Political Divide Splitting Communities Across RI — Is It a Trump Factor?

Political Divide Splitting Communities Across RI — Is It a Trump Factor?

From the most northern communities in Rhode Island to the beaches of South County, local towns are engaged in internal and often highly political partisan battles -- and the divides are often ideological and heated. In 2016, President Donald Trump won nearly 40 percent of the vote and collected more than 180,000 votes.

Now, the national fractionalized discourse is playing out — battles that appear to be driven often by ideology more than local politics.

Guns, taxes, budgets, library funding and more are splitting Rhode Island's communities.

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Gun Battle

As GoLocal first reported last month, the northern Rhode Island Town of Burrillville had declared itself sanctuary 2nd Amendment gun rights community.

“The right to bear arms…was seen as one of the most important aspects by our founders. Every year, we have to put on our yellow tee shirts and go down to the State House and fight against the Governor and often against the progressive wing in that building to maintain our constitutional rights. I for one am tired of it — now is the time to begin pushing back,” said Donald Fox of the Burrillville Town Council.

Since then, three more rural Rhode Island communities declared themselves sanctuary 2nd Amendment communities.

After Burrillville, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, and Foster made similar declarations.

But now, gun control advocates are pushing back.

On Thursday night, the Glocester Town Council met to consider approving a resolution that calls for towns to become a “Second-Amendment Sanctuary” — which means if a state or federal law surrounding gun control restrictions was to pass, law enforcement in a town could use their discretion to decide whether or not they would enforce the law. After hearing testimony from multiple outraged Glocester residents however, the Council decided to remove it from consideration without a vote and will reconsider it in June.

"I would like the thank the members of the town council for listening to the concerns from the citizens of Glocester,” said Melissa Lavender, Glocester resident. “I am glad they heard many considerations and took into account that their job is to represent a community of diverse opinions. We appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with them and the attempts to keep civility within the meeting."

The Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV) said it "hopes that Glocester will oppose this measure if it comes up again in June. Although the resolution is symbolic, it is undoubtedly harmful because it advances the false narrative that the very rights and livelihoods of Second Amendment supporters are at risk. Law-abiding gun owners though should have no reason to feel threatened by the gun safety measures that community organizers advocate for, and in fact, all regulations--from banning guns in schools to banning military style assault weapons are constitutional."

Coventry and Budget Battles

On Thursday, Coventry Town Council residents voted to reject the town's budget crafted by the more liberal members of the Council 1449 to 761.

Councilwoman Ann Dickson of District 1 in Coventry who had previous to the vote advocated for adoption of the budget refused to answer questions about the voter rejection on Friday.

Prior to Thursday’s vote, Dickson had advocated in a Letter to the Editor published in RICentral, “I am asking you to vote YES during the Referendum on the 16th.  I have heard many voters say they do not want to see increases in taxes each year.   Unfortunately, we are not at the point this year where we can support a zero-based increase or even a reduction in the budgets.  Such a move would bring results which will be inevitable: reduction in services and/or personnel.   Why? The proposed budgets reflect high costs for contractual obligations with limited revenue to support these obligations.

Democrats in Charlestown Say Budget Includes “$3 million taxpayer rip-off”

On June 3, Charlestown voters will vote for the Town’s Budget Referendum.

Democrats charge that included in the town’s budget is a $3 million ‘blank check’ for construction, supposedly for a “community center” in Ninigret Park, even though Charlestown already has a community center in the park.”

The Charlestown Democratic Town Committee (CDTC) voted unanimously to oppose this budget because the Town Council, dominated by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), chose to use a rare $3 million dollar surplus to fund an unnecessary project with no plan or detail,” said the Democrats in a statement.

“Why commit $3 million to a new community center when we could use those funds to give working families in Charlestown some well-deserved tax relief? That $3 million is our money, not toy money to be used for some CCA slush fund,” said CDTC chair Cathy Collette. “The CCA proposal is devoid of detail – we don’t know if they are even aware of the existing community center.”

“Returning the $3 million to the taxpayers by lowering taxes is just one of many ways that money could be better used,” Collette continued. “Our police department needs more support. We could help recruit and retain more volunteer fire-fighters by offering them a property tax credit like several other Rhode Island towns such as Jamestown and Bristol. Instead, the CCA is asking voters to put their hard-earned money into a vague and unneeded pipedream.”

If Charlestown voters reject the proposed town budget on June 3, the town will operate on its existing budget until the budget is re-written and approved.

Cathy Collette said “The smart thing to do is vote to reject the budget on June 3. Make them re-write it to either lower taxes by $3 million or come up with a more sensible plan that will benefit the taxpayers.”

Narragansett, Newport and More

In Narragansett, advocates for the new and stalled library charge that the actions of Narragansett Town Council Chair Matthew Mannix are political retribution for their activism and his actions are damaging to town.

Mannix says, “I am looking out for all Narragansett's taxpayers, not just the loudest ones.”

After the Mannix led Council slashed the library's operating budget a bipartisan group urged the Town to restore funding.

The Narragansett Democratic and Republican Town Committees issued a joint statement calling on Town Council members Matthew Mannix, Jill Lawler, and Richard Lema to level fund the Maury Loontjens Memorial Library.

They are also calling for the library to move into a new home in the former Belmont Market Building, as was approved by voters in 2016.

“We may disagree on just about everything else, but when it comes to our library, Narragansett’s Democratic and Republican Town Committees agree that it is a cherished non-partisan institution that deserves our full support. It is unacceptable to both of our parties that the will of Narragansett voters is being ignored and that Councilors Mannix, Lawler and Lema are proposing budget cuts that will cause our library to lose state aid, reduce hours and reduce services,” said Win Hames, Chair of the Narragansett Democratic Town Committee. 

The effort by representatives of both parties to restore the library funding has been one of the few examples of bipartisanship in local politics in RI in recent months.

In Newport, the battle is over a real estate conveyance tax. The effort is dividing fiscal conservative and business interests from more progressive leaders looking to generate more revenue for the community.