Op-eds

Vote Yes

Vote No

Other

Newspaper

Snider, J.H., and Beverly Clay, Constitutional Convention records speak for themselves, Warwick Beacon, November 4, 2014.

Zurier, Samuel, Why Rhode Island Needs A Clear Constitutional Right To EducationProvidence Journal, November 3, 2014.

Driver, Rod, Why R.I. needs a Constitutional Convention, Providence Journal, November 2, 2014.

Conley, Patrick, History shows there is no need to fear Constitutional ConventionProvidence Journal, October 31, 2014.

Girouard, Larry, Constitutional Conventional is crucial to R.I. turnaroundProvidence Journal, October 30, 2014.

Migliaccio, John, Where voices are heard, Warwick Beacon, October 29, 2014.

Murphy, Timothy, Insiders maneuver against Rhode IslandProvidence Journal, October 28, 2014.

Snider, J.H., and Beverly Clay, Constitutional Convention purpose? Democratic reform , Valley Breeze, October 28, 2014.*

Violet, Arlene, A vote for better R.I. government, Valley Breeze, October 28, 2014.*

Snider, J.H., and Beverly Clay, Constitutional Convention and the out-of-state-money bogeyman, Providence Journal, October 24, 2014.

Snider, J.H., and Beverly Clay, Constitutional Convention purpose? Democratic reform , Valley Breeze, October 21, 2014.*

Frias, Steven, R.I. has a rare chance to reform, Providence Journal, October 22, 2014.

Block, Ken, Vote YES on Question 3GoLocalProv, October 21, 2014. (essentially a repeat, with a different title, of Block’s October 5, 2014 Providence Journal commentary).

Larry Girouard and John Hazen White Jr., Constitutional convention could improve R.I.’s image (see here for the full commentary), Providence Business Journal,October 18, 2014.

Snider, J.H., 1787: Vote No Against Convening a National Constitutional Convention (a satire), GoLocalProv, October 17, 2014.

Flanders, Robert O.,Constitutional conventions historically expand rights, Warwick Beacon, October 16, 2014.

Barham, Lonnie, Judge’s Ruling is Evidence We Need Constitutional Convention, Warwick Beacon, October 16, 2014.

Gencarella, Pam, Context Is What’s Needed – Part I, GoLocalProv, October 16, 2014.

Zurier, Samuel D. , Constitutional Convention can boost school reformProvidence Journal, October 14, 2014.

Violet, Arlene, The best – and worst – of government, Valley Breeze, October 14, 2014.*

Murphy, Timothy, 38 Studios shows need for reformProvidence Journal, October 9, 2014.

Barham, Lonnie, A good reason for a Constitutional Convention, Warwick Beacon, October 9, 2014.

Block, Ken, We have a rare opportunity to fix R.I.Providence Journal, October 5, 2014.

Sasse, Gary, and Philip West, Taking issue with voter guide, TheWesterlySun.com, October 3, 2014.

West, Philip H., Jr., Fed up with the General Assembly?Providence Journal, September 28, 2014.

Snider, J.H., and Beverly Clay,  R.I. handbook shows blatant biasProvidence Journal, September 25, 2014.

Frias, Steven, The rush to be a Rhode Island judgeProvidence Journal, September 24, 2014.

Partridge, Jack, R.I. insiders shortchange the voters, Providence Journal, September 16, 2014.

Gencarella, Pam, Why You Should Care About a Constitutional Convention, GoLocalProv, August 21, 2014.

Stenhouse, Mike, The people of R.I. are not the enemy, Providence Journal, August 14, 2014.

Snider, J.H., and Beverly Clay,  R.I.’s poor preparation for conventionProvidence Journal, August 2, 2014.

Frias, Steven, Felon mayor’s own words condemn himProvidence Journal, July 23, 2014.

Moore, Russell, Constitutional Convention: Just Say Yes! GoLocalProv, July 7, 2014.

Snider, J.H., and Beverly Clay, ‘Dark money’ drives R.I. constitutional convention votesProvidence Journal, June 13, 2014. (Click to pdf here.)

Murphy, Timothy, Rhode Island should vote for constitutional conventionProvidence Journal, June 4, 2014.

Partridge, Jack, Update and reform R.I. government, Providence Journal, May 22, 2014.

Benson, Robert A., Jr., Assembly tries to steal constitutional convention, Providence Journal, March 23, 2014 (letter concerning the J.H. Snider and Sage Snider op-ed below)

Snider, J.H., and Sage Snider, R.I. needs a constitutional convention, Providence Journal, March 21, 2014.

Block, Ken, Ken Block: R.I. must hold constitutional convention, Providence Journal, July 7, 2013. (Ken Block is running for Rhode Island Governor; see also the section of his website covering government reform, which focuses on the upcoming constitutional convention referendum).

