TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup for June 5, 2026

Summer is close enough that you can taste it, and I’m sending a virtual Del’s to help you stay cool. Thanks for stopping by. You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, threads and X. Here we go.

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Time for a vibe check. We’ve passed the midpoint of 2026, the race for governor has entered a new gear, and the House of Representatives votes later today on the next state budget. So how is Rhode Island faring? For all the pleasures of an idyllic sunny day with temps in the 80s, the state’s biggest challenges remain largely intractable: underperforming public schools; the absence of new engines of job growth; low reimbursement for healthcare costs, and so on. The Rhode Island Foundation is a key player in the state’s civic life and it distributes a lot of philanthropy – $93 million in grants just last year. So does the nation’s second-oldest charitable foundation have the right focus in moving the ball of key statewide issues? Foundation President/CEO David Cicilline points to work on housing (including plans to launch an accelerator fund) and education (including recommendations on revising the state’s funding formula) in arguing the answer is yes. “It’s not just important for the students, it’s important for our economic future, for the health of Rhode Island, for our economic wellbeing,” Cicilline said regarding the latter, during an interview this week on One on One. “This is an urgent priority and it’s something that’s going to remain a priority of the foundation.” Revising education funding was a key for progress in Massachusetts in the ‘90s; Cicilline said he’s hopeful there will be forward motion early next year on the foundation’s four recommendations. At the same time, we’ve heard similar rhetoric about the statewide importance of improving public schools for decades, and here we are, heading into the summer of 2026, with the needle having barely budged.

Before leaving Congress in 2023, Cicilline led the legislative fight against the most powerful tech firms in Silicon Valley. “I learned that, unlike a lot of other sectors of the economy, the monopoly power of these technology companies was a threat to our democracy,” he said in an exit interview with Politico. “It was a threat to our economy. It was a threat to our privacy.” Cicilline charged that DC had been “asleep at the switch.” He hired Lina Khan, who made her name with a Yale Law Journal article on “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” as counsel for an anti-trust subcommittee; she later served as FTC commissioner during the Biden administration. Cicilline worked with Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colorado), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and some of the legislation they supported became law – though most did not, amid massive tech sector opposition. Not surprisingly, Cicilline remains alarmed. As he said during our interview, the dangers presented by “that kind of monopolistic power continue and they’ve made, I think, communities more isolated, more the subject of disinformation and misinformation and alienation and division.”

If you’re inclined to approve of House Speaker Chris Blazejewski, there’s a lot to like in the first month of his tenure in the most powerful legislative post in Rhode Island. The era of abiding good feelings ushered in by predecessor Joe Shekarchi continues apace. The $15.2 billion budget set to win approval this evening in the House of Representatives strikes a balance on the much-debated millionaires’ tax, phasing it in over three years rather than all at once. The budget will create an office of inspector general, a concept discussed in Rhode Island since the early ‘90s. True, the new inspector general will not scrutinize the legislature (due to separation-of-powers concerns, according to Blazejewski). The spending plan increases Medicaid reimbursement, offers more help to hospitals and includes some of the tax benefits proposed by Gov. Dan McKee. It’s also worth noting how the House Finance Committee approved the budget by 7:30 pm last Friday, about four hours earlier than usual. To the random observer, that difference might not mean much. But it illuminates how Blazejewski, after 15 years as a state representative, has been a quick study as speaker, with an unusually deep understanding of the legislature. On the flip side, lawmakers instinctively spend given the opportunity. That’s why, after the May Revenue Estimating Conference offered a windfall, the House budget is about $300 million more than what McKee proposed in January. All this raises the question of what Blazejewski will accomplish during his time on the rostrum and whether even a speaker with his background can temper the continued upward trajectory of state spending.

While the multi-candidate races for attorney general and lieutenant governor have been slow to develop, Gina Raimondo is headlining a June 26 fundraiser for AG candidate Kim Ahern, who served as deputy counsel when Raimondo was governor.

