RI’s Most Politically Polarizing — From David Cicilline to Michael Flynn

Sean Spicer

Rhode Island native and former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer may be the most controversial press secretary in White House history.

In an interview with BBC’s Emily Maitlis in July of 2018, Spicer tried to explain some of his most infamous moments in office, including the time he lied to the press that Trump’s inauguration had the largest crowd in history, despite pictures proving the converse.

In February of 2019, it was announced he has joined "Extra" as a special D.C. correspondent. 

Spicer, a Barrington native, graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1989. 

Prior to working for Trump, Spicer was Communications Director of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017, and its chief strategist from 2015 to 2017.

Spicer announced his resignation as White House Press Secretary on July 21, 2017.

He is the author of the book “The Briefing: Politics, The Press and the President.”

As GoLocalProv reported, Spicer was previously set to have a book signing event at BJ's Wholesale Club in Seekonk back in July, but it was canceled due to "political issues." 

David Cicilline

A few weeks ago Congressman David Cicilline told GoLocal he was opposed to moving forward with impeachment proceedings and then this week reversed course and broke from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Earlier this month U.S. Senator Jack Reed announced he had secured $30 million in improvements for T.F. Green’s infrastructure. In contrast, Cicilline opposed allowing Norwegian Air to operate in the United States.

A ranking by Georgetown University’s Lugar Center scores members of Congress by bipartisanship — Cicilline ranks near the bottom of the list for working across the aisle.

Moira J. Walsh

The outspoken Rhode Island State Representative in her first year as a member of the General Assembly accused her colleagues of being drunks.

“I am probably gonna get in a lot of trouble for saying this but the drinking, it is the drinking that blows my mind. You cannot operate a motor vehicle when you’ve had two beers, but you can make laws that affect people’s lives forever when you’re half in the bag?” she said. “That’s outrageous.”

“Dude they put shots on our desk for the Dominican Republic day and we all just did shots on the floor,” Walsh said.

She attracted a primary challenger supported by Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello. In turn, she won the race and blasted the Speaker on Twitter.

Gina Raimondo

Governor Gina Raimondo has taken her share of criticism due to some bold actions and sometimes simply for her gender.

It is difficult to find a retired teacher in Rhode Island that thinks her pension reform strategy as General Treasurer was anything other than blatantly unfair.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni once tweeted, “It takes a lot of spine to be a centrist in America today. You get whacked from the left and whacked from the right. That’s my life. I get whacked"--Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, in my new column.”

But, now after a series of moves to the left, Raimondo has drawn relentless criticism, from moderate mayors locally, to press nationally from the Wall Street Journal

Allysia Finley,  a member of the WSJ’s editorial board, wrote in a commentary piece "Blue-State Politics Are Eroding Little Rhody’s Big Reforms," “The youthful Democratic governor with national ambitions is veering left as the Ocean State’s economy wobbles. Public unions and progressives smelling political weakness are goading her to sign legislation that would repudiate her reforms and economic agenda. Will Ms. Raimondo sell out Rhode Island taxpayers?”

“But since winning re-election, she has marched left. Staring down a $200 million deficit, Ms. Raimondo has proposed extending the state’s 7% sales tax to Netflix subscriptions, iTunes purchases, interior decorating, shooting ranges and other services. She also wants to impose a 10% payroll tax on businesses whose workers enroll in Medicaid even if they offer comprehensive health coverage,” adds Finley.

Michael Flynn

“Lock Her Up. Lock Her Up,” chanted Rhode Island native and retired Army General Michael Flynn at the Republican Convention in the summer of 2016.

Flynn, who was shortlisted as a Vice Presidential candidate and was appointed by Trump as his first National Security Advisor, admitted to lying to the FBI, and has yet to be sentenced. 

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said to Flynn at a December hearing,

“You were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the National Security Advisor to the President. Arguably, this undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out.”

According to the Huffington Post, the sentencing was postponed so that Flynn can continue working with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

As GoLocalProv reported, Mueller called for no prison time for Flynn.

"Given the defendant's substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range—including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration—is appropriate and warranted," Mueller's office wrote in the memo.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, has cooperated with Mueller's ongoing probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election since pleading guilty on December 1, 2017.

