonzales’ misdeed, none have been louder or carried more credibility than Rhode Island’s own Sheldon Whitehouse, himself a former U.S. Attorney.

Sometimes it can be difficult to find fodder for the grist mill, especially now in the dog days of summer. Such is the plight of the ProJo scribes who labor to assemble each week’s Political Scene, a typically informative and sometimes tongue-in-cheek feature that appears every Monday.

And while we admittedly glossed over most of the riveting lead account detailing the State House restroom overhaul, we would be remiss if we did not extend a heartfelt thanks to ProJo State House reporter Steve Peoples who penned a section on our spiffy new website.

As Democrats in Congress pass legislation fulfilling their promises to the American people, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee have joined forces to launch a Month of Action on Iraq that will begin with a national television advertising campaign highlighting the Democratic Congress’s accomplishments and calling on President Bush to work with Democrats to end the war in Iraq. Here’s the video: