December 30, 2009
Pawtucket and East Providence Have a New Rep. With Old Ideas
The last paragraph of Alisha A. Pina's story in today's Projo on Democrat Mary Messier's victory in Tuesday's District 62 special election (former Rep. Elizabeth Dennigan's old seat, mostly Pawtucket with a little bit of East Providence) provides a perfect example of how the state Democratic Party's intellectual bankruptcy on fiscal issues continues to propel Rhode Island towards the more conventional form of fiscal bankruptcy…
During her campaign, [Ms. Messier] said the “need to control taxes” is a top priority and also supported the development of a new school district financing formula that would be fair to all cities and towns.Alas, as has occurred all too-often in Rhode Island, we have a brand-new Democratic representative who believes that a "funding formula" can do the impossible: bring more money to her community, without requiring substantially higher new taxes to raise that money -- unless 1) soon-to-be Rep. Messier meant during the campaign that Pawtucket, already one of the largest recipients of state aid, should receive less money from the state, when she discussed making things "fair to all cities and towns" or 2) "controlling taxes" has become a new Democratic codephrase for "raising statewide taxes", i.e. "we controlled them by not raising them as high a we could have!"
Rhode Island won't be able to pull out of its fiscal and economic crisis if it keeps electing representatives who expect that state's problems to be solved by revenue-shifting programs funded by magic money that will fall from the sky.
What is really frightening is that she won. How are we ever going to throw the bums out if voters insist on keeping the bums and bringing new bums in?
In this environment, you'd think people would pay attention to whom they're voting for. Hah! Not here!
Posted by: George at December 30, 2009 11:41 AMI would like to add a few observations about the voters in this election. I am the person in the photo that accompanied the story in the Projo. As I stood in the bitter cold for a total of 6 hours at the polls in EP, I noticed two groups of people walking in to vote. One group were senior citizens who (I assume) feel it is a duty and privilege to exercise their right to vote. Most gave me a thumbs up as they drove or walked by after voting, which I took as a sign that they voted for Thomas Clupny, the Republican candidate that I was holding a sign for. Then there was a younger group that mainly appeared to be retired or active teachers in the public school systems. I base this on the conversation I had (while standing in the bitterly cold wind) with one of the sign holders for the Democratic candidate. She was a retired teacher and seemed to know many of the voters. I'm sure she was coerced by her union leaders to get out there and back their "girl" Mary. Another puppet for the teachers' union.
The only reason I was out there was because we need a balance in this state, not a Democrat party monopoly. I live in District 61, not 62, so I didn't expect any reward for my help yesterday. As long as Democrats keep getting elected, the economy will never turn around here, and it will slowly spiral into bankruptcy. We Republicans need to stop sitting around complaining about the way things are. Get out and support Republican candidates, or run yourself. I could have sat at home on one of my few vacation days and done nothing. Instead I was out there trying to show voters that there is an alternative to the status quo.
Posted by: Tommy Waugh at December 30, 2009 1:23 PMIt was shameful that such a small number of voters turned out for this special election. Tom Clupny's numbers were pretty good for a first time candidate without the union running the show. I hope he runs again, I think he would do well in a regular election vs a rush job in the middle of the holiday season.
Shame on the folks who put another union hack in the general assembly. So your taxes aren't high enough?
Posted by: kathy at December 30, 2009 3:34 PMWhere was this lame Governor? Where was anyone from his staff? Where was Governor wanna-be Robitaille? Answer? No Where. These self absorbed novice do nothings do not give a sh&% about anything but themselves. Period. This Governor has ignored this party to death - literally, and I for one, can't wait to ignore him after he retires to Florida. We will be well rid of him and Carcieri Lite - Robitaille. Basically, bad self serving people.
Posted by: Josiah at December 30, 2009 5:15 PM