The PEDP, GLP, DC and Erasmo
Has anyone else been paying attention to the job that Dan McGowan has been doing with his coverage on the Providence Economic Development Partnership (PEDP) for GoLocalProv? It seems just about every other day, he has some other important piece to the whole puzzle and further explaining the fund and how it has been used through the last ten years or so.
He’s been chronicling the program and how the money has been used. Quick primer, think EDC. For the success rate, again, think EDC. It seems that loans given out by the PEDP have a failure rate of around 60%. Dan has shown how many of these loans go unpaid for years at a time, how the PEDP used taxpayer money for lunch, and simply written off a couple million dollars in default loans. Maybe Providence is so flush with cash, they can afford to just give away a couple million?
Then today, McGowan wrote about another little nugget that he dug up. He was able to find out about Erasmo Ramirez, the same one in the video that the Providence Journal displayed on Saturday. The same one that was seen offering to sell primary ballots to an undercover investigator. The same one that was previously a volunteer for David Cicilline’s campaign, was also someone who received PEDP money, while Cicilline was in office.
But less than 20 months after Cicilline took office, El Portal Family Restaurant, which listed Ramirez as its president in its corporate filing, received a $103,000 loan from the Providence Economic Development Partnership (PEDP), the controversial city loan fund which critics have called a “slush fund” for Cicilline.
Whether it is or it isn’t, this sort of thing just looks a whole lot like politicians doing favors for friends. The bright side of this one is the loan was actually paid off.
Poor finances, angry firemen and police and a very poorly managed loan program. (Well, wait. Can it be called a loan program when the majority of the money never comes back?)
The hits just keeps on coming. And yet, people still believe that Cicilline deserves his promotion to Congress. Wow.
Pols in RI have doubled and tripled down on arrogance for years. They are not afraid of f*ck#g the citizens over. They get elected and re-elected as punishment. The state is small and political incest runs deep. When will the State go bankrupt?
Good work, Dan McG!
Surely it was entirely a coincidence that a business owner who helped get votes for the mayor then got a business loan from a gov’t agency run by the mayor.
Given Providence’s long and sordid history of quid-pro-quo political arrangements with organized labor, if the fire and police unions are happy with you as a politician, then that’s not a good sign from a good government perspective. The unions are already spending more on politicians than corporations or any other class in the state. I’m not too concerned over whether 6-figure firemen and policemen with compounding pensions and pitiful health care contributions are getting everything they want out of their contracts.
These “progressive” public-private loan programs do appear to be a particularly troubling practice in Rhode Island, which is not at all surprising because they have little oversight and can easily double as a slush fund for connected persons and businesses. This is the Rhode Island way. It was before we were born, and it will be after we are dead. Keynesian economics and “democratic capitalism,” or however the progressives are dressing it up at the moment, are just the rationalizations du jour for the corruption that always has been and always will be in the state.
I was actually approached by someone trying to get one of these kinds of loans. This person wanted me to put -MY- house up as collateral so they could take a loan out to open their business. Notwithstanding that my house actually has negative equity, it was explained to me by the applicant that “My connections will let us ignore the bank loan so we can still use it, and nobody in City Hall is actually going to come after the house if you’re living in it, it would be bad press. This is how it’s done.”
I politely declined.
“My connections will let us ignore the bank loan so we can still use it, and nobody in City Hall is actually going to come after the house if you’re living in it, it would be bad press. This is how it’s done.”
That is Exactly how it worked under the depraved midget.
Gayvid looks like The Picture Of Dorian Gray come to life.
An utterly worthless family from the fat brother who was Gayvid’s bagman to the sister who has a no-show job at JCLS to the senile father who used his corrupt ties to judges to free murderers, child molesters and dope dealers to the Congress”man” in his 50’s who openly romps around town with dope addicted black and brown 19 year old porn actors who can “top” the depraved one at a moments notice.
