Shekarchi to Supreme Court? + Much More with Ian Donnis

Rhode Island Politics and Media Changes: Analyzing the Recent Movements

In this episode, we explore the latest political maneuvers in Rhode Island, focusing on Speaker Joe Ciccarchi’s potential transition from legislative leader to Supreme Court Justice, and how media evolution is shaping public engagement. With insights from political reporter Ian Donis, you'll gain a clear understanding of the strategic considerations behind these shifts and the importance of local media in today's landscape.

Key Topics:

• The political implications of Joe Ciccarchi’s move to potentially become Rhode Island’s next Supreme Court Justice.
• How timing and political context influence career moves in Rhode Island politics.
• The challenges and ethical considerations involved in judicial appointments linked to political figures.
• The evolving role and significance of Ocean State Media in Rhode Island’s media landscape.
• The role of radio and local media as vital, free sources of trusted information

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction to Rhode Island political shifts and Ciccarchi’s career move

02:16 - Analysis of Ciccarchi’s decision in the context of his long political career

03:11 - Discussion on potential quid pro quo and ethical questions raised in the pursuit of judicial positions

04:12 - The impact of the state's revolving door law and recent controversies around judicial appointments

05:21 - The importance of temperament and legal reputation in judicial appointments

06:40 - Ethical debates and precedent-setting implications of Ciccarchi’s move

07:42 - The ongoing challenges in Rhode Island’s public policy issues and what leadership must do

08:12 - Current dynamics of the governor’s race and candidate viability

09:21 - The influence of old-school figures like Robert Cool Moose on Rhode Island politics

10:49 - Political coalition-building and candidate positioning in upcoming elections

11:45 - The difficulties faced by independent candidates like Ken Block

12:11 - The significance of local media in shaping political discourse and public trust

13:14 - Ocean State Media’s recent expansion and importance of radio in Rhode Island

15:01 - The enduring value of radio as a free, trusted medium for public information

16:23 - The future of local radio and its role in community engagement and journalism

N.B. This episode was recorded prior to Joe Shekarchi's resignation as Speaker though presented as a likely outcome.

Resources & Links:

• Ocean State Media
• Bill Bartholomew on Twitter
• Ian Donis on Facebook

Connect with Ian Donis:

• Ocean State Media

Transcript

Bill Bartholomew 0:00

Ian Donis, the political reporter for Ocean State Media. That's your NPR and PBS affiliate here in Southern New England. Of course, the host of One-on-One with Ian Donis on those very networks. Nice to see you, my friend. Happy to be back with you, Bill. Thank you for the invitation. My pleasure. We convene on a day now where, look, the reality is pretty clear. Speaker of the House, Joe Shakarchi, likely to, and maybe he already has, we actually don't know, uh, basically put his name in to become a Supreme Court justice here in Rhode Island. This is part of a series of maneuvers that we've seen the Speaker make since he took power uh following Nick Mattiello. Now, what, six, seven years ago? I remember you and I were there together that night. The travel of Shakarchi from your standpoint covering Rhode Island politics, is this an obvious place for him to land, or is this sort of a, hey, there was no path to governor. Jack Reed's not going anywhere anytime soon. So this is a landing spot. What's your read on it?

Ian Donnis 1:02

Well, it's kind of like you're saying, Bill, timing is such a huge factor in politics. And Shikarchi kicked the tires on running for Congress when those seats were open in recent years. He kicked the tires on running for governor. Um, I think this is strikes him as the right opportunity at the right time. My reporting uh tells me that uh Speaker Shikarchy will announce during Thursday's House session that he is indeed applying for the Supreme Court. And uh, if he follows the example set by former Speaker William Murphy, who stepped down mid-session in 2010, Shikarche will leave the speakership, become a regular rank and file rep. And that would uh avoid the kind of awkward situation of him leading the rewrite, the house rewrite of Governor McKee's budget at a time when Governor McKee is picking a handful or you know, is faced with the choice of nominating the next Supreme Court justice. But yeah, I I think it's I think it strikes uh Shikarche as a good capstone for his long career in public life and uh a good oper too good an opportunity to pass up at this time.

