Cicilline on the Congressional Budget Committee
As if we needed any further evidence of how messed up our Congress is, we certainly got that yesterday with the news that Congressman David Cicilline is being appointed to the House Budget Committee.
Wow. The very same David Cicilline who left Providence in “excellent financial condition” which I assume means only a $110M deficit.
All I’m left with is that the Democrats either believe that if he can reduce the national deficit to $110M, we’ll be in great shape. I’d completely agree with that. Or, they want to find out how to delay audits and keep the information from the public until it’s politically feasible to do so. Shouldn’t appointments to committees be based on the person’s strengths and where they can best help the country? Putting Cicilline on the Budget Committee is like dropping a non-swimmer in the middle of the ocean.
Maybe the apocalypse did happen after all.
Let me head off Sammy’s comments first: “Oh yeah? Paul Ryan sucks.”
Bizarro world.
“Cicilline, in a statement, said he looks forward to working “on the front lines of the fight” to “bolster” Social Security and “preserve” Medicare. He also promised to oppose Republican efforts to cut “infrastructure investments.”
Projo
In other words, “I have no intentions of cooperating or helping to resolve anything.” We are so screwed.
Panderus Maximus controlling the budget? How far away can a $30 trillion debt ceiling be?
Progressive hired gun Tom Sgouros can write another gushing op-ed about how Cicilline is the perfect man for the job as the greatest financial manager the City of Providence has ever had. He’ll even throw in some charts and graphs if the check is large enough.
Sgouros may not be the only one on the payroll:
“Cicilline also reported paying $700 to Bob Plain, editor of the liberal blog Rhode Island’s Future, as a field contractor.”
Source: blogs.wpri.com/2012/12/07/cicilline-spent-2-4m-topping-dohertys-1-4m-final-tallies-say/
What? Charlie Rangel not available?
“Cicilline also reported paying $700 to Bob Plain, editor of the liberal blog Rhode Island’s Future, as a field contractor.”
Source: blogs.wpri.com/2012/12/07/cicilline-spent-2-4m-topping-dohertys-1-4m-final-tallies-say/
Posted by Patrick at December 21, 2012 12:34 PM
Since Plain is apparently collecting unemployment I wonder if he reported this income?
Panderus Maximus controlling the budget? How far away can a $30 trillion debt ceiling be?
Posted by John at December 21, 2012 12:06 PM
Around 9 years at current spending levels.
“Screw the grandkids; keep voting Democrat”.
I’ve been asking for the past year how Bob Plain pays his bills while having no apparent steady source of income, running a partisan political blog as editor, and utilizing ample leisure time to go kayaking and bird watching around the state. If he is in fact collecting unemployment, welfare, or disability, then the taxpayers are in effect subsidizing his bum lifestyle and the RIFuture blog, which raises a number of legal and ethical questions. On the other hand, if he is being bankrolled by special interests or local politicians, then the public deserves to know about that conflict of interest as well. Why Anchor Rising, RIGOP, and other organizations have not pursued this question about one of their most persistent critics and a major Rhode Island progressive media personality is beyond my understanding. The Hummel Report, for example, has investigated people with no political presence for less.
I don’t claim to know anything about his finances nor is it any of my business, but he has stated that he started a web site, my02908.com or something like that for East Greenwich and then sold it to AOL which became a patch site. Maybe that worked out well for him financially.
I think it would very much be the taxpayers’ business if it turned out he was collecting unemployment benefits while earning “contractor” checks from politicians, running a partisan political blog, and going on kayak trips around the state. Although I have never collected unemployment, I understand that one is obligated to actively seek new employment each week. If Plain isn’t living off of state benefits and runs a legitimate website business, then I’m sure he will be happy to set the record straight about that and embarrass all of his critics here.
http://www.hummelreport.org/6.27.2010_arruda.html
Dan.. please get over it. So what you got booted off rif. Enough already. When you stay on message your comments are interesting. When you go to the bob plain thing you sound like a stalking obsessive complusive on leave from the facility.
