But but but... There aren't 1,000 jobs that can be cut. All 16,000 employees are essential. Well, except Pelosi. And that woman at the Veteran's Cemetery... And...

Ya know what they SHOULD do? Hire Hummel to figure out where to trim 1,000 employees. SOMEBODY is feeding him leads.

Read Katherine Gregg's article and kept seeing references to individuals 'making' $XXXXXX. I would like to know the definition of 'making' here. If Barth is making $24k per month, then I'm alarmed. If Barth is making $10k per month, with overhead, G&A and profit totaling another $14000 per month, then not so much. That would represent a 2.4 multiplier on salary, and state employees wages plus benefits are running at a 1.88 multiplier. Add in the facilities/utilities/equipment depreciation/etc overhead plus the G&A. I suspect it would put the multiplier well over 2. I've been unable to find a link to anything that defines the overhead/G&A burden for state workers. Anyone have better luck?

ps -to those who think $10k per month for a senior IT person is unreasonable, perhaps you should try and price one in the real world.

6 weeks after running his mouth and now he goes to a retreat??

What a joke.

Know what's going on at that "retreat"?? A whole lot of infighting is going on.

This would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Someone tell this clown that the proper order is: retreat, plan, then press conference.

This idiot cannot be despised enough.

By the holding the retreat now, he admits he had no plan on the day of the press conference. Let's have the election cycle starting today. Be the moron who runs with an R next to their name.

If you don't like it, maybe the Governor or Commander General Gio will save you. Oh, that's right, they have to have a retreat first.

Regardless of Bobby's caterwauling, we're going to be a state with 15,000 employees soon. And that's still 5,000 too many for a state this size.

Maybe if we went to a single centralized DMV instead of the handful we have now we could get rid of those employees, support staff, cleaners, custodians...

This state is no larger than the county in New York that I grew up in and we only had one DMV in the county. So what if you had to drive 30 minutes to get to it. You're gonna spend the day in the wrong line and get treated like crap regardless.

Dear Greg,

Why do you specialize in ideas that you will get you unelected??

Please notice, I am making no comment on the merit of the idea; rather, on the ability of anyone coming forward with such an idea to stay in office.

Well, Bobby. I've YET to see a SINGLE idea out of you or any Democrat on how to save this ship of state. The only reason your boys continue to get elected is because they're bribing people. You've admitted as much.

Dear Greg,

That was never admitted to.

Perhaps that political tin ear you share with the Governor caused you to hear things that way. However, they were never said that way.

Folks like programs run in a certain format. They are adult enough to make that decision. Are you saying the voters are stupid? Is that your message in 08?

My party passed lots of bills, some the Governor signed, some he vetoed, some he couldn't figure out what to do with so he let them becomes law by his inaction. These bills number in the 1000's, all singular ideas.

The only idea we've heard from the clown is one we now find out was even close to soup yet at the time he announced it. The facts are staggering.

Karen Barth's NO-BID CONTRACT.$280,000
per year.

More Carcieri NO-BID contracts

chuckr,

If Kathy Gregg's story is unclear then go ahead and assume the total $$ includes overhead. Kathy is expert at telling half the story as a way to mislead the reader. The Projo's M.O..

Bobby,

Still lost I see. lol

Seriously hope the governor ID's 5,000 jobs to be cut and then drops them steadily off the taxpayer trough over the next 3 + years.

"While in reality, most of those are non starters, the grant thing alone insures you never get elected again, this should still be a fair process." -Bobby O.

More succinctly said "Take away the bribes and you can't get the votes."

Or is that not what you meant?

Dear Greg,

You're confusing a bribe with proper public policy. The government has a right to support programs that create positive change.

By your logic, the Iraq experience is a giant bribe to the defense contractors of the world since most of the work is being done by outside agencies and consulting firms.

It's not true there; it's not true here.

Let me guess: the income tax never really passed. Is that where you're headed next?

Tim,

At least the top two guys on my side aren't setting up a feud. Not only is he cluseless, the Governor loses to Laffey on this one.

Rhode Island has a total population of around 1,060,000 and currently has 16,000 state employees. New Hampshire has a total pop of 1,300,000 yet has only 9,000 state employees.

Governor, let us know if you need some more red pens.

Giving the local little league $5,000 of taxpayer money in order to say "Look how great I am! If you want me to continue to have the taxpayers fund your organization you should make sure that I'm re-elected" is a bribe.

In real states those things are funded with car washes and bake sales and membership dues.

Seriously hope the governor ID's 5,000 jobs to be cut and then drops them steadily off the taxpayer trough over the next 3 + years.

