PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has offered her political office on North Main Street to the Rhode Island Democratic Women’s Caucus, after members were asked to leave the state’s party headquarters Thursday night.
“What this points to is a bigger problem which is that the women in the caucus don't feel embraced and supported by the party. They don't trust the party. There needs to be a place for them,” David Ortiz, a spokesman for the governor, said.
Five women who were present for the conversation said Executive Director Kevin Olasanoye demanded that either he or a democratic party staff member sit in on interviews for the first executive board of the Democratic Party’s Women's Caucus.
The group — made up of state senators, local council women, and other women who live in Rhode Island, told the executive director they were uncomfortable with a staff member observing the interviews.
“It was given as an ultimatum,” said State Sen. Jeanine Calkin, who was in the room. “We either had to do as he said or leave.”
They decamped to Arooga's, a nearby sports bar in Warwick, and completed all but one interview.
Olasanoye confirmed this account, but said he rejects “the notion that the party is not a place that is welcoming for women.”
“This is not about the party not having respect for women,” Olasanoye. “It’s about transparency in the process. As a party we operate within a certain structure — openness and transparency. Having a closed nomination process flies in the face of that.”
The 14 members of the nominating subcommittee had scheduled interviews Thursday with 25 women from across the state for positions on the executive board. There are thirteen unpaid positions on the board.
The women’s caucus is the only caucus to have an executive board, Olasanoye said, so the process is “unchartered territory.”
State Sen. Gayle Goldin, of Providence, said the women’s caucus’ bylaws state only members of the subcommittee would be in the room for the executive board interviews. Olasanoye said he is “unaware” of any such rule.
The Rhode Island Democratic Party’s bylaws say: “All public meetings at all levels of the Democratic Party in this state shall be open to all members of the Democratic Party.” The women’s decision to close their meeting violates this rule, Olasanoye said.
Goldin, and others, said Olasanoye gave a few reasons for wanting to sit in on the interviews. First, he said he questioned the integrity of the interview process. Then he said he was upset that a staff member — Ann Gooding, the party’s communications director — had been asked to leave the room, Goldin said.
Gooding, who helped establish the Rhode Island Democratic Women’s Caucus earlier this year, said she was insulted Thursday night.
“We were not allowed to have anybody in our office who supported this organization to be able to attend,” Gooding said by phone Thursday. “I was heartbroken because this organization means so much to me.”
Olasanoye said he was upset by the women’s treatment of Gooding, but said that did not influence his decision to ask the women to leave.
“When your staff is not treated well or how you feel fairly that will make you feel a certain type of way,” he said.
On Friday Gooding released an additional statement: “The purpose of that meeting was to interview candidates for board positions in the new year. The Democratic Party remains steadfast in believing the process should be open, fair and transparent. It’s our responsibility to ensure that our party — in all its caucuses — remains that way.”
But Thursday night, members of the caucus were rattled by what they saw as efforts to silence them and drive them out of their own party.
Justine Caldwell, a member of the subcommittee, said the feeling at the sports bar was “anger.”
“For you to question our integrity is insulting,” she said. “We had two senators in there with us. If those were two male senators we would not been given this ultimatum, I guarantee it.”
She added: “This is exactly why we need a women’s caucus.”