In Depth
According to Ken Block, founder of the Rhode Island Moderate Party and creator and sponsor of the Eliminate the Master Lever in Rhode Island! website, just five more State Representatives out of a total 31 undecideds are needed for a majority of Reps to be on record as supporting the elimination of straight-party voting (a.k.a…
The “protection of freedom of religion” in the same-sex marriage bill introduced into the Rhode Island House by Representative Arthur Handy (D – Cranston) is extremely narrow. As it currently stands, the text reads…15-3-6.1. Protection of freedom of religion in marriage (a) Consistent with the guarantees of freedom of religion set forth by both the…
Rhode Island citizens, legislators and lobbyists are invited to use this compilation of various laws from neighboring states relating to marriage and freedom of religion protections as a resource for their upcoming deliberations on same-sex marriage. ConnecticutSection 46b 22b:Refusal to solemnize or participate in ceremony solemnizing a marriage on religious grounds. (a) No member of…
Look, GoLocalProv does and has done some excellent work. Just this morning, for example, we taxpayers appreciate the reminder to our elected officials that 30+ cities and towns have busted the tax cap since 2009. (Why? Property taxes in Rhode Island were quite high enough in 2009. Was there, for example, a corresponding increase in…
We’ve written about this multiple times before, banning the master lever, also known as straight ticket or straight party voting. It’s that option at the top of a ballot where you can simply connect one line and vote for every candidate on the ballot affiliated with that party, in partisan races. I believe this should…
While filling in at WPRO last week, John Loughlin shared a political rumor that Governor Chafee might take a position in the Obama administration – in the Department of Energy as (and it’s possible that John was being facetious about this title) the Deputy Undersecretary of Twirlie Lightbulbs. In that possibly fictional position, Mr. Chafee…
An unanticipated (unprecedented) leap in employment just prior to this year’s presidential election brought the Current Population Survey (CPS) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) an unusually high degree of technical scrutiny. As I’ve been noting, the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted results have been a bit peculiar. With data from December now available,…
First a disclaimer. I’ve been asking questions about this and trying to get information from various sources, but I think the questions coming from me, a known conservative, leads the receiver to believe I’m being sarcastic with my questions. I’m not. I’m being truly honest, as is what I’ll state below. The same-sex marriage bill…
Feeling hopeful, RI?; “top priority” is shown, not stated; RI gets fatherless children first; surviving sans regulation; surviving sans net income; and surviving sans a documented framework for working together. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
It took me a couple of read-throughs to put my finger on the eery blank space in Mike Stanton’s group interview with Rhode Island’s three most powerful politicians: House Speaker Gordon Fox, Governor Lincoln Chafee, and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed. Although only the two legislators are officially Democrats — Fox from Providence and Paiva…