Marc Comtois
WPRI’s Ted Nesi reports that Governor Chafee just can’t understand why people are so opposed to raising taxes. He blames the Providence Journal. The Providence Journal is “hurting Rhode Island” with its barrage of negative editorials, advertisements and articles about the Chafee administration’s sales tax proposal, the governor told WPRI.com on Monday. He blames former…
I heard a little bit of Ken Block this morning on the Helen Glover Show explaining how he was willing to help the state reduce the fraud, waste and abuse in its social services programs. For free. According to Ian Donnis, Governor Chafee is “receptive” to the offer. Duh. Tell me, how often does someone…
As the ProJo profile showed on Sunday, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo is in an interesting spot. As a Democrat, she has the support of the various groups that stand underneath that party’s umbrella, particularly the progressive wing. Yet, she is viewed with caution by the biggest portion of that group, labor. They are willing to…
Sheesh. I just found out the CEO of a 900-employee operation, who just cut employee pay and increased their health care payments, pulls down $265,870 a year. And while his workers are all worried about pension problems and their retirement future, he’s looking to retire next year at 55 and has few of their worries.…
WPRI’s Ted Nesi has done some digging and found out more about the Tavares/1033 deal, particularly how much it has “saved”: The wages, benefits and other provisions outlined in Local 1033′s contract were projected to cost Providence’s city government about $60 million per year, adding up to $240 million over four years, according to calculations…
One of Megan Mcardle’s readers did the math on “taxing the rich” and how it would “help” with the budget: [T]otal taxable income in 2008 was $5,488 billion. Taxable income over $100,000 was $1,582 billion, over $200,000 was $1,185 billion, over $500,000 was $820 billion, over $1 million was $616 billion, over $2 million was…
“Bill would help Teachers Retire Early” says the ProJo headline to Randall Edgar’s piece. Really? How about “Bill Would Increase State Pension Obligation”, because that’s what it really does. Looking to expand on an option that is already available to most public school teachers who have worked in private schools, state Sen. Frank A. Ciccone…
Maybe the Governor knows it’s a done deal? Governor Chafee’s proposed sales-tax changes have yet to be approved by the General Assembly, but plans are already under way to roll out the program, according to state officials. State Department of Revenue officials testifying before the House Finance Committee this week said that the department has…
There is a white paper at AEI arguing that the it’s time for a paradigm shift. Instead of school choice–which accepts the current whole school, institution (or “bricks and mortar”) -based educational structure–reformers should look to educational choice as the true next-generation model: By supporting reforms to increase choice only among schools, choice advocates are…
To those of us not in the public sector, it seems outsized when public employees and politicians make so much of temporary pay freezes or a few minor cuts (or reductions in the expected increases!). Red Jahncke adds some context that will help us understand their perspective by explaining how, nationwide, local and municipal government…