Four more years

OK, so I may my candidate for the Senate was beaten like a rented mule back in November, but two prominent candidates I voted for were re-elected, and have been sworn in for another term.

Governor Donald Carcieri (pictured above), a Republican, won re-election by a very slender margin against his own Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Charlie Fogarty. Faced with an overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature, he'll have his work cut out for him trying to wheel and deal with state lawmakers to pass a balanced budget, much less get any of his own political agenda points dealt with. I certainly wish the Governor the best of luck, and invite you to read his inaugural address here.

By contrast, Providence mayor David Cicilline was overwhelmingly re-elected, and seems to enjoy a broad mandate from the city's electorate. The mayor's facing something of an uphill battle as well, as Providence's economic and social ills are nothing to sneeze at, but he's trying to look at the bright side. Waxing Obama-esque about hope and optimism, Cicilline deviated slightly from the Obama formula by not only doling out feel good platitudes, but by offering some specifics on what he would like to do to create "the New Providence".

Now, I like David Cicilline, and he's done a fine job as mayor, but he's got to put his money where his mouth is on the issue of Providence's dismal public schools, and he's going to have continue to battle the public employee unions that make the cost of living and working in Providence so inordinately high, and have helped provide a dismal return on the public's investment. Cicilline's first administration worked on the issue of public safety and restoring the public trust in City Hall as a political institution after the Buddy Cianci years. So far, so good. Now it's time for our diminutive mayor to get cracking on the really hard part of bringing Providence back from the brink of economic and political disaster.