Monique Chartier

Municipal Bankruptcy Accelerant: Binding Arbitration Prowls the Back Rooms of the State House

By Monique Chartier | June 22, 2011 |

The RI Tea Party sent out the following alert yesterday. Union leaders are behind the scenes looking for their quid pro quo as a result of the budget freeze on longevity payments. They are lobbying the Senate Labor Committee and all members of the Senate for the passage of binding arbitration on fiscal matters in…

Help Wanted: Dem Opponent for T. Paiva-Weed

By Monique Chartier | June 21, 2011 |

Heh. Someone posted an advertisement on the free classifieds website Craigslist this month seeking to enlist Democratic challengers to Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, a Newport Democrat up for reelection in 2012. The person who posted the ad was identified only by the e-mail address automatically generated by the website: comm-rmdy8-2436493850@craigslist.org But the person…

ProJo.com Edges Towards Subscription Territory

By Monique Chartier | June 18, 2011 |

On Thursday, for a third day in a row, the day’s on-line newspaper had not appeared until 8:00 am (versus midnight or earlier, which had been the norm). In response to my inquiry, the ProJo sent me the following. Newspaper content is now available on projo.com at 8:00 am each day of publication. To read…

Attention, Rep Diaz: In-State College Tuition Is Not Free (… to the Taxpayer, Anyway)

By Monique Chartier | June 15, 2011 |

For the seventh year in a row, Representative Grace Diaz (D-Providence) has submitted a bill that would, as the bill language euphemistically phrases it, “exempt” illegal immigrant students “from paying nonresident tuition at Rhode Island public universities, 8 colleges or community colleges”. In other words, illegal immigrant students would be permitted to attend Rhode Island…

Re: Man Bites Dog: School Committee Sues Teachers Union

By Monique Chartier | June 13, 2011 |

Responding via e-mail and under comments to my question, Tim Duffy, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, kindly explains the preamble to and basis of the Portsmouth School Committee’ lawsuit against the NEA-Portsmouth. The Portsmouth school committee implemented a new personnel policy that based teacher assignments on qualifications as opposed to…

Social Hosting Tip: Chief Esserman Might Well Have Benefited If the Sarah Palin E-Mails Had Only Been Released A Couple of Days Earlier

By Monique Chartier | June 12, 2011 |

Certain members of the msm, demonstrating an interest and a level of energy that they never remotely approached when it came to candidate and then President Barack Obama, have recruited a volunteer army of readers and are currently snuffling through Sarah Palin’s gubernatorial e-mails looking for material with which to embarass and/or ridicule her. The…

Bob Kerr: Answers about the Iannazzi Hiring as Accurate as Blind Date Pre-Screening Information

By Monique Chartier | June 11, 2011 |

Those like myself who are obsessed with politics to the exclusion of almost everything else can be excused for passing lightly over Bob Kerr’s column yesterday; the headline The blind date doesn’t seem to be working out gave the impression that the topic of the column was lifestyle or culture. Not so. It’s like a…

Man Bites Dog: School Committee Sues Teachers Union

By Monique Chartier | June 10, 2011 |

I don’t fully understand the basis of the lawsuit; explications welcome. But this is a refreshing turnabout in a state where public labor lawsuits against elected bodies are filed, seemingly, as easily as shop grievances. Portsmouth officials have filed suit against the town’s teacher’s union seeking to eliminate seniority as a factor in personnel decisions,…

Pawtucket Pension and Retirement Shortfall: $500 Million (Just Pawtucket)

By Monique Chartier | June 9, 2011 |

… which includes $83,000 a month in disability pensions. And that item could have been even higher, if you can believe it, but Pawtucket has an enlightened – by Rhode Island standards – rule that shifts disability pensioners over to a regular pension at retirement age. (So there are cities and towns which do not…

Oh, Great. Now He Can Doze Under Cover of Darkness.

By Monique Chartier | June 6, 2011 |

Remember that DOT staffer busted by WPRI for sleeping, eating and reading for half the work day? Well, he’s back on the job – but during a different shift. The Department of Transportation worker caught in a Target 12 Investigation spending hours on the clock sleeping, eating and reading novels over several weeks, is back…