On Politics

We're 18 months out from the November 2014 election, but that's not stopping Mark Binder from announcing on Thursday another legislative challenge to House Speaker Gordon Fox.

Via news release:

After helping to shepherd same-sex marriage legislation on what once seemed an improbable path to victory, House Speaker Gordon Fox was a bit surprised Tuesday to be asked about his own wedding plans.

"I'm just trying to plan to get through this session," Fox said, laughing, when asked if he has plans to marry later this year. "That's a curve ball. I hadn't though about that one. Maybe you should ask my partner that."

If Providence City Council President Mike Solomon doesn’t win an expected Democratic primary for mayor in 2014, it won’t be for lack of trying.

Solomon has worked in synch with Mayor Angel Taveras, who is widely expected to run for the Democratic nomination for governor.  Solomon, has arguably been the most effective council president since Elmwood's Nick Easton, who held the post under Mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr., in the mid-1980s.

Fundraising specialist and lobbyist Brett Smiley is joining those looking at a run for mayor of Providence if Angel Taveras moves on next year.

"I am seriously exploring a race for mayor in 2014," Smiley tells RIPR. He says he has started meeting with people to talk about a possible run and plans to make a decision this summer about whether to move forward.

Governor Lincoln Chafee, who emphasized same-sex marriage during his inaugural address on the south side of the Statehouse in 2011, is set to use the same location Thursday to sign same-sex marriage bills into law.

The signing ceremony is tentatively planned for 5:45 p.m. Thursday, after the House is expected to offer final passage of the legislation. Rhode Island will become the tenth US state to legalize same-sex marriage, and the last in New England to do so.

From the eagle eye of WPRI’s premier blogger, Ted Nesi, comes word that won’t surprise any regular reader of the Providence Journal, Rhode Island’s flagship newspaper. The once robust news outlet continues to hemorrhage readers, which inevitably leads to a drop in advertising as businesses find other ways to reach customers.

HR&A Advisors of New York is out with its economic-impact report on the now-vacant Superman Building, which was prepared for Cornish Associates.

State GOP chairman Mark Smiley says his party "absolutely" intends to run a candidate against US senator Jack Reed next year.

A few politically active Republicans privately say they consider a challenge against Reed -- or the other Democrats in Rhode Island's congressional delegation -- an utter waste of time. Resources would be better used, they say, in trying to build the 11-member GOP presence in the 113-member General Assembly.

The annual Metcalf Awards for Diversity in Media sponsored by Rhode Island for Community and Justice have been announced. For the third consecutive year, Rhode Island Public Radio has won. This year, RIPR education reporter and Morning Edition host Elisabeth Harrison is a winner. Harrison won for her ongoing series covering minority students in Rhode Island. Other winners include Billy Reynolds, the ProJo’s wonderful sports columnist and one of a very few Ocean State journalists with a well-known national reputation. Reynolds has long been one of the nation’s top basketball writers.

With the YWCA Rhode Island set to hold its fifth annual Women Holding Office celebration this evening at the Kirkbrae Country Club, it's a good time to revisit the under-representation of women in Rhode Island politics.