Jorge Elorza

In 2017, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza declared Providence a sanctuary city. “We are a sanctuary city,” declared Elorza.

The announcement was in response to President Donald Trump's announcement of enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. Despite Trump's rhetoric, the administration has not deported as many as the administration of Barack Obama’s did annually.

Elorza has also run into battles with downtown business interests over what property owners say is a failure to enforce laws against panhandlers and drug dealing in downtown Providence’s commercial areas.

Small shop owners have rallied against the implementation of parking meters — claiming it is an anti-small business tax.

"It has affected my lunch business by 35%. In December 920160, the city lifted all paid parking meters to 'stimulate the economy' so what make them think the meters don't affect the other 11 months?" said Gianfranco Marrocco, a leading restaurant owner on Federal Hill in 2017.  "How much 'net' revenue have they generated? And why aren't they implemented equally? Broadway, Hope Street, Broad Street, Wickenden Street, Elmwood, Cranston Street, Charles Street?"

Sheldon Whitehouse

U.S. Senator Whitehouse is a near constant critic of President Donald Trump. A strong advocate of strategies to address global warming, Whitehouse sparked criticism for urging the media not to print opinion pieces by those who deny the science behind global warming.

Right-wing media condemned Whitehouse, “Sheldon Whitehouse is a Democratic U.S. Senator from Rhode Island spearheading a multi-pronged harassment, intimidation and criminalization campaign against individuals and organizations who are skeptical of climate alarmism. His targets include fossil fuel companies, libertarian and conservative non-profit organizations and private citizens who disagree with his views on climate change. He calls skeptic views 'fraud' not protected by the First Amendment. His tactics include calling for racketeering laws to prosecute climate skeptics, colluding with taxpayer-funded university scientists to do the same and urging news outlets to suppress skeptic op-eds. He led the so-called #WebOfDenial campaign on the Senate floor on July 11-12, 2016,” wrote the rightwing website leftexposed.org.

Even the left gets feed up with Whitehouse sometimes. A New Republic feature story “Sheldon Whitehouse’s Frustrating, Illogical Remarks on D.C. Statehood” by Matt Ford questioned, “Why is the Democratic senator from Rhode Island so hesitant on full representation for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico?”

Sam Bell

Maybe no one sets the Rhode Island Senate President off more than Sam Bell, freshman State Senator from District 5.

On the first day of the Senate session, Bell unleashed on Dominick Ruggerio.

Bell has been tenacious as an advocate for progressive causes. One of his most recent criticisms was against fellow Democrat Gina Raimondo's economic development legislation.

"Today, the Senate is voting on one of the worst pieces of legislation I have seen in a long time. This bill will give $41.9 million of taxpayer money to a handful of rich people. Unlike most tax cuts for the rich, this one isn't for everyone. The Commerce Corporation, the controversial corporate welfare agency that did the 38 Studios deal, would select specific individuals and investment funds to hand over millions of dollars to.

It's straight out of the national Republican Party's playbook: Shower rich people with praise and public money to thank them for having the money to make business investments (that they make money off of anyway). And shout "small business" even when we don't mean it at all."

Gayle Corrigan

From Central Falls to East Greenwich, Gail Corrigan has been a fiscal change agent and a polarizing figure.

In Central Falls, she was part of the team that managed the receivership of the bankrupt city. Later, she moved on to serve as the Town Manager in East Greenwich where she battled with firefighters and teachers unions.

Her tenure was short. When the Republicans were swept out of control of the Town Council in the November 2018 election, the Democratic-controlled town fired Corrigan. 

James Woods

Rhode Islander James Woods has starred in some of the biggest Hollywood hits over the decades. The arch-conservative most recently saw suspended by Twitter and has vowed not to return to the social media platform.

Woods said earlier this month that he will no longer be using Twitter after the platform suspended him and then deleted a tweet that he refused to take down.

"Twitter demanded that I rescind my tweet paraphrasing Emerson," Woods said in a statement to The Daily Wire. "It now seems they have chosen to delete that tweet from my account without my permission. Until free speech is allowed on Twitter, I will not be permitted to participate in our democracy with my voice. As long as Jack Dorsey remains the coward he seems to be, my Twitter days are in the past."

Woods was suspended in late April over a tweet that stated: "If you try to kill the King, you better not miss. #HangThemAll."