The Slippery Governor

One skill that you can learn by watching the local politicians is a nice way to evade any tough questions. Simply don't answer them. I don't mean you just sit there and stare at the questioner, but you answer the question you want to answer.

On this weekend's Newsmakers, Governor Chafee was the guest and early on, Arlene Violet seemed to have Chafee backed into a corner. She smelled blood kept the blows coming. Being the experienced politician that Chafee is, he clearly knew that she had him stuck and he was left with two options, either don't directly answer her question or be caught in an easily disproven lie. He seemed to choose the former. Check the video for yourself.

After the commercial break, Ted Nesi asked a question about a campaign pledge that the then-candidate Chafee offered up. This was not a pledge that someone asked him to take, this was something written on Chafee's campaign web site. Nesi first read the pledge and then asked about it:

"Make no mistake, I will oppose any change to our taxes without first reforming our spending, particularly the mandates."

And we've now had two budgets in a row where you've proposed significant tax increases. I know you've said why you think those are necessary, but isn't that breaking that campaign pledge?

The Governor responded with:

No, the reforms are always a part of any revenue package and as a candidate I've appeared before the Finance Committee urging reforms that now I have as part of my legislative package. So even as a candidate, going up and urging reforms, Massachusetts called "No revenue without reform" when they put in their sales tax increase. And I feel the same way. We're not just going to throw money at a problem. We want to fix it structurally.

Huh? Chafee gave an excellent answer if the question was an attack on reform. It's as if Nesi asked him why he's offering some reform in his proposal. But that's not the case at all. We understand that part. The point of the question was why has Chafee proposed any tax increases at all if the reforms are not in place yet? Remember what Chafee had written,

I will oppose any change to our taxes

I guess what should I expect from someone who later in the Newsmakers episode was asked about why he is endorsing David Cicilline for re-election and responded with:

A lot of the criticism leveled against Congressman Cicilline in his time as mayor is unfounded because he suffered $30 million in cuts.

But then Tim White redirected the point and reminded Chafee that the criticism to Cicilline was because Cicilline wasn't honest about Providence's financial situation. Chafee's response:

Maybe there's some legitimate criticism there. He should have been more forthright in the devastation of these cuts.

"Forthright." Yes, a very interesting choice of words. Maybe it's also time to start evaluating the Governor's statements a little more closely for their own forthrightness.