Monique Chartier

Caprio is Both For and Against Binding Arbitration (Depending Upon the Audience)

By Monique Chartier | October 6, 2010 |

Randal Edgar reports in yesterday’s Providence Journal. Kudos to Ken Block for picking up on this. In an interview last month with the head of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, gubernatorial candidate Frank T. Caprio responded with a quick “no, I do not” when asked if he favors binding arbitration to resolve teacher…

Balancing a Budget; Balance Lucky Parent Syndrome?

By Monique Chartier | October 5, 2010 |

Yesterday’s RISC-Y Business NewsLetter contained a Woonsocket Call article (not available on line) describing the onerous cuts to the school budget identified by the school committee. Mayor Leo T. Fontaine has sued the school department on a bid to balance its budget and on Monday school officials may meet his challenge with a stunning round…

Rating of John Loughlin on Social Security: PolitiFact’s Truth-O-Meter Earns Itself a “Pants on Fire”

By Monique Chartier | October 3, 2010 |

The “Truth”-O-Meter in today’s Providence Journal rates Congressional candidate John Loughlin’s comparison of social security to a Ponzi scheme as “False”. Let’s take a look, shall we? Here’s the definition of a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by…

Man Bites Dog: Mayor Fountaine Files an Olourac Action Against the School Department

By Monique Chartier | October 2, 2010 |

Uncharted territory necessitates the invention of terms: what to call a reverse Caruolo Action? The Woonsocket Call reports; h/t today’s RISC-Y Business Newsletter. Mayor Leo T. Fontaine fired a shot across the bow of the School Department on Thursday while opening a Superior Court bid to win an immediate reduction in school spending. The city…

Coming Soon to Your Highrise: the Cicilline Lie-Apalooza

By Monique Chartier | September 28, 2010 |

Kicked off at a senior center in Pawtucket, Hot Air calls it the “Let’s Scare Grandma Tour”. [Mayor David] Cicilline’s presentation to seniors was false in numerous respects. There is no threat to the checks to be received by seniors now in the system either under the present system or with any reforms now in…

The Missing Tools – Why Car and Property Taxes are Going Up in Too Many Cities and Towns

By Monique Chartier | September 25, 2010 |

In an e-blast yesterday, the John Robitaille campaign helpfully supplied the list for which I have been hunting since the end of the last G.A. session: all of the local budget control tools which the General Assembly refused to supply to cities and towns. (One item only from the list made it into law: a…

Congressional Timidity on ObamaCare – Or – We Certainly Won’t Remind You What We Did

By Monique Chartier | September 25, 2010 |

Further to Justin’s post, ABC’s The Note is hard pressed to find any congressperson expending precious campaign dollars to broadcast their “Yea” vote for ObamaCare. Six months after President Obama signed a sweeping health care measure into law, how many Democrats nation-wide are running TV ads touting their votes for the law? Answer: Zero Caveat:…

Re: Chafee Just Doesn’t Understand….Race to the Top

By Monique Chartier | September 23, 2010 |

The bottom line of Race To The Top, as was No Child Left Behind (‘fess up, leftie friends who oppose NCLB, that program name is you and you’d have supported NCLB if it hadn’t been proposed by a Republican president) is an effort to increase academic achievement in this state. Whether, as Marc wonders, the…

Mix-N-Match a GOP Presidential Ticket

By Monique Chartier | September 20, 2010 |

Are you pleased at the sight of Sarah Palin edging towards the ring, hat in hand? No? Then who would you prefer? Choose from the fairly comprehensive list of candidates offered at the Values Voter Summit straw poll this weekend Michele Bachmann | Jan Brewer | Chris Christie | Mitch Daniels | Jim DeMint |…

Okay, It’s Beyond Me: Should the Curriculum of Any Public School Include a Class about “Enduring Beliefs in the World Today” – a.k.a., Religion – that Includes Field Trips to Religious Services?

By Monique Chartier | September 19, 2010 |

… though in the case of the Wellesley Middle School, the field trip in question inexplicably included student observation (which turned into something more for some of the boy students; thus, generating keen attention from outside of the school district to this field trip and an apology [PDF] from the superintendent) of the service of…