A prolific RI fundraiser is poised to take the helm of the state's Democratic Party. What to know.
PROVIDENCE – Prolific fundraiser Elizabeth Beretta Perik is poised to take over the chairmanship of the Rhode Island Democratic Party from state Rep. Joseph McNamara.
The party announced, on Friday morning, that McNamara – who doubles as a Democratic legislator from Warwick – was not seeking reelection to the chairmanship after nine years in the post, and is supporting the media-shy Beretta Perik as his replacement in the post at the party's Nov. 15 organizational meeting.
In a statement confirming her interest in taking on this new role, Beretta Perik said: "If elected, I would be the first woman to lead the party which champions the issues most important to Rhode Islanders: education, health care, housing, jobs, a cleaner environment, preserving a woman’s right to choose, and protecting the rights of all.
"To advance these issues, it is imperative that we elect Democrats in every city and town and from the State House to the White House."
McNamara's statement on his reasons for stepping back:
"As a retired school teacher and public education administrator, and as chairman of the House Education Committee, my first priority is and always has been education. I have been appointed to the Education Commission of the States, a nonpartisan think tank that consists of governors, educational commissioners and legislators from all 50 states."
"During my tenure as chair," he said, "we elected Rhode Island’s first woman governor, the first Latina to general office, established and increased Democratic supermajorities in the House and Senate and elected multiple complete Democratic sweeps, including 2022’s tough race in Congressional District 2."
“The Rhode Island Democratic Party has drastically improved our infrastructure, digital program, data management and field operations with one of the strongest ground games in Rhode Island’s history. I am proud of what the Rhode Island Democratic Party has achieved in the past nine years, and look forward to its future success."
Explaining why he is supporting a vote for Beretta Perik in the upcoming party reorganizational meeting, he said: "Liz would be the first woman to be elected party chair, joining a strong and effective all-female staff.”
Who is Liz Beretta Perik?
Beretta Perik has been the state party's treasurer and delegate to the Democratic National Committee.
She put in a bid to become new Gov. Dan McKee's replacement as lieutenant governor after Gina Raimondo quit mid-term to become U.S. commerce secretary and he ascended to the top job. But McKee opted instead to go with then-Providence Council President Sabina Matos.
According to Beretta Perik's hometown weekly, the Jamestown Press: "An eye-opening moment for her came during Barack Obama’s keynote address during the 2004 national convention, when he rejected the idea of America being divided into blue states and red states."
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“That was it,” Beretta Perik said in a 2019 story in The Jamestown Press. “That’s when I was hooked.”
She has hosted or co-hosted myriad fundraisers, including one scheduled next week for state Treasurer James Diossa.
Beretta Perik's husband, Michael Perik, a Democratic political donor and influential figure in the education world with a controversial past, was last in the news last spring when he was in the running to join the University of Rhode Island's Board of Trustees. He withdrew a day ahead of Senate committee consideration.
McKee's press secretary, Olivia DaRocha, said House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi's office "provided a list of recommended candidates to the governor’s office for this specific board seat" and Perik was on the list.
The controversy surrounding him stemmed in part from a 2021 report from Americans for Fair Treatment, a nonprofit that believes workers should have the right to opt out of joining unions. The report detailed Perik's involvement in a program that offered free college tuition to union members and their families.
Ohio's Eastern Gateway Community College offered the benefit to in- and out-of-state students, drastically increasing its enrollment, and thus, its state subsidies, the report said. In Ohio, those funds are based on enrollment. The report said the program was run in part by two companies Perik led from Rhode Island: Higher Education Partners and Student Resource Center. Critics raised concerns over subsidies being taken away from other schools that might have needed them and may have been shortchanged in favor of attracting out-of-state students who wouldn't offer any return on taxpayer money, the nonprofit reported.
Perik also raised eyebrows years ago when he contributed to former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Perik's companies received upward of $6 million in federally funded contracts from the Iowa Association of School Boards, according to the Des Moines Register.
Like The Providence Journal, the Register is owned by Gannett.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Leadership change for the RI Democratic Party: McNamara out for Liz Perik