Bill Bartholomew 2:14

No doubt from from my observation as well, having seen the travel of the speaker and again that likely political path, what it would look like to choose another office executive uh or or or legislative. Look, uh there's no doubt about it that people inside the government right now, the government being Redon government, may tell you there's no horse trading going on, there's no back and forth. Look, Speaker Shikarchi was soliciting support to run for governor behind the scenes. He in fact wanted Governor McKee to step aside. Uh so it seems from the reporting that I've been able to do, whatever the case is, right now from your standpoint, looking at this before we even get into the ethics review part of this, we can refer to Justice Lynch Prada for this conversation in just a moment. But just from uh an optics standpoint, does this pass the SNF test?

Ian Donnis 3:10

Well, I th uh it depends how you look at it, I guess, is the answer. I mean, did was there some kind of quid pro quo with Shikarchy deciding not to run for governor and McKee saying, well, hey, uh we're gonna have a judicial opening down the line. I'm not convinced that was the case, although people will certainly wonder about it. Um, I think it's a little more germane in terms of what you referenced about how former Senate Judiciary Chair Aaron Lynch Prada threaded the needle to become a Supreme Court justice back in 2020. There had never really been a test of the state's revolving door law before that. The revolving door law was put into place in the early 90s after we had a lot of scandal with two consecutive Supreme Court chief justices resigning amid a lot of controversy. And there was a lot of well-deserved um distaste on the part of Rhodonders about the sleazy quality of Rhodon politics. I think things have changed for the better since then. We're not perfect, but I think things have gone in a better direction. And uh Lynch Prada argued that be uh, in her view, the Supreme Court is a constitutional office and therefore it was not uh it was exempt from the the revolving door law. Other people disagree sharply. Common cause of uh Rodan Hedgeon Marion said he was uh sickened by what happened with that, and that you know, he thinks it was the ethics commission did the wrong thing by not uh rejecting Lynch Prada's uh you know uh um uh uh request for an opinion on their stance on that. So I think that I think that's kind of the more germane issue. I mean, I think I think those of us who follow this closely believe that if Speaker Shikarchy applies for this position, which he is doing, it's hard to uh envision any scenario in which he does not actually get the job. That would be shocking. And um, you know, I think on the merits, uh Shikarchi has a solid case. You know, he's a longtime lawyer. He's known as being someone who is very deliberative and hears arguments from competing sides before coming to a decision on legislation. He seemingly has what people would call the right temperament for be to be a judge. The question really is how he's the top most powerful person at the legislature. And is it a little bit slippery for him to go right from that to the Supreme Court? And that's gonna be the next phase of this debate.

Bill Bartholomew 5:49

Yeah, and how this plays out from the standpoint of precedent setting, even in the moment. Right now, I think of Roger Williams University law professor Michael Yelensky, who both in an op-ed in the Boston Globe, or pardon me, in an article in the Boston Globe and also on the WPRO Dan York Show and in other cases has repeated time and time again, this is totally unacceptable. And you can kind of call that one end of the opposition somewhere lighter touch, perhaps, and that is John Mary and your reference of common cause. And then there seems to be the general consensus of most people who even do pay attention, which is this is inevitable, it is what it is, and time will tell how this proves out in terms of precedence setting going forward for potential speakers of the House that want to become Supreme Court justices.

Ian Donnis 6:38

Yeah. Um, you lay it out well, Bill. And um, you know, Shikarchy is a very well-liked guy. Um, he it's funny because we still have many of the same underlying tough challenges in Rhode Island that were in place before he became Speaker, underperforming public schools. We see more municipalities having financial stress in North Providence and Cranston, uh, the state's effort to build a stronger economy. And, you know, despite Shikarchy being well liked, despite ushering in an era of good feeling in the House of Representatives, and to his credit, he has focused a lot more attention on housing. You know, maybe we're at an early phase of digging out of the housing crisis, which is acknowledged as one of the state's top issues. But, you know, in spite of that, making headway on Rodon's toughest challenges is really difficult, even when there's a speaker who's well liked and had uh by his membership and who has a good uh sense of decorum and collegiality.