*The Valley Breeze is the consolidated online version of seven local newspapers covering adjacent Rhode Island communities, including Cumberland, Lincoln, Woonsocket, North Smithfield & Blackstone, Smithfield, North Providence, and Pawtucket.  Sometimes op-eds aren’t published the same day, which explains the duplicate coverage in the online version.  The URLs reflect the print locations even if the Valley Breeze page for an op-ed looks the same.

Blog

Katz, Justin, Nation-Leading Teacher Pay… and the Constitutional ConventionOcean State Current, October 24, 2014.

Katz, Justin, Out-of-State Special Interests and the RI ConstitutionOcean State Current, October 14, 2014.

Katz, Justin, Four Thoughts on the Anti-ConCon CommercialOcean State Current, October 1, 2014.

Katz, Justin, AFL-CIO Nee’s Penchant for Contradiction, Ocean State Current, September 30, 2014 (critiques the George Nee “Vote No” op-ed from September 29, 2014)

Stenhouse, Mike, A Constitutional Convention in Rhode Island; Citizen Democracy in Action, Ocean State Current, August 12, 2014.

Letter-To-The-Editor

Conley, Patrick T., Question No. 3 opponents and their political paranoia, IndependentRI.com, October 30, 2014.

Flanders, Robert O.,Trust the voters, vote ‘yes’ on Question No. 3, IndependentRI.com, October 16, 2014. (largely a repeat of Flanders’ October 16, 2014 Warwick Beacon op-ed).

King, Will, Not happy with the status quo? Vote ‘no’ on Question No. 3, IndependentRI.com, October 30, 2014 (there may be a typo in the title of this commentary, where “no” appears to mean “yes”)

King, Will, The most important ballot questionProvidence Journal, October 26, 2014

Migliaccio, John E., Don’t fear reform of R.I.Providence Journal, October 24, 2014

Flanders, Robert O., Trust the voters, vote ‘yes’ on Question No. 3, IndependentRI.com, October 23, 2014. (repeat of Flanders’ October 16, 2014 Warwick Beacon commentary).

Anthony, Richard, We can’t keep electing the same candidates, TheWesterlySun, October 17, 2014.

Benson, Robert, Jr., ACLU not concerned about Assembly’s ethics, but I amProvidence Journal, October 6, 2014

Curran, Christopher, It’s all about the loss of power, Warwick Beacon, May 13, 2014.

Newspaper

Lally, Donald J.  Jr.: Constitutional Convention is unnecessaryProvidence Journal, November 1, 2014 (a repeat of Lally’s October 25, 2014 All Pawtucket All The Time and October 30, 2014 IndependentRI.com commentaries)

Nee, George H., Why Question 3 is bad for workers, Warwick Beacon, October 29, 2014 (derived from Nee’s earlier Providence Journal op-ed).

Sapinsely, Lila, Don’t duplicate the R.I. General Assembly, Providence Journal, October 25, 2014.

Vincent, Jim, Civil rights at risk in proposed R.I. Constitutional ConventionProvidence Journal, October 20, 2014.

Brewster, Kate, Protect public services: reject Question 3, Westerly Sun, October 18, 2014.

Brown, Steve, A Constitutional Convention: A General Assembly By Any Other Name, GoLocalProv, October 14, 2014. (essentially a repeat, with a different title, of Brown’s October 3, 2014 Providence Journal, October 7, 2014 Valley Breeze, and October 9, 2014 IndependentRI.com commentaries).

Brown, Steve, ACLU head: Vote ‘No’ on constitutional conventionValley Breeze, October 7, 2014 (derived from Brown’s earlier Providence Journal op-ed).

Brown, Steve, The General Assembly’s kid brotherProvidence Journal, October 3, 2014.

Nee, George H., Constitutional Convention bad for union workers, Providence Journal, September 29, 2014.

Rodriquez, Pablo, ConCon: A Bright Shiny Object That Isn’t, Providence Journal, August 18, 2014.

Blog

The Union’s Election Day Dilemma, RI Socialism, November 4, 2014. (same as the post below)

The Union’s Election Day Dilemma, Rhode Island Red Teacher, November 4, 2014.

Norris, Jenny, Past experience shows a Constitutional Convention is a waste of money and time, Progressive Charlestown, November 2, 2014.

Davis, Hillary, Conley no stranger to Con-Con ‘sleight of handrifuture.org, October 31, 2014.

Rhodes, J., Conley’s history wrong on Con-Con, civil rightsrifuture.org, October 31, 2014.

Fish, Ken, The Ballot Measure That Could Roll Back LGBT Rights, Options Magazine, October 21, 2014.

Ahlquist, Steve, Tobin, Stenhouse backpeddle on ‘thorny cultural issues’rifuture.org, October 27, 2014.

