Democratic good-old-boy justice. Once again, a cretin gets off easy.
We're not getting anything progressive done in this state as long as this jackal is allowed to hold public office. People of North Providence and Pawtucket, WAAAAAKE UP!

Between the impotent "Ethics Committee" and the do-nothing AG it's no surprise that it takes a Federal investigation to get someone indicted around here.

What's the difference between the Girl Scouts and Rhode Island?

The Girl Scouts have adult leadership.

The $86g was a simple oversight. Besides, the Ethics Comm really had no authority. He should have fought it all the way to the US Supreme Court.

He's just misunderstood ...

Bevilaqua. Fay. Smith. DeAngelis. Bianchini. Harwood. Irons. Celona. Montalbano. Etc. etc. etc.

You’d think that by now the Democrat Party of Rhode Island would have erected a “Public Corruption Hall of Fame.”

The first step toward rehabilitation is admitting (to yourself) that you have a problem – unfortunately the Democrats in Rhode Island don’t appear ready to admit to themselves that there’s a pervaisve “culture of corruption” within their party, even though it’s obvious to the rest of us ... and to the U.S. Attorney!

Look in the mirror and ask the coward in the reflection, "Why do I tolerate this?".

The thing that continuous friggin KILLS me is that Democrat voters want a corruption-free government just as badly as Republicans, right?

So why do they continue to elect the same scumbags? Where are the clean Dems?

>>Where are the clean Dems?

Minnesota. There they specialize in the Hubert Humphrey / Walter Mondale / Paul Wellstone type of Democrat - their politics are all wrong, but at least they aren't / weren't corrupt.

Rhode Island and New Jersey specialize in the Tony Soprano variety of Democrat.

Democrats don't hold the franchise on corruption.

Ever hear of Ed Diprete? I think he's the only RI Gov. ever to go to jail and he was a Republican.

Buddy Cianci? He started out as a Republican.

Mike Levesque got himself into some trouble as Mayor of West Warwick, as did Mike Trafficante as Mayor of Cranston. Both Republicans.

Let's not kid ourselves . . . there's plenty of dirt on both sides of the aisle.

DiPrete went to jail as much for his son as anything - and that goes to show how much of a lowlife Dennis is, by the way. I will stipulate it runs in the family. Wasn't Cianci a Dem at some point in his corrupt career? Not sure you've made a point there, Brassband.

As Ragin said, "Bevilaqua. Fay. Smith. DeAngelis. Bianchini. Harwood. Irons. Celona. Montalbano." And we haven't even mentioned the shenanigans of two of our state officers. The Democrats have racked up a record that Levesque and Coach Traff could only dream of.

Cianci was never a Democrat.

>>Cianci was never a Democrat.

Except in spirit! ;-)

Ok, Tom, I'll admit I laughed out loud at that one.

>>Ok, Tom, I'll admit I laughed out loud at that one.

Bob,

Then there's still hope for you.

Repent your NEA sins now, and you just might receive absolution. :-)

There are clean Dems in Rhode Island, but the Montalbanos, Murphys, Mollises, etc. make damned sure they're marginalized.
Or sometimes, they turn Republican, only to be marginalized there because they're not conservative enough. They really should think about a third way.
And social conservatives absolutely will not go after Montalbano because he's on Carcieri's side when it comes to their key issues.

And social conservatives absolutely will not go after Montalbano because he's on Carcieri's side when it comes to their key issues.

Umm... who do you think wrote the post to which you're commenting?

Welcome to the cause, Justin. But Carcieri's silence about Montalbano is deafening. You don't suppose it's because The Don is counting on Montalbano to make damned sure gay marriage doesn't get a sniff or passing (or counting on his support to put a ban on the ballot)?
Methinks Don enjoys having a social conservative on the other side of the aisle and will tolerate some malfeasance from him.

Rhody I think you're giving the Impotent Don too much credit. He's just riding out the rest of his term trying to not screw up more than he already has. I've given up any hope that he's really going to accomplish anything positive.

>>Welcome to the cause, Justin. But Carcieri's silence about Montalbano is deafening. You don't suppose it's because The Don is counting on Montalbano to make damned sure gay marriage doesn't get a sniff or passing (or counting on his support to put a ban on the ballot)?
Methinks Don enjoys having a social conservative on the other side of the aisle and will tolerate some malfeasance from him.

Yep, that explains the silence by Teresa Paiva-Weed too.

HA HA HA

"but at least now we can stop hearing his lawyer's dangerously delusional arguments for the guilty man's innocence."

We'll stop hearing them about Montalbano. But OCG reports that both Senator Frank Ciccione and Billy Irons have picked up those arguments in their own "defense".

Nice job, Joey. You've created and passed on a weasly, delusional baton for the advancement of bad government. The Ethics Comm should squash Irons and Ciccione like bugs as an object lesson to anyone else who would try this ridiculousness.

Paiva-Weed needs to wake up, too.
After seeing the Brown poll yesterday, hopefully Senate Dems will take West's advice and realize they CAN overthrow this guy (don't wait for the next election, because tossing leadership is an issue that generally doesn't play at the local level). Don't give Montalano a chance to threaten people with signs supporting opposing candidates.