Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Governor Carcieri is in Miami, Florida, for the annual conference of the Republican Governors Association, which began this morning at the city's Intercontinental resort.

Fresh off her run for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is expected to headline the event, speaking at some point during the three-day conference about the future of the GOP.

In addition to Palin's visit and the usual rundown of roundtable discussions, the annual meeting will feature an array of extracurricular events: an afternoon boat cruise, a golf outing, an arts district tour -- to include a stop-off at the late fashion designer Gianni Versace's villa -- and something called a "day of beauty," described on the agenda a chance for participants to partake in "pampering to include manicures, pedicures, neck and shoulder massages."

Carcieri is out of state after the news late Monday that the state budget deficit has now swelled to $372 million. Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said the governor committed to the conference some time ago and felt it was important to meet face-to-face with other governors from across the country whose states might be experiencing similar budget problems.

The governor's staff, she said, is working on putting together a plan to deal with the shortfall. Carcieri said in a statement reacting to the deficit figure Monday that he wanted to meet next week with legislative leaders. Kempe said he hopes to do so after he returns, she said.

It was hard to tell where exactly the glitches began on Primary Day.

First a ballot memory pack got locked in a Providence school and a second one temporarily disappeared.

Then the computers in Woonsocket reportedly forgot to count two polling places.
In nearby Cumberland, voters used the wrong ballot pens and had to recast their votes.
The Board of Elections Web site posted the wrong results for North Providence races.
Three other communities had to drive their results to the board's Providence headquarters due to technological problems.

And that doesn't even take into the West Warwick scenario in which Republicans were allowed to vote in a Democrat primary -- leading to demands for a new election and the discovery of a missing box of voting materials a full week after the primary.

From one end of Rhode Island to the other, cities and towns were plagued with Primary Day problems.

None proved to be major hurdles and most didn't even alter the results, but the scope of the trouble raises questions about whether the Ocean State is prepared for what Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis predicts could be a record turnout of more than 70 percent in the upcoming November presidential election.

Read more about Primary Day in Rhode Island and its aftermath in tomorrow's Journal and on projo.com ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- John McCain's chief economic policy advisor was one of the first campaign officials to speak to reporters shortly after the announcement that 17-year-old Bristol Palin--daughter of McCain's vice presidential candidate--is pregnant.

It did not appear to be a comfortable moment for Douglas Holtz-Eakin when he was asked at a lunch meeting whether the campaign had been aware of the young woman's out-of-wedlock pregnancy when her mother, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was selected as McCain's running mate.

Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, did not directly answer the question. He said the particulars of the Palins' family life are ``best left to them.''

When another reporter asked about the McCain campaign's reaction to the news, Holtz-Eakin again sought to deflect the question. Governor Palin ``has a family, she loves the family, and this is their business,'' he said.

-John E. Mulligan, Journal Washington Bureau

ST. PAUL, Minn--GOP conventioneers already adjusting to the disruption caused by Hurricane Gustav are reacting to the news that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

Rhode Island delegate Kristine Greene suggested that many voters will respond to word of Bristol Palin's pregnancy with understanding. Out-of-wedlock pregnancy "is not uncommon to the experience of many Americans," said Greene, who heard the news at about 2:15 p.m., Eastern time, during the bus ride from the Rhode Island delegation's hotel in Bloomington to the convention hall in St. Paul.

"The first thing that came to my mind'' Greene said, is that the Palins are "just an ordinary family, and they find themselves in circumstances that are not extraordinary in today's world."

The most important aspect of the news about the teenager "is that she is still pregnant," said Greene, a first-time delegate from West Greenwich who describes herself as a conservative Christian.

"The deed being done, the fact is this young lady is pregnant with this child and is strongly choosing to follow in her mother's beliefs. She hasn't chosen to end this pregnancy," said Greene.

Rhode Island delegate Virginia Butterworth said, "This is like `Alice in Wonderland' - curiouser and curiouser." Far from being "the boring convention I expected," the gathering of the GOP "is really getting interesting."

But Butterworth said she doubts the news about Bristol Palin will much change the outcome of the general election. "People who are going to vote for McCain and going to vote for McCain and people who are going to vote for Obama are going to vote for Obama," she said. "It doesn't matter."

Politics aside, Butterworth said she reacted the way she thinks many voters will react, as a mother. "We don't want this to happen to our child. It would be embarrassing."

"I think people vote for the president. Think of all the bad vice-presidents we've elected, like Spiro Agnew," Butterworth said referring to the Maryland governor who was President Richard M. Nixon's vice president. The Rhode Island delegate doesn't put Sarah Palin in that category however.

What's important to voters is what the presidential candidates stand for, Butterworth said. ``Mr. Obama is clearly a very liberal Democrat whose agenda is very liberal, and McCain is clearly a conservative Republican whose agenda is conservative.''

-John E. Mulligan

The Carcieri administration has awarded temporary cleaning contracts to 15 separate companies and non-profit organizations that will take over maintenance at dozens of state buildings formerly serviced by TriState Enterprises and Falcon Maintenance.

TriState and Falcon's contracts were abruptly terminated last month when they emerged as the employers of the 31 suspected illegal immigrants who were arrested by federal immigration officials as they left work at six state courthouses.

The new, 90-day contracts will go to a variety of organizations including the Cranston ARC, a center that provides vocational training and recreation to developmentally disabled adults and children.

The new contracts span a total of 48 different buildings across state government including those on Smith Hill, at the University of Rhode Island and at the Pastore Complex in Cranston.

Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said the state expects to save more than $14,000 a month off the $121,000 it was paying Falcon and TriState. That's because the new contracts are short term, meaning some of them require less-intensive cleaning services than might be necessary over the life of a longer agreement.

The administration said it plans to begin the bidding process for fresh, three-year contracts within the coming days. It says it hopes to continue with at least some of the providers.

Kempe said the 15 temporary contractors are expected to be on the job by tomorrow. Since the termination of the old agreements, the administration has relied on overtime work from staff janitors throughout state government to help keep the buildings tidy.