UPDATED: Profiting from Ethics, the Chafee Way!
UPDATE: According to WPRO, Governor Chafee has decided to remove the Amazon link to his book from his official RI Governor’s website. Awaiting news on when the Chafee Administration initiates and internal ethics investigation.
UPDATE II: Ooooooh. Of course!!!! BLAME THE INTERN!
ORIGINAL: Hat tip to WPRO’s Dan Yorke (and one of his unnamed listeners).
We’ve been told, ad naseum, how ethical the Chafee governorship will be. Heck, his RI Governor website has a category for ethics, all on its own. There we’re told:
We have an ethical crisis in Rhode Island. Each day we hear about corruption, cronyism and pay-to-play schemes that let insiders secure state business and provide no-bid jobs to friends and family. This is wrong and must stop. There is a direct connection between Rhode Island’s unacceptable economic condition and the disappointing reality that some of our public officials betray the public trust.
As your Governor, I will demand the highest standards for ethical behavior in my administration.
I will attack the ‘soft corruption’ that, over the long term, is as corrosive as illegal conduct. I will insist that every state employee ask themselves not only if a decision is legal, but if it is ethical, as well. I will tolerate nothing but the highest standard of behavior from every state employee.
During the transition period, I required every member of my staff to sign a “Transition Code of Ethics” to ensure that the formation of the new Governor’s office was guided solely by the best interest of the public. As Governor, I will issue a strong executive order on ethics to send a clear message that on my watch corruption, cronyism, and unethical behavior will not be tolerated in state government.
Sounds good.
By the way, you can buy Governor Chafee’s book Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President straight from the taxpayer funded, state website! Just click on the link and head on over to Amazon and it can be yours! But wait, there’s more! Go on over to Mrs. Chafee’s page and you’ll find another link to Amazon where you can buy the book The American Way to Change by Shirley Sagawa, which features the new First Lady as one of ’25 Models of Promise’.
“UPDATE II: Ooooooh. Of course!!!! BLAME THE INTERN!”
lol
Of course, the lowest person on the totem pole! (Or possibly a non-existent person …)
This is the same “Ethics governor” who claims a Providence residence as his primary thus receiving a large tax break…..while registering his cars in Exeter to take advantage of a lower tax rate….as he claims Warwick residency so he can vote in that city.
When it comes to Lincoln “Fredo” Chafee do not pay any attention to what he says, watch what he does.
Linc Chafee is dishonest, disloyal and quite a vindictive little chap.
“who claims a Providence residence as his primary thus receiving a large tax break…..while registering his cars in Exeter to take advantage of a lower tax rate….as he claims Warwick residency so he can vote in that city.”
Yes, this is a problematic state of affairs.
All power to him and his family that they have the means to possess several properties around the state. But the governor needs to choose a municipality of primary residence and consolidate – homestead exemption, polling place, vehicles – to it.
Let’s wait a bit and see whether Chafee produces a credible explanation for the glaring inconsistencies in his sworn claims of residency for purposes of his voting, car taxes, and home exemption. If he doesn’t, then let’s file complaints with the Providence tax assessor, RI state police, attorney general, and perhaps others and see what happens. I recall WPRO’s John dePetro filed a formal complaint against someone involved in a public issue some years back, before dePetro went to work in Boston, and it actually prompted an investigation of substance.
Perhaps Chafee — searching for “precedent” — will conclude that since Obama simply refused to produce his own original birth certificate, he (Chafee) can simply refuse to resolve his own discrepancies. And if Chafee takes that brilliant approach, then his governorship will already be well on its way to being the most laughable in RI, if not U.S., history.