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More than five years after leaving the governor’s office, Raimondo retains both admirers and critics as she tries to navigate challenging political prospects in the approach to 2028. Here in the Biggest Little, it’s worth remembering how Raimondo changed the stalled dynamic to funding transportation improvements in the state. I mean, who remembers how RIDOT developed a plan back in 2011 to put tolls on I-95? At the time, Rhode Island ranked near the bottom among states in the amount of money devotedto road and bridge repairs. “From the potholes gouged in our roads by a cruel winter to the crumbling bridges on Interstate 95, our long-neglected transportation system is in trouble,” venerable political commentator Scott MacKay noted way back then with more than a bit of prescience. Raimondo moved quickly after taking office in 2015 to implement RhodeWorks, including the controversial aspect of truck-only tolling to fund infrastructure improvements. That program has so far cost the state more than it has brought in, as I reported earlier this year, although if things go as planned, the bottom line will shift with the resumption of truck tolls next year. On the plus side, the percentage of deficient Rhode Island bridges has fallen over time. But RIDOT’s budget also more than doubled, to $1 billion, during ex-RIDOT Director Peter Alviti’s tenure. Perhaps as a result, the new state budget includes a requirement for the Office of Internal Audit to complete an efficiency and performance audit of RIDOT by Jan. 1.

The complaint by Michael Yelnosky of Roger Williams University School of Law against former House Speaker Joe Shekarchi is now in the hands of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. Jason Gramitt, executive director of the commission, calls the matter different from the norm. “In a normal case, there are a lot of facts that are in dispute,” he told me in an interview. “We would send our investigators out to collect documents and evidence and talk to people and potentially take testimony. In this case, there doesn’t really seem to be any factual issues that are in dispute. It will really probably just come down to some questions of interpretation of the relevant statutes and regulations, and the application of the revolving door laws.” All eyes will be watching to see if the commission acts as it did with Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Erin Lynch Prata in 2020, before she was elevated to the Supreme Court, or takes a different approach.

Gov. McKee downplayed the gaffe involving his first TV ad, noting that it was generating more focus on the spot. Helena Foulkes’ campaign didn’t miss the opportunity to weigh in: “His campaign is not ready for prime time,” said spokeswoman Angelika Pellegrino. Foulkes picked up endorsements from the RI Brotherhood of Correctional Officers and the Portsmouth Democratic Town Committee.

***Rhode Island’s DC delegation joined a chorus citing a lack of relevant experience for Bill Pulte, President Trump’s appointee to be director of national intelligence. U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo: “His only qualification is loyalty to Donald Trump. As head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, he abused his power and tried to use mortgage data to go after Trump’s critics.” U.S. Sen. Jack Reed: “The president should have expert professionals leading our nation’s intelligence agencies, but he prefers sycophants who will put personal fealty to him above the Constitution.” U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner: “President Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence makes the American people less safe.”

***In a further demonstration that the General Assembly can move quickly when it wants to, passing a bill to push back the statute of limitations on lawsuits over the sexual abuse of children became a priority for the Rhode Island Senate this week. That was after the uncertain future of the legislation became something of a PR issue. The revised bill won support from Attorney General Peter Neronha and Dr. Herbert “Hub” Brennan, a survivor of past abuse, among others. Gov. McKee is expected to sign the measure.

***The endorsements are starting to come fast and furious in this election year. David Morales won the support of the Providence Teachers Union, while Pete Buttigieg vouched for Mayor Brett Smiley and Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos. EMILY’s List backed Kim Ahern for AG. The Newport City Council endorsed Xay Khamsyvoravong for LG.

***Does beef or cheese produce more carbon pollution? Megan Hall and her Possibly crew have the answer.

Elizabeth Kolbert talks with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse in this piece entitled, “The U.S. Senator Who Won’t Shut Up about Climate Change.” Here’s why he says the messaging from Democrats and environmentalists on the issue has been “crap”: “The worst part of it has been that we’ve left the villain out of the story. Every story is better with a villain. This story has literally central-casting-quality villains, mustache-twirling-quality villains. The two big villains are the climate denial fraud operation that the fossil fuel industry runs, and the dark money corruption operation that the fossil fuel industry runs. People don’t like to be fooled and defrauded, and they sure don’t like dark money. That’s bipartisan and fiercely powerful ….”

Some worthy listens for your consideration ….

***Actor Clarke Peters – so great as ultra-cool Lester Freamon in The Wire – talks with Terry Gross about his life.

***Is being a punk rocker a good training ground for politics? Joe Keithley tells all.

***Katie Brandt of Portsmouth talks with Luis Hernandez about forging ahead when her husband and father were simultaneously dealing with brain diseases.

If the recent run of lovely late-spring weather is conjuring thoughts of hitting your favorite beach, here’s a wakeup call: a report by Environment Rhode Island warns that 59% of tested beaches in the state had unsafe levels of contamination on one or more days in 2024. ERI says that despite this, Congress recently began considering slashing funding to help states fix their sewage systems. “As Rhode Islanders head back to the ocean and lakes this summer, it’s time for Congress to ramp up funding to fix our water infrastructure,” Rex Wilmouth, state director of Environment Rhode Island, said in a statement.