On Politics

Governor Lincoln Chafee says the uncertainty and cost of litigating a union challenge to last year’s landmark pension overhaul justify efforts to seek a settlement.

In a telephone interview from Washington, DC, where he’s attending a National Governors Association meeting, Chafee dismissed concerns that a settlement would dilute the pension overhaul to such an extent that it would hurt Rhode Island’s fiscal condition.

As he prepares for a possible mayoral run in 2014, Providence City Council President Michael Solomon has a big fundraising edge over his 14 council colleagues.

Solomon’s war chest was reported at almost $114,000 in a third quarter filing with the state Board of Elections — up from $84,923 at the end of Q1.

UPDATE: Former state Democratic chairman Bill Lynch, who gave up the post in 2010, says he said “no” after being asked recently if he might be interested in returning as chair “It doesn’t fit professionally with what I am doing right now,” says Lynch, a lawyer at Adler Pollock & Sheehan.

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With state Democratic Party chairman Edwin Pacheco mulling a run for secretary of state in 2014, party insiders are already talking succession.

Mindy Myers, chief of staff to RI Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, is leaving the Whitehouse office to become chief of staff in Washington for Massachusetts Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren.

Myers, 36, has proven in the last several election cycles that she is one of the Democratic Party’s top young political operatives. (The next Mary Beth Cahill?) Myers was campaign manager for Whitehouse in his 2006 upset of then-Republican incumbent Sen. Lincoln Chafee. In 2008, she was head of President Obama’s New Hampshire campaign.

“It’s the holiday season,” as the song goes, and what’s December in Rhode Island without another Statehouse-tree related controversy? Mull that over along with my Friday column. Your thoughts and tips are welcome, as always at idonnis [at] ripr [dot] org.

Once again, the holidays in Rhode Island are greeted by pitched battles over the public symbols of Christmas. RIPR political analyst wonders why we all can’t embrace the true meaning of this season.

For a clue as to why little of consequence gets done at the State House, we bring you to the annual capitol kerfuffle over the lighting of  the soaring evergreen tree that marks the arrival of the Christian Advent celebration.

Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed’s selections to fill two vacant slots on the Senate Judiciary Committee may offer some tea leaves on the outlook for same-sex marriage in that chamber.

Almost 48,000 winning Powerball tickets were sold in Rhode Island, although most were for the princely prize of $4, according to the state Lottery. Take away the $2 per-ticket cost, and the net gain for the vast bulk of winners was $2.

That’s a far cry from $587.5 million jackpot that sparked fevered dreams across the land of striking it rich. (Two winning jackpot tickets were sold, one each in Arizona and Missouri.)

The governor’s office sent out the following advisory at about 11:32 am today:

Governor Lincoln D. Chafee will host the 2012 State House tree lighting today, November 29, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. in the State House rotunda. The student orchestra from Cranston’s Park View Middle School will be performing holiday songs in the Bell Area of the rotunda beginning at noon.

According to the governor’s schedule, Chafee’s due for a ribbon-cutting for JetBlue at T.F. Green Airport at 1:25 pm.

David Scharfenberg has a timely Providence Phoenix story on steps to make the Providence Journal more competitive as it — like other newspapers — wrestles with a soft ad market and an inexorable decline in print readership.