Posted by Tim at July 24, 2007 5:46 PM
XXX
Exactly right-forget the 1000.

State workers only work 35 hours per week, not the standard 40.

If we brought them up to a standard workweek, that would be about a 14% increase in their "man hours."

In turn, that means that we could simultaneously reduce the workforce by 14% without any reduction in man hours of work (or sitting on a bar stool a la Pelosi).

Using as a round number 15,000 state employees, we could reduce the payroll by 2,100 with zero impact on available man hours ( no impact on BO's apparent belief that every one of the man hours is precious and indispensable).

NOW THAT'S A GOOD START! ;-)

OK, so now let's talk about eliminating unnecessary state operations; reducing welfare so that we don't need so many welfare industry personnel; and introducing technology to eliminate manual tasks (e.g., car registrations over the internet).

5,000+ here we come!

Oh my God, so much misinformation, where does one begin??

Susan, Your formula is meaningless. The NH comparisons are meaningless. If this were so easy, the retreat would be over and the plan would be on the table. But alas, 6 weeks and some retreat time later we still don't have anything. I guess there's a place for you to put the red pens.

Greg, Wow, it seems that 49 states have some form of this process. 49 of them, including the red ones. Of course, your hero, Rep. Singleton, won't give his grants back. That all makes you totally wrong. Wow, I'm shocked that such a thing would happen.

Mike, would you like to take book on whether or not this clown lasts 3+ years? By the way, how did he do with this year's budget? Next year is an election year, we know what that means.

Tom, Thank you for once again demonstrating that you know nothing about government. Can you please, pretty please, be the crafter of the GOP message this year? I don't think Commander General Gio can do it without you.

However, there is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed:

Why aren't you "conservatives" complaining about the retreat itself? Instead of using one of this Old Stone cronies for a good reason, for a change, and borrowing their offices, he's doing this on state land on state time and causing overtime expenses. Yet, all of you are silent about that.

You are silent about his staff expenses. You are silent about his staff salary inceases. The people will know and it will make the king look like a clown. With any luck, Laffey will have to say something which will make Avedesian say something and so on . . . . .

(Absolute PR genius to have the retreat now when you can't introduce anything until January. Do anything before then and he faces a grievence. Do we need to go over his record there? This is all too bad because some cuts are probably possible but the king needs to take of his ego first and the people second so they probably won't happen.)

Oh my god, are we going to kill you in the court of public opinion. If that weren't enough fun, the only name people will care about at the top of any ticket in 08 will be George Bush. You have statewide races and no credible candidates. Boy, can that Carcieri guy build a party. I'll tell you . . . .

Ok, you can go back to your name calling, non government understanding, smearing instead of building a coalition, political stylings now.

Bobby,

If you know so much about government and how to pull the wool over people's eyes, why can't you get elected?

Maybe people just don't like you.

Dear Greg,

Yes, unlike you, I do have the courage to throw my name on a ballot now and again. You don't even have the courage to come visit.

If I wasn't liked, I couldn't sell. If I wasn't liked, I couldn't help so many others get elected either. If I wasn't liked, there wouldn't be demonstrable effect in elections traced back to me. If I wasn't liked, I wouldn't be treated the way I am. If I wasn't likable, the media would never waste a second on me.

(For instance, in 2000, Richard Licht only won 5 wards outside of Providence against Bob Weygand. I was the coordinator in 4 of them.)

In Newport, in order to get elected, you usually have to trace your heritage back to Ireland. I've been here since 2001. It could also be some of the baggage I carry.

By the way, having power isn't just getting elected. It's knowing how to get the people you didn't want elected to end up doing what you would like anyway.

Maybe I'll get elected someday, maybe I won't. Doesn't change the fact that every year I'm just about the only election that I'm involved that ends up losing. I can live with that.

I'm sure ALL the people involved in all of those campaigns all came out and said "We couldn't have done it without Bobby".

Dear Greg,

Don't know if you've heard the latest:

1. The plan will not be out until the Fall (I actually like this because it sounds like a real plan now)

2. The Governor will not, read by his statement, WILL NOT USE Layoffs.

3. Can't get to 1000 without layoffs.

I win on two fronts:

a.) There might actually be a real plan.

b.) You all look very silly. You bought his act again and again he didn't deliver. How many time can you guys do this?

Lastly Greg, the difference between us Democrats and the RIGOP is we realize we can't do it without all of us. You think you can go worship one hero like Carcieri or Laffey and magically, with no hard work involved, it should happen by osmosis.