Moore: Will Mattiello Appease Progressives?

Moore: Will Mattiello Appease Progressives?

It’s not easy being king. Who would have thought so?

The most powerful man in Rhode Island, House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, finds himself under siege, locked in a bitter two-front war for his political survival.

The more immediate threat comes from the Rhode Island Republican Party’s National Committeeman, Steve Frias. Frias is a well-spoken, intelligent, and should be able to present himself well before the voters in Western Cranston. Further, the district itself has shown a willingness to vote for Republicans, as evidenced by the fact that some of the precincts in that district went for Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential Election.

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But let’s not count the Speaker out just yet. To his credit: Mattiello has passed some good government measures under his tenure. The Speaker supported the elimination of the master lever—which, ironically, could hurt him—and, what’s more, an ethics bill that gives the Rhode Island Ethics Commission full authority to police the General Assembly.

Good Government Measures

Further, the Speaker will undoubtedly be helped by the tens of thousands of dollars in legislative grants that Mattiello has earmarked for his district. Also, the inclusion of an independent candidate, Patrick E. Vallier, (who had serious trouble answering even the most basic questions from a Providence Journal reporter earlier this summer ), should help Mattiello since it will siphon off some of the anti-incumbent vote away from Frias.

In my estimation, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s more likely than not that Mattiello will be able to hang onto the representative seat.

The bad news, however, is that the more insidious threat, comes not from the Republicans, but those lurking within his own party—the progressives.

It’s been well-documented, since last week’s primary election that the progressive left is on the march forward.  Granted, the progressives didn’t make a clean sweep or even anything close to it. GoLocal reported that the Speaker won most of the races he had targeted—even if he did suffer the high profile defeat of his House Majority Leader, John DeSimone.  

Progressives on the Move

But here’s the thing: the Speaker was playing defense. The progressives didn’t really need to defend any of the seats that they currently held. Instead, they were picking off seats. Even if they won just won seat, as opposed to the several that they did win, it would have been progress for the progressives.

Sam Bell, the Rhode Island State Director for the Progressive Democrats of America, commonly refers to the state legislature as being run by a “conservative machine”. Here’s how Bell, and the folks he represents, saw the primary results from the election on Tuesday.

“Ranglin-Vassell, Walsh, Knight, we won incredible victories, when the machine was saying they were going to win a number,” Bell told GoLocal.  “Politics in Rhode Island is changed forever. Who knows what's going to happen? Now we have a race for Majority Leader.”

Big Victories

How true.  The question becomes, do the people currently in control, the (more) centrist Democrats understand that this is the beginning—not the end?

We will have our answer soon. If Mattiello can hold onto his legislative seat, he will have enormous say in who becomes the next majority leader.

If Mattiello is smart, he will give no ground to the people who will stop at nothing to see him removed. Instead, he will try to weather the storm, install a more centrist majority leader, and go on offense next time around. Instead of playing defense, win some seats back next primary season. That’s a recipe for success.

Game of Gavels

Here’s the recipe for failure, and its name is appeasement. That strategy includes installing a progressive as his next House Majority Leader (Chris Blazejewski, anyone?) and believing that will stem the progressive tide and appease the left-leaning folks who want to make Rhode Island look even more like Venezuela.

It won’t work. This is total war. The progressives aren’t going to stop until they hold complete control over Rhode Island government. The day a progressive Majority Leader is installed is the first day he or she starts plotting on how to line up the votes to become Speaker and unseat Mattiello.

If Mattiello is too naive to recognize this, he doesn’t deserve to remain as House Speaker.

Russell Moore has worked on both sides of the desk in Rhode Island media, both on political campaigns and for newspapers. Send him email at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @russmoore713.