Interesting juxtaposition
With
an op-ed in today's ProJo,
Tom Sgouros notes how the Republican label -- though not necessarily somewhat conservative politics, aka old-school RI Repulicanism -- was lethal for General Assembly candidates earlier this month.
[A]ll is not bleak for the Republicans. There were two notable Republican winners. You didn’t hear about them? Michael Pinga unseated Sen. Stephen Alves, of West Warwick, and Ed O’Neill, of Lincoln, trounced Senate President Joseph Montalbano. You might have overlooked them because to win, they abandoned their party and ran as a Democrat and independent, respectively. And here’s the real rub: Conservative as both of them are, they will find many compatible colleagues among the Democrats of the General Assembly.
The failure of the state Republican Party is a failure to recognize that there is demand for a constructive and conservative party here. Sadly, state Republican leaders refuse to supply that demand. Governor Carcieri seems to relish spending his time bashing immigrants, unions and advocates for the poor on the radio even while candidates who concentrate on those issues lose. Meanwhile Pinga and O’Neill, who appear to approximate old-time Yankee Republicanism, did just fine.
As we know, we're at the point where even George Nee and other ideological foes of the GOP are citing the desirability of a real two-party system in RI.
Meanwhile, with a letter to the editor in today's ProJo, Susan Story says that TransformRI . . .
is here for the long term to help the public understand and act on issues of critical importance to our state.
Our state is facing some very great challenges. As Governor Carcieri told the General Assembly last January, Rhode Island is at a “tipping point.” We need to see real reform in our state if we are going to rebound from the economic abyss we are experiencing.
Yet doesn't it go to Sgouros's point about the RI GOP's lack of traction when the main image on TransformRI's Web page today is one of Governor Carcieri talking on WPRO?
