RI 2014 Governor’s Race Weekly Scorecard - June 30
GoLocalProv Political Team
RI 2014 Governor’s Race Weekly Scorecard - June 30
Each week GoLocal's reporters, editors and MINDSETTERS™ review and grade the candidates, policy statements, their media, and the campaign activities for each of the five major likely candidates for Governor of Rhode Island: Gina Raimondo (D), Angel Taveras (D), Allan Fung (R), Ken Block (R) and Clay Pell (D).
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One of Angel Taveras’ biggest self-inflicted humiliations gets some resolution as the Davey Lopes pool is finally re-opening. Taveras who closed the pool as political payback to Council Davian Sanchez for not voting for Taveras’ tax increases had worked to keep the pool closed. But, community leaders fought for the children of the Southside and prevailed.
The Cianci factor in the Providence Mayor’s race may help Taveras as Cianci is blaming former Providence Mayor David Cicilline for all the city’s problems and giving Taveras a free pass.
GRADE: C+
More policy plans from Pell’s campaign in the past week.
He must yearn for the days of getting attention for forgetting to vote or losing his car.
GRADE: C-
Fung had a rebound week. He scored the GOP endorsement and called out the legislature for their suspension of rules and allowing major legislation to be voted on without even enough time to read the bills.
Fung may be down by 10% points in recent polls, but this past week was his best week in weeks.
GRADE: A-
Politicos are starting to raise questions about the Raimondo strategy. She has a huge money advantage over Taveras and yet she has spent upwards of a million in media having her children articulate her vision for fixing Rhode Island. Rhode Islanders are not looking for cute in 2014.
Raimondo has an advantage over Taveras – she can articulate a business strategy for Rhode Island’s economy and my how the state needs one. Last week, CNBC ranked Rhode Island 50th for state’s business environment. Rhode Island continues to rank last in unemployment.
GRADE: B-
Block may have proven that a Governor can impact the General Assembly by using the Bully Pulpit. Block's consistent effort to reform Rhode Island’s elections manifested itself with the legislature eliminating master lever voting.
The passage of the elimination of the Master Lever was a big win for reformers and for Block.
Block did lose out for the GOP endorsement – but do remember the last two GOP governors in RI were unendorsed (Ron Matchley was endorsed, Lincoln Almond was not in 1994 and Jim Bennett was endorsed, Don Carcieri was not in 2002).
GRADE: B+
10 Questions Fung Has to Answer When Running for Gov of RI
10) Can Fung raise the money necessary to be competitive?
At the last reporting period, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung's campaign had only $336,000.
Ken Block had $540,000 and he just entered the race.
Democrat Gina Raimondo has over $2.3 million and even Angel Taveras has $759,000 cash on hand.
9) Is Fung ready for prime time?
Fung is well-liked in Cranston and most everyone thinks Fung is a "nice guy."
Gina Raimondo and Angel Taveras can claim they took on tough issues.
Ken Block articulates big ideas and a proven record in business, but out of the gate Fung's campaign seems less than ready.
Fung's campaign manager got confused about how many Democrats Fung has donated to and his motivation for donating to them.
Would another four years in Cranston be the wiser path?
8) Can Fung effectively run against Angel Taveras?
Fung claims Providence Mayor Angel Taveras as a close friend, but it raises questions about inherent personal conflicts and ability to run and effective race.
Politics in Rhode Island is often a blood sport, will Fung approve that knockout punch TV spot in the closing weeks that tags Taveras for the spiraling crime problem in Providence?
7) Is Fung's base big enough?
For Mayor Fung, his base is Cranston, but he does not enjoy a groundswell of Hispanic voters like Providence Mayor Angel Taveras hopes to bank on (7% of the voters were Hispanic in the General Election in 2012, according to Pew Research).
A race against Raimondo would be tough as she would very likely have a strong block of female voters.
Where does Fung get his votes?
6) Can Fung defend the tax increases in Cranston?
When Fung runs as a Republican against a Democrat, there is an advantage if Fung can point out a differentiation of fiscal discipline. Fung, as Mayor, had numerous and significant residential and commercial tax increases.
This will not help him against the fiscally prudent Ken Block, but even if he were to win the primary then he would lose the advantage against Angel Taveras in a General Election. Both have ushered large tax increases through their councils.
5) Why pledge to create "20,000 jobs"? It sounds like Don Carcieri.
Don't know if Fung was paying attention, but GOP Governor Don Carcieri ran on...creating 20,000 new jobs.
When Carcieri left office, Rhode Island had the worst unemployment in America. Not sure Fung wants to mirror that Carcieri pledge.
4) Defending Don Carcieri and making him a part of the campaign - is that a good idea?
The collapse of 38 Studios has scarred Don Carcieri's legacy as Governor of Rhode Island. At best, Carcieri was star struck to give a baseball player $75 million -- at worse, Carcieri was part of something far more ominous.
For Fung, who wants to run as the future of Rhode Island, why be associated with Don Carcieri?
3) Defending the lobbyist role?
In 2014, do we think Rhode Islanders will be looking for a former lobbyist for a large corporation that is cutting Rhode Islander's jobs to be our next Governor?
Lobbyist-turned-Governor will be tougher to pull off than actor Ronald Reagan-turned-Governor of California in the 1960's.
2) Understand the changing position on gay marriage?
Hard to know what Allan Fung's position is on gay marriage. At different times he offered a range of views.
Some GOP primary voters have been opposed to the RI law and others were supportive, but neither segment of the GOP may understand what his position was -- or is.
1) Political donations to local, federal and national Democrats - are you sure you are a Republican?
Fung has given to David Cicilline, US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, former RI Senate President Bill Irons and once RI Attorney General Patrick Lynch. Fung's campaign manager claims he was a lobbyist and needed to donate to Democratic leaders. Cicilline, Reid and Lynch meet none of those criteria.
Not only did Fung give thousands of his own dollars to Dems, he turned down requests from leading GOP candidates like John Robitalle and Jon Loughlin who were badly outspent and needed every dollar to win.
The Republican party in Rhode Island is a pretty small group trying to create a pretty big tent - from Scott Avedisian to Doreen Costa. For most Republicans in this state it is tough -- you don't enjoy the political connections and you're part of a tiny minority -- so loyalty matters.
