SIGN UP:Get Nesi’s Notes by Email

Happy Saturday! I’m out of town, so Dan McGowan is penning this week’s edition of the weekend column – send your takes, tips and trial balloons to dmcgowan@wpri.com and follow @DanMcGowan on Twitter. Take it away, Dan.

1. Should the professional leagues get a cut of the action if Rhode Island legalizes sports betting later this year? That proposal wasn’t included in a bill introduced by Senate President Dominick Ruggerio last month, but it is something the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball are seeking in other states. Calling it an “integrity fee,” the leagues are asking for 1% of the total amount wagered – known as the handle – to help ensure their sports aren’t corrupted. The sportsbooks in Las Vegas are already crying foul, arguing that the 1% fee would cost them millions of dollars in revenue. Senate spokesman Greg Pare said it’s “premature to say” if Rhode Island will consider an integrity fee, but acknowledged the leagues are expected to seek amendments to the bill. Both the NBA and MLB have hired former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Stephen Alves as their local lobbyist. On the House side, spokesperson Larry Berman also said the sports betting issue is “still in the early stages of discussions,” noting that everything depends on the U.S. Supreme Court siding with the state of New Jersey in its effort to legalize that form of gambling.

2. Former House Speaker Gordon Fox was released from home confinement this week and he has already begun paying restitution… to Friends of Gordon Fox. Albin Moser, one of Fox’s attorneys, said the $109,000 a federal judge ordered Fox to pay back as part of his plea agreement in 2015 goes to the same account he admitted to stealing from. Moser said a $100 deposit reported to Fox’s account on Dec. 22 was a restitution payment. State law prohibits individuals from using campaign funds to cover personal expenses, but the money “can be used to donate to someone else’s campaign for office or for other limited purposes only,” Moser said. He stressed that Fox has no plans to run for office again in the future. Fox reported $66,660 in the campaign account, as of Dec. 31. Moser said the federal probation office is charged with keeping track of Fox’s income and the restitution payments.

3. State Senator Nicholas Kettle is the latest Rhode Island politician to end up in handcuffs. Officials from both parties are now calling for Kettle to step down, but as Tim White points out, that wouldn’t trigger a special election because the resignation would come after the first Monday in February of the second year of his term.

4. Providence City Council President David Salvatore said city leaders need to “take a long, hard look” at how they’ll address the city’s long-term pension challenges, but deflected questions about reducing benefits for existing retirees during a taping of WPRI 12’s Newsmakers. The pension system was just 25.8% funded as of June 30, 2017, and while a plan is currently in place to raise the funding level, Mayor Elorza has warned that the city’s annual required contribution will grow to a point that will eventually become unaffordable in the coming years. In a letter to constituents last week, Councilman Sam Zurier called the pension deficit the city’s version of global warming, “which over the next 10-15 years could doom our city if we do not address it, and which becomes more difficult to address as each year of nonaction passes by.” Salvatore said he is open to Mayor Elorza’s proposal to lease Providence’s water supply in exchange for a large infusion of cash for the pension fund, but said the city needs to work with other municipalities to get it done.

5. The buzz around Providence City Hall is Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin is the clubhouse favorite to become chairperson of the Providence Democratic City Committee, replacing Patrick Ward. It’s not a done deal, but Goodwin likely has the support of Mayor Elorza, who has a heavy influence over committee decisions. Goodwin has already held the post once before, serving as chair between 2013 and 2015. The committee still must schedule a vote, but the selection of Goodwin will likely be good news for Governor Raimondo, who wants to keep a fundraising agreement between her campaign and the committee in place. Raimondo and Goodwin have always maintained a strong relationship.

6. Governor Raimondo on how she views the General Assembly when it comes to passing gun restriction laws. “They are Democrats who are endorsed by the NRA, and just not open arms to this issue.”

7. One of the most striking statistics included in the strategic plan released by the Providence School Department this week was that 58% of its teachers were absent at least 10 days during the 2015-16 school year. The city’s teachers’ union immediately labeled the data misleading because the kinds of absences were not listed. Asked for clarification, school department spokesperson Laura Hart said 63% of all absences in the 2016-17 school year were due to illness; 10% were for personal days; 7% were leave without pay; 6% were for individuals injured on duty; and 5% were professional days. (It’s unclear where the remaining 9% of absences fall, except Hart said that few than 1% were related to teachers being on field trips. Maribeth Calabro, the union president, maintains the figures still aren’t disaggregated by types of illness, but stressed that the union does not condone the abuse of sick time. She suggested the district consider participating in a temporary disability insurance program, which teachers do not currently pay into.

8. Brown University has announced it has suspended acceptances of new applicants for the elementary education track in its Master of Arts in Teaching program for the 2018-19 academic year. Brian Clark, a spokesperson for the university, said the suspension will “enable greater focus on the secondary education track review while studying further the elementary education program for its next phase.”

9. How politics works: In an interview on former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara’s popular podcast, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse explained that “one of the great fights here in Washington” is Congress member versus staff. “I can’t tell you how often I’ve reached agreements on the floor with a Republican senator only to have their staff tear it down afterwards.” Toward the end of the interview, Whitehouse said you can find allies in the Senate “in some very improbable places,” noting that he worked with Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, a longtime rival on climate change issues, on legislation aimed at removing marine debris.

10. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has been spending a lot of time in Rhode Island because he’s teaching at Brown University, but he’s also getting to know a lot of local politicians. Former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino confirmed he and Perez were joined by Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, former Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and a handful of others for a dinner at the University Club Thursday night. Paolino said he wanted Perez to get to know Diossa because he considers the term-limited mayor “a real rising star.”

11. AG candidate Peter Neronha is starting to staff up after raising $201,000 during his first quarter as a candidate last fall. The Democrat and former U.S. attorney hired Blake Collins as his campaign coordinator last month, Collins confirmed this week. Collins, a graduate of URI and RWU Law, previously worked for the mayor of Woonsocket and Central Falls, as well as David Cicilline’s 2014 re-election campaign.

12. Pawtucket Councilwoman Sandra Cano appears to have secured a big chunk of the Democratic establishment’s support in the special election in Senate District 8, with campaign contributions coming in from Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey, Sens. Erin Lynch, Donna Nesselbush, Ryan Pearson, Harold Metts, Ana Quezada and William Conley, two Senate PACs, Bill and Patrick Lynch and former gubernatorial candidate Myrth York. Cano reported just over $16,000 cash on hand with two weeks to go before the primary. Her opponents, Matt Fecteau and David Norton, reported $11,000 and $1,400, respectively.

13. Care New England says its finances are getting on track.

14. State Sen. Ryan Pearson and Rep. Ken Marshall want to help Rhode Islanders get around President Trump’s tax changes by turning their state tax payments into charitable contributions.

15. Would you pay $70,000 to attend Brown University?

16. Set your DVRs: This week on Newsmakers – Providence City Council President David Salvatore. This week on Executive Suite – Vistaprint Corporate Solutions President Don LeBlanc; “Brown & Sharpe and the Measure of American Industry” author Gerald Carbone. Watch Saturday at 10:30 p.m. or Sunday at 8 p.m. on myRITV (or Sunday at 6 a.m. on Fox). Catch both shows back-to-back on your radio Sundays at 6 p.m. on WPRO-AM 630 and WEAN-FM 99.7. And you can subscribe to both shows as iTunes podcasts – click here for Executive Suite and click here for Newsmakers. See you back here next Saturday morning.

Continue the discussion on Facebook

Dan McGowan (dmcgowan@wpri.com) covers politics, education and the city of Providence for WPRI.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @danmcgowan