You only live twice (once in your dreams, right?), but sometimes the mercurial Sox get four outs – and still lose. Thanks for stopping by. You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, Threads and X. Here we go.
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1. STORY OF THE WEEK:
Primum non nocere – Latin for “first, do no harm” – is an abiding principle of medical ethics, and sometimes politics. This axiom helps explain why Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee skipped over former House Speaker Joe Shekarchi in nominating Superior Court Judge Luis Matos this week for a vacancy on the state Supreme Court. Shekarchi set a high mark during his tenure as speaker and he’s smart and well-liked. But an ongoing debate about Rhode Island’s revolving door law, in the context of McKee’s uphill fight to remain governor, short-circuited the Warwick Democrat’s chances of landing on the state’s top court. The outcome shows how public perception – or how politicians and their advisers perceive it – can shake what might have once seemed like a fait accompli. When word came in February that Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg was set to retire – shortly after Shekarchi ruled out a run for governor this year – the speaker’s interest was piqued. As time went on, Judge Richard Licht backed Shekarchi’s argument that he was exempt from the revolving door law. But the optics soured along the way. Licht (who faced revolving door questions when he moved to the bench from the Chafee administration) was assigned to the case by Superior Court Presiding Justice Joseph Montalbano, a former state Senate president. Critics questioned potential conflicts related to Shekarchi’s near-$5 million campaign account. Then came news that four of the Judicial Nominating Commission members considering Shekarchi’s application had contributed more than $30,000 to his bulging coffers. Amid public debate, there was speculation about whether McKee would wait until after the primary to make his pick. In the end, though, the governor moved quickly – and nominating Matos rather than Shekarchi poses less political risk for McKee as he fights for his political life.
2. ON MESSAGE
Gov. McKee may lack the rhetorical gifts of some Democrats, but he remained resolutely on-message while using a Statehouse news conference Thursday to discuss his nomination of Judge Matos. In contrast to the swirl of public debate about Shekarchi’s nomination, McKee channeled a Joe Friday-style approach. The governor declined to acknowledge that judicial selection is an inherently political process. Rather, McKee said, he followed the same path used during a number of past nominations: “We received qualified candidates, we went through the process like we have every single other time.” In fact, Matos’ nomination came faster than for a number of other judges selected by McKee and other governors – and it happened to be on the same day as a WJAR-TV debate. Asked about the timing, McKee said it was in the public interest of voters to have the information ahead of the Sept. 9 end of the primary.
3. WHAT’S NEXT ON THE REVOLVING DOOR?
The debate over whether the revolving door law applies to state lawmakers seeking judicial positions remains unresolved even with Gov. McKee’s decision not to nominate Joe Shekarchi. That’s why the Rhode Island Ethics Commission said it would continue its lawsuit over the issue. “The last few months have shown us that this is a significant issue of great public concern, likely to repeat itself,” Jason Gramitt, the commission’s executive director, said via email after the news. “Therefore, it is appropriate and necessary to continue the appeal to bring the matter to our highest court for a final resolution.”
Roger Williams School of Law professor Michael Yelnosky sounded a similar message in his reaction: “I hope that the Supreme Court will resolve the matter. It has come up twice in the last six years, and it could come up again soon, given the likelihood of other Supreme Court vacancies. Moreover, the reasoning in Judge Licht’s opinion calls into question the constitutionality of the revolving door prohibitions on applications to all of Rhode Island’s courts.”
And so did John Marion, executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island: “Judge Licht’s decision created significant uncertainty about the state of the law and we feel the the Supreme Court of Rhode Island should be given an opportunity to clear up that ambiguity. If taken to its logical conclusion, Licht’s can be read that no qualifications of any type–including the requirement that someone be an attorney–can be put on the governor’s power to appoint judges. We believe that is both incorrect and harmful.”
