Monique Chartier

Socking It To the Insurance Co or To The Insured? Rhode Island Has the Highest Number of Health Insurance Mandates

By Monique Chartier | April 17, 2013 |

To set the stage: This Wall Street Journal summary map indicates that Rhode Island has the seventh highest per capita health-care spending. In filings Monday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI requested an increase in health insurance premiums – an 18% increase for individuals (note that Blue Cross is the only company in the state…

Ken Block: Data shows Master Lever Likely Helped Speaker Fox Avoid Defeat Last November

By Monique Chartier | April 10, 2013 |

This afternoon, Ken Block released the following interesting analysis of the 2012 election results for District 4. Reform advocate urges Fox and Senate President Paiva-Weed to respect the voice of Rhode Islanders and let bills eliminating Master Lever come to vote (PROVIDENCE, RI 4/10/13) Businessman Ken Block, who has been a leading advocate for the…

So What Shall We Call The Proposed State Bank?

By Monique Chartier | April 9, 2013 |

That is correct; Kim Kalunian at WPRO reports that a bill … submitted by Rep. Charlene Lima (D-Cranston) would create a Rhode Island state bank. The bill would establish a Rhode Island state bank to “protect the financial welfare and economic vitality of the citizens” and create jobs. The state bank would have the same…

Ted Nesi Puts In Perspective Mike Riley’s Remarks

By Monique Chartier | April 7, 2013 |

With reference to the (regrettable) comments that Mike Riley made to the police on that Fateful Night, WPRI’s Ted Nesi tweeted a couple of days ago, Riley’s comments are still no match for Senator Ciccone’s immortal words, “You think you got pension problems now?” http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/polit… No match, indeed. (For those who might have missed it,…

1,700,000+ “Sick” Brits Mysteriously Cured When Gov’t Implemented Medical Testing For Incapacity Benefit

By Monique Chartier | April 1, 2013 |

It’s a MIRACLE! … almost 900,000 have dropped their claim to the taxpayer-funded benefits rather than undergo a new medical test as part of the Coalition welfare reforms. … Another 837,000 who did take the test were found to be fit to work immediately, and a further 367,300 were judged able to do some level…

“GOP Credentials Committee Determines Qualification of Voters at State Committee Meeting”

By Monique Chartier | March 28, 2013 |

Further to their convention (meeting?) last week which culminated in a very close election for chair and an honest process error, the RIGOP just released the following statement, entitled as above. Warwick: Last night the Credentials Committee of the Rhode Island Republican Party met to hear a petition to disqualify both the process and some…

How’s That Fraud Squad Doing? Let No One Be Exempted from Their Scrutiny

By Monique Chartier | March 24, 2013 |

Very good editorial, entitled “Waste-and-fraud report”, in today’s Providence Journal. Mr. Block came back with what was a first glance at the problem; he lacked the data to do a more extensive survey. But he found signs of serious fraud just below the surface — demonstrating that our elected officials and bureaucrats should better monitor…

Sharp and Important Contrast: Republican vs Democrat Handling of Two Election Results This Week

By Monique Chartier | March 23, 2013 |

In case you missed it, this past week presented an excellent opportunity to watch RI Dems and Repubs handle election results. > At the State House, Democrats discovered that [gasp] a committee had done its job and actually voted on whether to send a bill to the House Floor, resulting in an 8-0 vote in…

Mark Zaccaria: RI GOP Leadership Election Continued

By Monique Chartier | March 22, 2013 |

Mark Zaccaria, whose tenure as Chair of the RIGOP was unexpected extended last night, issued the following statement this morning. RIGOP Deadlocked on New Chair Cranston: The State Central Committee of the Rhode Island Republican Party met in convention Thursday night to elect new leadership for the upcoming two year term. The convention was held…

Mayor Leo Fontaine Surprises FOX’s Stuart Varney

By Monique Chartier | March 22, 2013 |

… earlier this week on Varney & Co by not vigorously defending the social program that made Woonsocket the subject of that Washington Post article. Don’t miss the part where Mayor Fontaine holds up a state application for food stamps and points out that the last page of it is a voter registration form. (H’mmm,…