David S – I didn’t bring up Plain in this discussion or the topic of his questionable employment status, other commenters did. He has eagerly sought out the media spotlight over the past year, so I think he’s fair game for the scrutiny that comes with being a public figure. He has no problem dishing it out against Justin and others here when it suits his agenda, and he has questioned Anchor Rising’s funding before, so it’s only fitting and reciprocal.
I do think Plain is a dishonest, backstabbing, unethical person. If you thought my RIFuture posts were interesting, as some others did, perhaps you could have called Plain out when he posted his totally untrue hate piece against me and falsely accused me of libel as a cover rationale for removing my inconvenient critiques.
Dan-what kind of people do you expect to be running RIF?I couldn’t tell you anything about Brian Hull,but the rest of them have been varying grades of miserable characters generally intolerant of any dissenting voice.
Joe – I actually have more respect for Crowley because he doesn’t deny what he is: a single-minded union soldier who will break whatever eggs necessary. What bothers me about Plain is how inauthentic he is. He launches vicious attack campaigns against people (DePetro, Brien, etc.), trying to get them fired, while publicly calling himself their “friend” and billing himself as a model of civility. He faults others for negativity, hate, and distortion, but engages in all of that behavior by publishing laughably distorted hit pieces on a regular basis. I wouldn’t care that he banned me except that he lied about the reason for doing so, publishing a lengthy article that falsely accused me of libel solely to preserve his “tolerant” and “free speech” image. Important facts and context are conveniently omitted from many articles on that blog. And, I’m sorry, but how does an experienced newspaper editor confuse subject pronouns and object pronouns over and over again?
You’re right about Crowley-he isn’t two faced-more like in your face-I’ve had a few discussions with the guy in person and aside from his politics,he wasn’t an unpleasant individual at all.
Plain has always impressed me as a total A-hole.I had one exchange with him on radio and he came on like a big deal and I think my response took him down a notch.
Basically RIF has been a party line operation with room for diversity of views.
Dan. Actually I was referring to your AR posts. I do not think you ever commented on RIF as “Dan”. I think your AR comments are quite interesting. But your Bob Plain thing is disturbing.
I commented under the name “RightToWork” because “Dan” was already taken or too short to be valid on RIFuture. Phil alleges this was some sort of dishonesty on my part, but I don’t see what other option I had, and I was always open about it.
Bob Plain is a liar and I’ll continue calling him such until he apologizes, posts a retraction of his hit piece against me, or admits I didn’t libel anyone. I understand not everyone here is interested in Plain or RIFuture, but I’m not interested in a lot of what gets posted here. I don’t even read autistic commenter Ken’s 3000-word essays about Hawaii, professional troll Sammy has been busted recycling from Democratic chain e-mails and websites, and Tommy Cranston thinks gays deserve to be murdered for some mentally ill reason only he understands. I think my vendetta is relatively tolerable by those standards. Other people must have some interest in Plain’s unique employment situation because two commenters brought it up in this thread without me saying a word on it.
@Dan-despite your interpretation of what Tommy Cranston has to say on the subject of homosexuals,they did a pretty good job of murdering themselves via the AIDS epidemic.No one forced them to engage in profligate anonymous sexual encounters with a large number of contacts year in and year out.By the time AIDS surfaced there were already a number of diseases endemic to that population out of proportion to the general population such as Hepatitis B(drug users also were high there)so being hard on Tommy doesn’t negate that you reap what you sow.
Hey KenW:
You need to revise that statistic on how many presidents have jettisoned off to Hawaii for a vacation while the country is sliding off the fiscal cliff.
Sorry for hijacking the thread.
RI Future has another feather in its hat.Gun control as discussed by Bruce Reilly,former honcho at RIF and convicted of homicide.He served some serious prison time and he’s got some moral authority on the subject?Maybe he has something to say worthwhile about the prison system,but not about gun control.He,like every other convictd felon can’t legally possess firearms.