4. SCORI NEXT STEP
On the surface at least, House Speaker Chris Blazejewski and Senate President Val Lawson did not display any chagrin that Gov. McKee skipped over former Speaker Shekarchi. In a statement, they vowed to work with McKee to make a timeline to consider Matos’ nomination after the Nov. 3 election. They added: “We informed the governor of our shared goal of taking the politics as much as possible out of what has become an overly politicized Supreme Court nomination process.”
5. DARK MIRROR
“One door closes, another one opens” – widely attributed to Alexander Graham Bell – is a hopeful prediction for those facing a romantic or professional setback. In the case of Joe Shekarchi, it’s too soon to know what the future holds. He left the House of Representatives with a lot of goodwill and almost $5 million in his campaign account. But timing is super-important in politics, and Shekarchi, 64, is on the sidelines for now. Perhaps he will get another shot at the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Paul Suttell is 77 and Justice William P. Robinson III is 86. Perhaps he will one day seek to succeed U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, who will be 77 in November, and if he wins re-election, 83 by the end of his next term. Or perhaps Shekarchi will do something completely different, like using his campaign funds to boost care for dogs or one of his other favorite causes. In a brief statement after the news this week, the former speaker said, “I want to congratulate Judge Matos on his nomination by the governor. I also want to thank everyone who supported my candidacy for the Supreme Court.”
6. THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR
With less than four weeks until Sept. 9, we’re into the home stretch of the primary fights. Adjacent to the GOP side, independent Ken Block is waiting in the wings to flex his wings. Among Democrats, Gov. McKee has tried to wrap himself in the mantle of the populist underdog while pressing his critique on CVS’ role in the opioids crisis and trying to throw Helena Foulkes on the defensive. Foulkes has returned fire by indicting McKee’s leadership, pointing to such bugaboos as the Washington Bridge, the expansive growth of RIDOT’s budget and how Rhode Island’s housing crisis continues apace more than five years after McKee took office. The candidates sparred Wednesday on WJAR in the lobby of PPAC and they’ll have another go at each other Tuesday on WPRI. McKee has continued to pick up some organized labor endorsements, which can help to get out the vote. However, as Ted Nesi reports, the incumbent still faces a big cash disadvantage in the waning weeks of the campaign, even with some help from the Democratic Governors Association, allowing Foulkes to outspend him on TV by about 5-to-1. Polls have mostly indicated a sizable lead for Foulkes for months, so here’s the big question as time ticks down: Is McKee clarifying the choice and gaining support, as his campaign contends, or (per Foulkes' campaign) appearing increasingly desperate?
***Fun Fact: the current chair of the DGA is Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, whose two wins as a Democrat who cracked the code of electoral success in a red state were piloted by Foulkes strategist Eric Hyers.
7. THE JUDICIARY
Asked about why Americans have less confidence in courts and government these days, Judge Matos said he has been proud to serve on a Committee on Racial and Ethnic Fairness created by SCORI Chief Justice Suttell. The panel was put together in 2020 “as a response to our times and some of the issues of our times in order to engage the community in a way that is proactive so that we can try to build some bridges, build some trust,” Matos said. The judge said he will continue that work regardless of what happens with his confirmation, because having trust in government institutions “is something that I grew up believing in, it’s something that drew me to our institutions and it’s something that I have great concern about.”
On a related note, U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. continues to speak out about the threat to judges and courts. He was on PBS NewsHour this week and spoke with The Washington Post. For a long-form interview, check out my conversation with McConnell from earlier this year.
8. RI’S HEALTHCARE CRISIS:
As someone on the frontlines, Dr. Emily Shearer, an emergency medicine physician for Brown University Health and associate professor at Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School, sees Rhode Island’s healthcare crisis up close. She routinely treats people who lack access to primary care. She worries that plans to cut 30,000 people off Medicaid in the state will worsen a range of health concerns. Shearer sees how ERs are too crowded and how the state wrestles with an upside-down reimbursement situation, with public programs like Medicaid and Medicare paying for the bulk of care. She was my guest this week on One on One and you can watch our full conversation here.
