Justin Katz
It looks like I’ve made it to the town council meeting just in time to miss the budget discussion, and I’m still shaking a bit from the school committee meeting. (Although, to be honest, I’m not sure what emotion is the cause.) School Committee member Leonard Wright made one of the union’s talking points by…
Given my inability to attend both significant budget meetings for the Town of Tiverton, tonight, I opted to be present at the School Committee’s. For one thing, the way Tiverton’s budget process is structured, the Council’s passage of the budget is merely the first step, and not necessarily an important one. As I’ve noted, the…
Yesterday’s Political Scene shouldn’t fly under the MLK Day radar: Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, was paid $92,606 last year as senior business agent for the largest state employees union: Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Senate Majority Whip Dominick Ruggerio, D-Providence, was paid $181,041 in salary and…
Catching up on some regrettably lapsed blog reading habits, I came across a post by Lane Core that notes a January 2 post by the Anchoress with the following bit of prescience: What I dread most in this political season is the “genuine” moment – and it is coming, soon, sometime between today and tomorrow,…
Over on Not for Nothing, Ian Donnis chortles about Hillary: The Movie, noting: Among the things we learn from Ann Coulter and a host of other putative experts is that Hillary is “worse than Nixon.” OK! I’m disinclined to rush to the movie’s defense as anything other than a political production, but this particular selectivity…
Kenny Cicerone, whom I mentioned last week, has some specific allegations against local politicians in North Providence (with details likely to be found on his Web sites) and a question that Anchor Rising readers might be able to answer: How does an individual or group go about filing ethics complaints against elected officials?
With all the talk that you’re sure to hear over the next year about “Bush’s recession” and (usually separately) Rhode Island’s financial troubles, it’ll be crucial to maintain proper perspective: Rhode Island payrolls shrank for the second straight month in December and the unemployment rate climbed to 5.5 percent, its highest level in more than…
Let it be noted for the public record that it is patently unfair of the Tiverton Town Council and the Tiverton School Committee to have key budget-related meetings at the same time on Tuesday evening. Should interested citizens (few as we may be) follow the doings of those most directly able to take our tax…
Tiverton School Committee member Jan Bergandy has an excellent letter (which is unfortunately not online) in the current Sakonnet Times: The bird-flipping spiritual leader of the NEA has not been seen in town recently but I would not be surprised if his teachings inspired the followers. This is what happens when you do not have…