Spare Change: Is the term carpetbagger fading from use around Newport?
Thoughts gathered while being unable to name more than two cast members from "Saturday Night Live":
• Is the term “carpetbagger” fading from local use?
I don’t hear it anywhere near as much as I did when I moved here in 1980. Either you’re a Newporter, born at Newport Hospital or the Navy hospital (some refuse to include that facility). Or you moved here from somewhere else. Thus, a carpetbagger.
Before moving to Newport, all I knew of the term carpetbagger was from Civil War history. I soon learned to embrace it.
Gubernatorial candidate Ashley Kalus moved to Newport in 2021 from Florida or Illinois or God knows where. I’m not sure she even remembers.
Kalus is an underdog to incumbent Gov. Dan McKee. But victory isn’t out of the question, even for a Trump Republican in a blue state.
Maybe where you were born has become less important than what you stand for.
Newport Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano grew up in the Washington D.C area. Council member Kate Leonard, wrapping up nearly 30 years in office, is from Connecticut.
Recent former mayors such as Richard Sardella and the late David Gordon hailed from New Jersey and Connecticut, respectively. Former Mayor Jamie Bova swept in all the way from Middletown.
The carpetbaggers are seizing power. Well, they’re at least making inroads. Not everyone will agree, but I tend to think a balance is good for the community.
To paraphrase a native, what do I know? I’m a carpetbagger.
With all due respect to JFK: Ich bin ein carpetbagger.
• We’ve seen our share of hurricanes in my lifetime … Gloria, Bob, Superstorm Sandy. But we’ve never seen anything here like Hurricane Ian.
Ian has obliterated whole Florida communities. Recovery could take years.
• I don’t mean to use this column as a club with which to pummel Kalus. But she keeps cranking out the hits.
Spare Change:Katey Grovell, the Queen of Broadway, was a well-liked figure in Newport
• R.I.P.: Willie Olechnowicz. If you lived in the Fifth Ward for three or four hours, you met Willie.
He walked a beat up and down Thames Street, handing out beads and other jewelry — crafted at the Maher Center — to friends and strangers alike.
When I moved onto Hammond Street in 1991, Willie greeted me like the Welcome Wagon minus the wagon. If you wanted to talk about the Patriots, Willie was game. Even if it was a 90-degree day in July.
It’s very hard to picture the neighborhood without Willie on patrol. He was a kind soul.
• With the passing of Willie Olechnowicz, it feels as if we’re losing our local characters. Katey Grovell, Joe Tremblay, the Twomeys, Willie Olechnowicz and the Candy Man made the landscape more fun and colorful.
• The race to watch in Rhode Island is the battle between state Treasurer Seth Magaziner and for Cranston Mayor Allan Fung.
Neither candidate brings much charisma to the game. Magaziner is as exciting as math class. Fung acts as if he’s still running for mayor of Cranston.
There’s a big difference between Washington, D.C. and Garden City.
More:You've seen the signs at the Newport Folk and Jazz festivals. Meet the artist behind them.
• Very sad to hear that Eric Jackson died two weeks ago. Jazz fans know that Eric was New England’s leading jazz deejay. He was a music scholar at WGBH-FM for decades, best known for his “Eric in the Evening” program.
He frequently served as an emcee at the Newport Jazz Festival. Eric’s counsel was invaluable when I went through a long stretch of health woes.
He was a terrific radio entertainer ... low-key and unflappable — and a good friend.
Jim Gillis is a Daily News columnist. Send him email at jimgillis13@gmail.com.