9. HANDS OFF
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to equip its officers with “high-tech gloves that deliver electric shocks to people they're trying to detain.”
10. CD2 REPUBLICANS
Given the contrast between Victor Mellor and Stephen Skoly, it’s unclear whether the outcome of their race will indicate the views of Rhode Island Republicans or be more of a product of perspiration and practical politics. Mellor had $1.4 million on hand at the end of June, compared with about $53,000 for Skoly, and he’s used a flood-the-zone approach to raise his campaign’s visibility, via TV commercials, billboards and live events. As teased in my column last week, Trump acolyte Rudy Giuliani is slated to appear at a Mellor event tomorrow – Saturday, Aug. 15 – at the Park Theatre in Cranston. Given all this, Skoly is stepping up his activity. He challenged Mellor to a debate. Mellor’s campaign called this a set-up by the RI GOP, which has endorsed Skoly. Skoly picked up an endorsement from RI Senate GOP Whip Gordon Rogers (R-Foster). Skoly also scheduled a town hall, 6 pm on Aug. 18, at Marasco’s Bar & Grill in Cranston, to discuss issues facing the state and CD2. Meanwhile, Ashley Kalus, the 2022 GOP candidate for RI governor, continues to raise questions about Mellor.
11. THE RACE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
Tim White and Ted Nesi highlighted contrasts during a compelling WPRI debate this week among the four Democratic candidates for attorney general: Kim Ahern, Keith Hoffmann, Jason Knight, and Joseph Solomon Jr.
In related news:
***Ahern cited 16 additional endorsements from elected officials, including Sens. Jake Bissaillon, Alana DiMario, Meghan Kallman, Melissa Murray, Bridget Valverde, Lammis Vargas, and Reps. Karen Alzate and Teresa Tanzi,
***Hoffmann won the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. “He’s a fighter who has a strong track record of standing up to corporate interests and will always put working people first,” she said in a release.
***Knight went on the air with his first ad.
***Solomon went on the air with his first ad.
12. NEWS IN BRIEF
Kudos and congrats to Kayla Fish and Joe Cortese both of WPRI on their engagement …. U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo and Steve Benjamin, a former White House official and mayor of Columbia, S.C., are hosting a Sept. 15 reception for General Treasurer James Diossa at Mastro’s Steakhouse in Washington, D.C. …. Steve Ahlquist elaborates on how USA Today Co., the owner of The Providence Journal and other local newspapers, has partnered with the controversial tech firm Palantir to “strengthen how we collect, connect and activate audience data to drive more effective and faster monetization across our platform.” …. Comedian Illana Glazer spoke with with my colleague Mareva Lindo ahead of her show at The Vets in Providence.
13. CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Rhode Island’s array of media sources compares favorably with a lot of places. But it’s still hard to get to everything. That’s why as the Rhode Island Current’s Chris Shea recently reported, candidates look to TV to sell themselves to voters. With the U.S. Supreme Court backing a maximalist approach to the spending of money in political campaigns, this is unlikely to change any time soon. It’s a far cry from how years ago, in the pre-Citizens United era, some advocates called for free advertising for campaigns (and so-called clean elections) as a way of leveling the playing field.
14. KICKER
Out-of-state elections this week offered mixed results on whether Democratic voters want to go in a more moderate or progressive direction. In two recent cases, progressives lost their primary contest by half a point (Francesca Hong, seeking to become governor of Wisconsin) or won by one point (Abdul El-Sayed, in a Minnesota race for U.S. Senate), so drawing broad conclusions from these outcomes is a roll of the dice. Closer to home, we have our own test case in the Providence contest between Mayor Brett Smiley and challenger David Morales (my guests next week on One on One.) And there’s also a measure of national trends in the outcome of the primary fight between Gov. McKee and Helena Foulkes, as Eli Okun writes in Politico: “The race represents another crest in the world’s post-pandemic anti-incumbent wave, which has transcended ideological lines as voters express broad frustration with high costs of living and governments they don’t feel are working for them.”