Lally, Donald J., Constitutional Convention: An Unnecessary Cost, All Pawtucket All The Time, October 25, 2014.

Ahlquist, Steve, What does GoLocal’s purported Con-Con poll really show? rifuture.org, October 12, 2014.

Ahlquist, Steve, Are you against Grover Norquist? Then you should be against a ConCon, rifuture.org, October 9, 2014.

Howard, Samuel G., Pro-convention reasons against a constitutional convention, RIFuture.org, April 14-17, 2014 [This article was divided into four parts: 1) Why now?, 2)  The “unlimited convention, 3) Status quo bias, and 4) Balance of power.] Ahlquist, Steve, Say no to ‘Con-Con’ because delegates aren’t accountable, rifuture.org, December 3, 2013

Letter-To-Editor

Fachon, Dean, Folly of a ‘con-con’ , Warwick Beacon, November 4, 2014.

Rodriguez, Pablo, How dare Constitution supporters question opponents’ motives?, Providence Journal, November 1, 2014.

Lally, Donald J., Constitutional Convention: An Unnecessary Cost, IndependentRI, October 30, 2014 (a repeat of Lally’s October 25, 2014 All Pawtucket All The Time blog post).

Dahl, Stephen R., Now isn’t the time to risk our future, IndependentRI.com, October 30, 2014.

Brewster, Kate, RI must vote ‘no’ on Question No. 3, IndependentRI.com, October 30, 2014 (derived from Brewster October 18, 2014 Westerly Sun op-ed).

Nee, George H., Question 3 – bad for workersValley Breeze, October 14, 2014.

Brown, Steve, Reject Nov. 4 ballot call for constitutional convention, IndependentRI.com, October 9, 2014 (essentially a repeat, with a different title, of Brown’s October 7, 2014 Valley Breeze and October 8 Warwick Beacon letters).

Brown, Steve, Constitutional convention: The General Assembly’s kid brother,Warwick Beacon, October 8, 2014 (essentially a repeat, with a different title, of Brown’s October 7, 2014 Valley Breeze and October 8 Warwick Beacon letters).

Brown, Steve, Reject Nov. 4 ballot call for constitutional convention, IndependentRI.com, October 9, 2014 (essentially a repeat, with a different title, of Brown’s October 7, 2014 Valley Breeze letter).

Gonzalez, Roberto, Wary of Constitutional Convention, Providence Journal, May 23, 2014.

Newspaper

Benson, Robert A., Jr., Close ethics loophole for R.I. legislators, Providence Journal, February 4, 2015.

Frias, Steve, A mandate to change Rhode Island’s elections, Providence Journal, November 19, 2014.

Bishop, Brian, A Turning Point in RI: Will Voters Approve a Constitutional Convention?, GoLocalProv, October 30, 2014.

Mackay, Scott, Pro And Con On the ConCon, Rhode Island Public Radio, October 24, 2014.

Colleran, William E., Of, by, and for the politically-wired lawyers, Providence Journal, November 1, 2013.

Gorham, Nicholas, Regionalized services would make R.I. better, Providence Journal, May 30, 2014.

Blog

Howard, Samuel Gifford, A Young Man’s Case for a Constitutional Convention in Rhode Island, Rhode Island Liberator, September 18, 2014.

Fisher, Dave, A General Assembly, united, RIFuture.org, May 8, 2014.

Snider, J.H., Reflections on “A Constitutional Convention for Rhode Island?”, RhodeIslandConCon.info, March 30, 2014.

Sasse, Gary, Is a Constitutional Convention Really Needed?GoLocalProv, November 6, 2013. [Note: a pro and con framing of the issue.]

Common Cause Rhode Island, Is it time for a constitutional convention in Rhode Island? Common Cause Rhode Island, January 2014. [Note: J.H. Snider is not aware of a single instance since the mid-1990s when either the national or a state chapter of Common Cause has either strongly or even weakly endorsed a state constitutional convention; however, it has often remained neutral.]

Letter-To-Editor

Fuzek, Anthony W., There is no light at the end of this tunnel, The Valley Breeze, August 19, 2015.

Bowden, Nancy J., Entrapped by a corrupt system, Providence Journal, March 6, 2015.

Kazounis, William, Rhode Island in the year 2025, Providence Journal, March 6, 2015.

Klepper, Allan, Another chance for conventionProvidence Journal, December 29, 2014.

Smith, Clifford, Lost opportunity to fix governmentProvidence Journal, December 24, 2014.

Christopher, Bob, Big election losersProvidence Journal, December 23, 2014.

Benson Jr., Robert A., Legislators vs. good government, Providence Journal, December 17, 2014.

Marion, John, Rep. misstates facts about ethics reformProvidence Journal, November 4, 2014.

Falcone, Bill: R.I.’s biggest drawback, Providence Journal, June 9, 2014