Dee DeQuattro: Pulse on Politics - A Classic Trump and Dump

Dee DeQuattro

The Republican Presidential Primary Race is like the Providence Mayoral race all over again -- but on a national level. As Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker bowed out of the race on Monday, he announced that he was leaving the race to “clear the field” so that another Republican can emerge and take down Donald Trump. This is not too far from the Providence Mayor Democratic Primary when Democrats were bowing out of the race to clear the way for a candidate who could take out Buddy Cianci. Ironically, at least in one point in his career Buddy Cianci was also known for his hair, similar to Donald Trump.

Nonetheless, Walker is out and he is urging his fellow candidates to follow his lead and pave the way for a Republican to take out Donald Trump. It’s the Anybody But Trump campaign. Although, evidence indicates it was more than his unwavering support for his party that motivated the 47-year-old Tea Party conservative to bow out of the race. The candidate was not only trailing in the polls but he was struggling to raise the money he needed to make his candidacy viable. So far, he is yet to endorse one of his former foes, but we know who he won’t be endorsing….

Hillary Clinton. (I bet you thought I was going to say Donald Trump.)

If you build it, they will yell

It looks like the Pawsox relocation plan is heading into extra-innings after the team struck out on the I-195 land. They are now are setting their sights on the “Victory Place” land purchased by Life Span just a month ago. The team says they plan to leave Pawtucket either way and will continue the search.

By the way, there are still no plans on what to do with the I-195 land -- but it is clear that whatever the land is used for, the tax payers do not want to subsidize it. It is also clear that the tax payers do not want to be on the hook to help the PawSox relocate.

Shock and owe

More state workers were placed on administrative leave last week. Must be nice to be in a union and not get fired. The two were employed by DCYF and the Training School both of which have been subject to an internal investigation. DCYF was specifically being looked at for financial mismanagement. Shocked, I tell you. Government workers mismanaging taxpayer dollars?!?

Fire sale

Speaking of financial mismanagement, you have got to love that after four years, the Coventry Fire Districts are still making the headlines. This week, Gov. Raimondo has moved to end the receivership of the Central Coventry Fire District and shift the burden of straightening out the fire district back to the local leadership. Basically, acting Revenue Director David Sullivan said it’s not worth the states time and taxpayer dollars to try to fix the financial issues of a fire department when they get nothing but push back from local leadership. By the way, according to WPRI, the receivership costs taxpayers roughly, $120,000 a month. This was probably the best move for RI taxpayers; after all, why keep throwing money at a problem if no one wants to take steps to fix it. This is bad news for Coventry who has struggled for years to get a grasp on the struggling fire department. It also could be really bad news for Coventry tax payers but we will wait and see.

A Kan-do attitude

Here is another shocker, more problems at the Rhode Island Board of Elections. The Board says it is giving its Executive Director Bob Kando 120 days to shape up or ship out. They say there has been conflict of interest issues and problems following open meetings rules in the past. Seems like Rhode Island has an awful lot of open meetings issues.

Lally-gagging

By the way, The Rhode Island GOP filed an ethics complaint against former State Representative Donald Lally for taking a position in Governor Raimondo’s administration, so stay tuned.

Minimal cruelty

Lastly, Rhode Island lawmakers are calling for stricter animal cruelty laws, upgrading animal abuse from a misdemeanor to a felony. With the number of criminal defense attorneys in the legislature this is likely to gain some traction, but will it be enough?