On Politics

The YWCA Rhode Island is out with its 5th annual Women Holding Office Celebration. This year the YWCA will honor two path-breaking Rhode Island women political figures with the Isabelle Ahearn O’Neill award. Republican Susan L. Farmer, who in 1982 became the first woman elected to a statewide office in Rhode Island when she was elected secretary of state, and Kathleen S. Connell, who became the first Democratic woman to win statewide office when she was elected secretary of state in 1986.

The YWCA Rhode Island is out with its 5th annual Women Holding Office Celebration. This year the YWCA will honor two path-breaking Rhode Island women political figures with the Isabelle Ahearn O’Neill award. Republican Susan L. Farmer, who in 1982 became the first woman elected to a statewide office in Rhode Island when she was elected secretary of state, and Kathleen S. Connell, who became the first Democratic woman to win statewide office when she was elected secretary of state in 1986.

With state officials due to release their proposal Tuesday for curbing gun violence, Republican House lawmakers are inviting gun makers to relocate to Rhode Island in response to changes in Connecticut and Maryland. A legislative news release says the changes render those two states as "hostile territory":

If April is the cruelest month, as T.S. Eliot wrote, perhaps it's due to the chilly weather greeting the start of the baseball season. Welcome back to my weekly column. Your thoughts and tips are always welcome at idonnis (at) ripr (dot) org. Let's get to it.

Governor Chafee has proposed rewarding top state officials with pay raises. RIPR analyst Scott MacKay parses the pros and cons of   the governor’s plan.

Governor Lincoln Chafee says his cabinet members have been doing a good job and deserve raises of three percent in June and another three percent in December. It’s no surprise that the governor has been roundly criticized and not just by the talk radio peanut gallery.

Michael Riley, the investment manager who ran a losing Republican campaign last year against Congressman Jim Langevin, was arrested in Narragansett early Wednesday and charge with resisting arrest, operating under the influence of alcohol, and refusing to take a chemical test.

Congressman David Cicilline thinks House Speaker Gordon Fox, his friend and political ally,  could do a "terrific" job as the mayor of Providence, if Angel Taveras seeks a different office next year.

During a taping of RIPR's Political Roundtable, Cicilline was asked about indications  he's been urging Fox to run for City Hall. (The segment airs Friday at 5:40 and 7:40 am.) Here's Cicilline's initial response:

More changes at the Providence Journal as Paul Tooher, the night managing editor, retires. There is an old newspaper chestnut that every young reporter learns quickly: There is always somebody in the newsroom smarter than you are. The other is if your mother tells you she loves you check it out.

Tom Heslin, who oversaw the Providence Journal's Pulitzer-prize winning probe of the state court system in the 1990s, is retiring later this month as executive editor, the paper reports. The move comes after a long and distinguished career encompassing the Journal's glory days.

Heslin, 62, had been on an extended leave of absence for health reasons.

Bob Whitcomb, the ProJo’s witty and intellectual editorial page editor, who is 65, will be stepping down in at  the usual  retirement age for top executives at the newspaper.

Whitcomb does a fine job for many reasons, not the least of which is the wide variety of opinion and subjects that grace the editorial and op-ed pages every day. He is one of those rare ProJo people with a wide background in newspaper editing and reporting; he even served as an editor in Paris with the International Herald Tribune.