Marc Comtois

Chafee Floats Expansion of Sales Tax in Gubernatorial Coming Out Party

By Marc Comtois | January 4, 2010 |

After loaning himself a couple hundred grand, former Senator Lincoln Chafee announced his expected bid for Rhode Island Governor as an independent this morning. The headline is his willingness to expand the sales-tax base. From Katherine Gregg’s story: While he would prefer the state generated new revenue from economic growth, “not by raising taxes and…

Merry Christmas!!!

By Marc Comtois | December 24, 2009 |

Merry Christmas to all Anchor Rising contributors, commenters and readers–the whole Anchor Rising Family! Thanks for the intellectual “gifts” you give every day. Now take a day off and enjoy Christmas with your families!

Tracking the Man in Red

By Marc Comtois | December 24, 2009 |

Well, he’s already started Down Under (gee, those kids are lucky)! Norad is tracking Santa like they do every year (they’ve even managed to capture some video!) and St. Nick is working his way around the South Pacific right now. He must be hot in that suit!

What Obamacare Does to the Middle Class Budget

By Marc Comtois | December 23, 2009 |

Terry Jeffrey helpfully boils down a key portion of the Congressional Budget Office’s take on the Senate health care bill: how it would affect an average middle-class family’s bottom line. How does another $15,000 in “fees” (or, taxes if you want to call ’em that!) sound? Here’s a summary of his summary Fact 1: You…

Prescriptions for Failed States

By Marc Comtois | December 20, 2009 |

In the most recent Claremont Review, William Voegeli examines some of political and institutional factors that have led to California’s current crisis, particularly the role that Progressivism has played. Key to his argument is the understanding of what early twentieth century Progressives in California were trying to achieve: According to historian Alonzo Hamby, the framework…

Mid-east Oil Well Tagging

By Marc Comtois | December 18, 2009 |

The headline caught my attention: “Iranian forces take over Iraq oil well.” Yikes. Then I read the story…and the real situation is described by U.S. Colonel Peter Newell: “What happens is, periodically, about every three or four months, the oil ministry guys from Iraq will go … to fix something or do some maintenance. They’ll…

Abstract Consolidation Polls Well in RI, but….

By Marc Comtois | December 17, 2009 |

According to the new Brown U. poll: Gov. Carcieri has proposed a high-powered commission to study the feasibility of consolidating or regionalizing public services, like education, public safety, and other municipal services. The argument is that there is too much duplication of services among the state’s 39 municipalities. Do you agree or disagree the following…

RE: Supplemental Budget Fallout

By Marc Comtois | December 16, 2009 |

It seems to me that those city leaders whining about the Governor’s proposed cuts (PDF) would be better served attempting genuine contract reform instead of nibbling at the edges, as they have up to this point. In short, isn’t it about time we get rid of the contract step scheme? Set the entry level salary…

Rory Smith Backs Out of GOP Governor Race

By Marc Comtois | December 11, 2009 |

As first heard (by me, at least) on Dan Yorke’s show, GOP naif Rory Smith has decided against running for Governor of Rhode Island and has suspended his campaign. Learning curve was too steep (hey, I understand!). Though Rep. Joe Trillo indicated that a “lurking Laffey” had nothing to do with Smith’s decision…we shall see.

Random Mutterings

By Marc Comtois | December 3, 2009 |

Having some kind of head cold nastiness for the better part of a week has left me more befuddled than usual and less able to focus thanks to various apothecary concoctions. Here’s what I’ve been muttering about…. Apparently, Gen. Treasurer Frank Caprio is going to campaign as a right-of-center progressive. Tiger Woods has garnered a…