Dee DeQuattro: Pulse on Politics - And Then There Were Four

​Dee DeQuattro

And the tiny Republican Senate Caucus just got smaller as Senator Chris Ottiano announced that he will be resigning from office to take a job as the Associate Medical Director at Neighborhood Health Plan. That leaves the tiny Republican caucus at a whopping 4. The good news for the GOP is Portsmouth is a hugely Republican District so they may be able to overcome an aggressive get out the vote campaign by the Democrats in a special election.
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That election is scheduled for January 5 and the declaration period for candidates starts on Thursday. It’s too bad that the tax payer will have to foot the bill for another special election, this is the second one for the General Assembly in less than a year. It’s also too bad for the Republicans too because their representation in the state just continues to dwindle and so far no candidate has stepped forward to run for the spot.

We don't got no money, let the fire district burn

​The Central Coventry Fire District is at it again. Now, they are pointing fingers at the state blaming the state for their financial struggles. They are behaving like disgruntled employees or upset children, telling the Providence Journal “the state wants us to fail.”

Wah!!

First off, the state should never had to come in and help to begin with. This is a town issue and should have been handled by the town. Second, it seems like no plan to save the troubled fire district is plausible because they all (including the state's plan) involve some type of tax increase -- which the taxpayers have already rejected.

Now, after 5 years, this ongoing saga looks to be nearing the end.Which also appears to be true for the district itself -- and now it appears that the town's  Anthony Fire District is headed down the same path. Who’s to blame? Probably a lot of people but finger pointing isn’t helping anyone. There are firefighters concerned for their futures, and citizens concerned for their safety. Doesn’t it always seem like when you need elected leaders to lead most they drop the ball?

Everybody wants to feel important by having a fancy title but when it comes time to making tough decisions they balk. Let’s go Coventry, do your job!

Kilometers behind the pack

Speaking of failing -- Super Candidate Linc Chafee has raised a whooping $40,000 for his candidacy thus far. But he is not dropping out! Oh, and by the way, if you didn’t know, he voted against the war in Iraq. Just in case you hadn't heard. He also supported a train station in Warwick and he was the Governor of the business friendly economically booming state of Rhode Island. With all these qualifications it hard to figure out why Democrats aren’t just throwing their money at him.

By the way, did you catch the Bill Maher tweet about Chafee?

From what I see of the debate between innings, those 2 guys on the ends? Yeeesh. You 2 are not. going. to be. president. Of anything, ever.

— Bill Maher (@billmaher) October 14, 2015

What does that say about Rhode Island? We elected him to run our state.

Although he did make it to the prime-time as Saturday Night Live mocked him in last weekend’s cold open. By the way, the Chafee character (played by Kyle Mooney) was great, he really made Rhode Island shine. Although, he will need to work on his fist pumping for future appearances. The Hillary Clinton candidate and the Bernie Sanders character pretty much nailed it as well. I forgot I was watching SNL and not excerpts from the real debate.

Do chickens have paws?

Either the Paw Sox are playing a game of chicken, or they are pretty serious about leaving Rhode Island. The team says they have been in talks to bring the team to Springfield, Mass., leaving Rhode Island behind. Governor Raimondo says she concerned that the team might move, and she is working with the team to identify alternative locations for a stadium in Providence. Either way, this is great for the PawSox because if they get the state nervous enough the may be able to negotiate a sweet deal for their relocation.

The nerds awaken

By the way, Star Wars basically broke the internet on Monday night as fans flocked to buy their tickets. Those that hard the power of the force with them scored.

That’s all for this week. I will catch you on the flip side. All eyes shift to on Portsmouth this Thursday as we wait to see who wants to be the next Senator.

​It’s like a bad reality TV Show: Who wants to be an Ocean State Senator?