Bill Bartholomew 7:41

Yes, no doubt about it. All right, you what's your read on the governor's race is currently constituted? Ken Block put out a poll a couple of weeks ago. It was a push poll that upon the second round of questions, he was in fact the front runner. He didn't lead with that necessarily and sort of introduced the idea that he was the front runner. Nonetheless, though, what the what that poll showed, two things. Ken Block is a viable candidate for governor. And number two, people want change. You see that in the support for folks, you see that support for um Ken Block. And frankly, you can even read into that with the undecided. That's one poll. You cover this every day, I do as well. But what's your read right now in the govern in the governor's race?

Ian Donnis 8:20

Well, one thing I've been struck by is how here it is, we're almost in mid-May, and the race has been very slow to develop. Uh, granted, there are a lot of people who don't really tune in until it's much later in the process. But I've been surprised that Helena Folkes uh has not yet gone on television. She has a big cash advantage on Governor McKee, and she's enormously wealthy uh personally. So she could, you know, get more attention, raise her visibility. And uh I expect that'll happen sometime this month. Uh Governor McKee has certainly been using every opportunity available to him to try to promote policies that he sees as being popular, you know, efforts to cut uh to widen the exemption for Social Security tax, uh, reduce the cost of energy, so forth. He's using every tool at his disposal to make his road a little easier. Of course, that we know it's a very difficult road road based on all the polling. Ken Block's an interesting guy. I have known Ken Block since he emerged with the Moderate Party in 2008. He later renounced the Moderate Party. Uh Block's candidacy makes me think a little bit of the late Robert Kulmoose Healy, who was a great eccentric and some a kind of a folk hero of Rhode Island. Uh Healy ran repeatedly for office. And the first, second, third time, he didn't do so well. But we remember in 2014, he spent something like $35 and he got about 22% of the vote for governor. And he was a factor in that race for governor between Gina Raimundo and Alan Fung. Not to say that uh Kulmoose Healy and Ken Blood, but I think it the takeaway is that Block has built his credibility and his recognition over time. He's remained in the public sphere as someone who's dismayed by some of our boondoggles and some of the problems we have in state government. I think, as his polling suggested, it would be a tougher road for him as an independent if Helena Folkes is the general election candidate in November. One suspects that if uh Governor McKee can find a way to win the primary, that would be a better matchup for Ken Block and that his campaign versus the incumbent uh Dan McKee, that could be a real barn burner of a race. But of course, that depends what happens in the primary. But, you know, Ken's a serious guy, very bright, very thoughtful, and he he knows state government well.

Bill Bartholomew 10:55

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it develops in terms of what his coalition looks like and also how he defines himself. I was referencing, I think it was with McGowan a couple, yeah, McGowan a couple of weeks ago. I I think back to when Patricia Morgan ran for, I think government, yeah, when she ran for governor, she put together something like the coalition that had, you know, Arlene Violet and this, that, and the other person, and somehow Ken Block was on there. The problem is those photos are going to re-resurface. Patricia Morgan, you couldn't think of a person in this state that represents the far right in terms of elected office more than Patricia Morgan. That's a tough thing for him to be able to move away from. That's what he'll get hit on no matter who he runs again in a Democrat against a Democrat uh head-to-head matchup. So he really needs to spend time defining himself to voters right now.

Ian Donnis 11:44

Yeah, it's also true that it's very tough to run as an independent. Certainly, political parties matter a lot less than in the past, but you know, the Democratic Governors Association will probably be spending money on behalf of Governor McKee. Um, you know, they're just these organizations that line up on a partisan basis, and there's no comparable effort on the behalf of independent candidates. And that's like another hurdle that faces Ken.

