Monday, November 26, 2012
Considered by many around the state to be a Republican hotbed, it turns out East Greenwich attracts avowed liberals too.
Mitt Romney may have lost Rhode Island to Barack Obama by a two to one margin, but not in East Greenwich, where he won 3,649 to 3,535, one of only three towns in the state to go Romney. (The other two? Scituate and West Greenwich.) EG also elected (with the help of West Greenwich) the only new Republican state legislator in Rhode Island – Anthony Giarrusso, our new Dist. 30 representative – in a year that saw many state GOP candidate losses. Add to that the re-elected all-GOP Town Council, a GOP majority on the School Committee (4 GOP, 2 Democrats, 1 independent), and a Republican Town Moderator, and it certainly looks like East Greenwich is about as red a town as you can get in blue Rhode Island. So it's interesting to note that some of…
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Voters approved the nonbinding ballot referendum asking if the Town and the Fire District should merge by an overwhelming majority on Tuesday – 4,425 to 2,239.
Officials are pondering how to move forward after voters Tuesday approved the idea of merging the EG Fire District with the Town. The ballot question was not binding, since by state law any such change needs to be made by the General Assembly. Three of the five Fire Commissioners came out against merging the District with the Town, including board Chairman Bill Daly. “We didn’t really get the chance to get the word out,” he said. Still, said Daly, “we’re going to cooperate. I think we’ll present our point of view.” Town Manager Bill Sequino said the referendum passed “more overwhelming” than he he thought it would. As for what to do now, Sequino said, “I think the Council and the Fire District should get together.” Sequino said many …
Friday, November 9, 2012
Mail ballots were finally counted Thursday and gave the Republican an 81-vote edge over Democrat Schwager.
In the end, West Greenwich handed Anthony Giarrusso victory in the contest for R.I. House Dist. 30. With mail ballots finally counted Thursday, the Republican had 3,304 votes, Democrat Mark Schwager had 3,223 votes, and independent Kevin McDonough had 904 votes. But in East Greenwich, Schwager led 3,053 to Giarrusso's 3,010, and McDonough's 826. In West Greenwich, Giarrusso got 294 votes, compared to Schwager's 170, and McDonough's 78. While there are provisional ballots still to be counted, they are too few to alter the result. "I'm really looking forward to it," said Giarrusso late Thursday about his new job. But, he acknowledged, "We're definitely going to have some hard work to do, some hard choices." The Republican minorities in the…
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The numbers.
East Greenwich went for Republican candidates from Mitt Romney down to the only GOP candidate for School Committee and approved all 8 ballot questions on Tuesday. The election in East Greenwich went off smoothly and results for almost all the contests were clear by 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Yes, there were some surprisingly long lines at polling places, especially at Cole, Frenchtown and Hanaford. Part of that was the move from eight polling sites in 2010 to five polling sites in 2012. According to Town Canvasser Elaine Vespia, there were two reasons for the cut from eight to five. "The redistricting that took place in May and June changed some of the Senate district lines," said Vespia. "That is why we have that small precinct 0901 [at the high…
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
There are more than 500 mail ballots left to be counted in the state House Dist. 30 race, but Giarrusso leads Schwager by 148 votes.
Votes from the West Greenwich precinct that had ballot machine problems Tuesday were counted Wednesday at the state Board of Elections in Providence and the results gave Republican Anthony Giarrusso a 148 lead in the race for state House Dist. 30. Board of Elections officials said the mail ballot tally should be in Wednesday late afternoon. "It's not over," said Giarrusso, who watched the count. "Historically, it seems like absentee ballots do favor Republicans," he noted. "They would need to make up a lot of votes, especially in a three-way race." Giarrusso was referring to Democrat Mark Schwager, who was only 36 votes behind Giarrusso after the vote count was in last night in East Greenwich. The West Greenwich votes, however, make the …
Your guide for life in East Greenwich today, Nov. 7.
Whew! Our long national election season has ended. More than 7,000 East Greenwich residents voted yesterday (including absentee ballots, which haven’t officially been counted but there were more than 500 of them!). We’ve got the returns in town races here. In the state Senate Dist. 35 race here. We will have more election news as the day progresses – check back! Planning Board meeting: At tonight’s meeting, former chair Brad Bishop (just elected to a full term on the Town Council) will be recognized for his years of service on the board. In addition, the panel will discuss inter-municipal zone change applications and the ongoing Comprehensive Plan update. The meeting takes place in Council Chambers at Town Hall and starts at 7 p.m. …
Rhode Island voters favor Democrats in election.
It was a good night for Democrats Tuesday in Rhode Island. In Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District David Cicilline was able to win a second term against a tough race fought against Republican Brendan Doherty. The former head of the Rhode Island State Police strongly criticized Cicilline during the course of the campaign over his final leadership of the city of Providence when he was mayor for eight before heading to Washington two years ago. In the 2nd Congressional District James Langevin was able to win a seventh term over Republican Michael Riley. Riley reportedly lent his campaign more than $600,000. Langevin cited as accomplishments his work to maintain submarine production at Electric Boat and efforts to strengthen job training …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
President Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.
President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden were re-elected Tuesday night, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan. NBC News called the presidential election for Obama around 11:15 EST. The president sent a message on Twitter at 10:14 saying simply, "This happened because of you. Thank you." The Obama campaign won the most expensive presidential race ever, with both parties raising about $2.6 billion. The race was filled with negative campaigning on both sides, from President Obama attacking Romney’s business experience with Bain Capital to Romney lambasting Obama’s handling of the economy. The race tightened during the final months of the campaign, with gaffes and surges …
Ballot question on merging Fire District with Town approved.
Voters in East Greenwich returned all incumbents to office, with the five Republican Town Council members and School Committee Chair Deidre Gifford winning re-election. Newcomers Carolyn Mark and Clark Smith also won seats on the School Committee. Republican Anthony Giarrusso was leading the R.I. House Dist. 30 race by 36 votes over Democrat Mark Schwager, with more than 500 mail ballots and the portion of West Greenwich that belongs to Dist. 30 still uncounted. Giarrusso got 2,798 votes in East Greenwich and Schwager got 2,762. Kevin McDonough, an independent, got 755 votes. Ballot Question 8, a nonbinding referendum asking if the EG Fire District should be merged with the Town of EG, was approved 3,994 to 2,120. For Town Council, …
State Sen. Dawson Hodgson leads by more than 2,000 votes over Win Hames; Dist. 35 includes parts of East Greenwich, North Kingstown, South Kingstown and Narragansett.
In the race Senate Dist. 35, arguably the most strangely configured district in Rhode Island, incumbent Dawson Tucker Hodgson looks to have won re-election over Winters B. Hames III, with all but two precincts (one each in South Kingstown and Narragansett) reporting. Hodgson, a Republican, had 7,272 votes by midnight Tuesday. Hames, a Democrat, had 5,181 votes. The totals include all the votes from East Greenwich and North Kingstown. According to the R.I. Board of Elections website, in South Kingstown, 11 out of 12 precincts had reported vote totals as of 11:50 p.m. In Narragansett, 6 out of 7 precincts were in by 11:50 p.m. Senate Dist. 35 includes most of East Greenwich, part of North Kingstown, part of Narragansett, and a small piece …
KK
11:10 pm on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
I am glad to see that in a community like East Greenwich (wealthy) that there were 3, 535 voters who chose to vote for Obama. I was afraid it would be a lot more lopsided toward the gop. What does it matter what your party is if you are a member of the school committe or town council? Do they follow a party line? I think they should all be independents. more ›