Now I’ve waited a while for someone at AR to clean up the mess that was left by the commenter that precedes mine. Nothing overly offensive here? Anyone? Forget about Monique. She’s the one who wrote “Ding Ding Tommy” in response to one of this person’s comments a short time ago.
Still waiting…
If a guest came into my place and took a dump on the floor I think the first thing I would do is remove the person from the premises and then clean up the mess. You all OK with the stench?
Phil – Any honest reader understands that the views expressed by commenters here are not those held by the blog owners and contributors.
If you’re so concerned about blog comments, Bob Plain could use your help identifying “libel” on his blog, RIFuture. A lot, and I mean *a lot*, of his own content could qualify as libel, but at the same time he considers posting widely reported information about public union leadership a bannable offense. Maybe you can get him a clue on how to run a blog, since you’re such an authority.
Dan
You have taken on the commenter who leaves these hateful comments before this on this blog. I have not given you credit but will now. You have been consistent in your criticism so why now the change? Because it was I who objected? I don’t need anything from you. You have made completely false comments about me and my profession. You have accused me of being racist without any evidence whatsoever. You have accused me of being sexist with absolutely no prove so why would anyone believe anything that you write or say. My posts were not directed to you. The people who own and contribute to this blog are the ones who tolerate the hateful comments that were not removed. Sometimes I am of the mind to think that it is better to let those who harbor such hateful thoughts to express them openly as an example of the type of hate that exists. Other times I think that we have all heard enough from the haters and there is nothing at all of value in keeping a space where they can pollute the world we must all share.
Phil – I do not support hate and discrimination against gay people or any people who are not harming anyone else with their behavior. But I don’t approve of your methods here. For political convenience, you are trying to use the extreme views of one commenter to smear this blog, which produces some very high quality work in my opinion. If you want to see a clear contrast, just go over to RIFuture and witness the low-grade crap that is posted over there at the moment – it has quickly degenerated into angsty-teenage-girl-livejournal quality posts. The contributors of this blog work very hard to maintain standards, unlike the RIFuture crowd, so it isn’t fair to associate them with the views of one person simply because they don’t choose to censor them for whatever reason.
I do try to be accurate and I welcome thoughtful correction. You seem overly concerned about union issues, particularly in the schools, and you have mentioned owning and running a business. I speculated about a union connection because you have given that impression. I question your business because there is no online evidence of it ever existing in the state. If you choose to set me straight on either of these topics, I will welcome the corrections.
The contributors of this blog work very hard to maintain standards, unlike the RIFuture crowd, so it isn’t fair to associate them with the views of one person simply because they don’t choose to censor them for whatever reason.
If they wish to be taken seriously then they should set a standard for comments. Allowing this one person to continue in posting hateful comments does nothing to promote the kind of blog you seem to think they have here. You write that I am trying to smear this blog. I believe that by leaving the hateful crap up that they are smearing themselves. Since you continue to write about RIFuture I have to ask you why you don’t take up those issues with them.
Hey Phil-my post has been up 3 days so EVERYONE here has already seen it. Now one of the moderators may come along and censor it to be the “good guy”; laughing as they do it at your ineffectual outrage.
Oh, the post? Tell me just one FACT that is even slightly incorrect?
Nope, didn’t think so.
A progressive is a craven scumbag who demands that the crowd keep complimenting the Emperor on the finery of his clothing.
Now go back to your “quahogging” at NEA headquarters; you’re not fooling anyone here
So the coward comes out at last.
You’re the coward; pretending to be “a quahougger” while you’re an OBVIOUS public union tool.
You have NO ONE fooled dirtball.
The loan was paid off by the title insurance co.,not Ramirez.
He received the loan from the City,a lien was allegedly placed on property he owned,but he still was able to sell that property w/o the lien/loan being repaid because the title co.did not find the lien.
Imagine that ! What luck !
Doesn’t this scenario seem vaguely familiar to the Nelson Rivera/John Cicilline bad check problem ?