Bill Bartholomew 12:09

Yes. All right, one last note here, as you often do in your weekly column, which I should note as well. Make sure you subscribe to Ian's weekly mailing list, T G I F. It comes out about four o'clock on Friday. I always enjoy reading it, as I'm sure many of you do. And there's nice kickers in there and little stories that get your mind going just in time for the weekend. You also cover media really well. Big news and media. Big week for you guys at Ocean State Media. 103.7 FM, that's a legacy band as a radio junkie. Not only somebody who loves radio, but Rhode Island Radio, that's a special piece of real estate. I think of 1037 WRX, the great classic rock station, that brought me into so much of the music that mattered to me as like a kid. And then WEEEI. WE EI on 1037. Dale and knew me. I'm not even talking Dale and Holly. Some of the best radio ever. And now, as of this week, Ian Donis and Ocean State Media. Congratulations.

Ian Donnis 13:12

Thank you, Bill. And uh, people can find us online at oceanstatemedia.org. That's where you can find my column. And there's a link near the top if you want to sign up for email delivery. Yeah, it's great to be on one strong signal statewide. We took a big leap forward uh, you know, about 2017 when we got the main signal we're leaving now, 89.3. That was a vast improvement over what we had before. When I joined public radio in Rodan back in 2009, you know, we had high ambitions and high hopes, but you have to work with the field that you have. And we were on three different FM frequencies around the state. And that is always obviously less than ideal to ask listeners to be, you know, if you're driving around to tune the dial, depending on whether you're in uh Coventry or, you know, uh Burroville or wherever you are. Now we don't have that problem. 103.7 is a great signal. It's a full circle moment for me because in my old days at the Providence Phoenix, the Phoenix briefly operated 103.7 as an alternative rock station. And um, the good news for Red Sox fans, if they're concerned about hearing Red Sox broadcasts in Rhode Island, they can find those at 101.5. Um, but yeah, we are very happy to be at 103.7. Uh, it's gonna be a uh way of hopefully expanding our existing audience. It's a very prominent station, carries all over the state and and puts us on one signal, whether you're in northern, northern Rhodan, the uh South County, east or west.

Bill Bartholomew 14:50

Yeah. Well, first of all, you mentioned WFNX. How could I forget that? I remember waking up the morning after they did the format flip to Jackson and the pharmacist, with where it was this morning to zoo show. And it was like, well, this isn't classic rock anymore. Uh that was an odd format. It didn't really parallel the Phoenix's motif necessarily, but uh necessarily, but it was a good it was a good moment in time. Most importantly, here's my take. Radio is an amazing medium, and it's an incredibly important thing in this moment. It's free, it belongs to the public. It's not connected to it is kind of connected to billionaires, but it's not as much as most of the tech that we use for communications. I hope that this moment with Ocean State Media, NPR, Renown Public Radio, whatever, on 1037 is a call to people to get back on the radio. I think that benefits I think we think of this like the way that networks think of the NFL, which is that they advertise each other's games. Oh, you can watch Patriots, Jets on CBS, even if it's airing on Fox. Why? Because the the medium, the space is important. And radio provides vital information in vital times. And you should have choices. And it's rare that you have more than one choice in a market. You've got two choices at 997 and 1037. And I hope it becomes a habit that people trust the authority and the the the literally the free nature of what you can get out of the clouds through radio. So congratulations. It's it's a it's thank you 100%.

Ian Donnis 16:23

And you know, we are a totally free service, uh, whether it's online or uh on the radio, we will never have a paywall. And for people who are unfamiliar with Ocean State Media Radio, I mean, we offer a mix of local public interest reporting. We have great national reporting out of Washington, D.C. and coast to coast. Uh and we use NPR coverage of foreign capitals, the war in Iran. You can get very informed, uh, you know, if you listen to the radio for 15 minutes, half an hour, however long you want to listen. Great interview shows like Fresh Air with Terry Gross and many others. And uh I encourage people to check us out at 103.7 FM if they have not. That's right.

Bill Bartholomew 17:05

Ian Donis, the iDog, as they call him, as I call him, as we call him. How's baseball baseball season start? One of a legendary baseball players will.

Ian Donnis 17:13

I'm ready to uh start my uh old man baseball league. I uh hopefully will fare better than the Red Sox, but uh yeah, I'm I'm keen to get back out there. I might go to the batting cage this afternoon because I have the the day off today. Well, thanks for making part of your day off with us. Thanks, I dog. Thanks for having me, Bill. Good to see you.