Monique Chartier

Syria, France and the US: the More Apt Reference, Senator, Is Vietnam

By Monique Chartier | January 27, 2013 |

Senator Whitehouse has just returned from a trip to the Middle East with a pronouncement: the United States should help Syrian rebels just as France helped the American Revolutionaries in the 1700’s. Actually, the French reference to the situation in Syria that can far more easily be envisioned is nearly two hundred years later and…

General Treasurer’s Letter About Gay Marriage: Was State Letterhead Appropriate?

By Monique Chartier | January 21, 2013 |

As of late last week, the House Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on a gay marriage bill tomorrow. Around ten days ago, General Treasurer Raimondo sent a letter to Speaker Fox and Senate President Paiva-Weed expressing strong support for the passage of gay marriage in Rhode Island. Anchor Rising obtained a copy of the…

JEEPers, PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year Turns Out to Be True

By Monique Chartier | January 19, 2013 |

Thanks to John Loughlin for bringing this to my attention. The original statement by the Romney campaign that was politifact-“checked”: [Mitt Romney] Says Barack Obama “sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China” at the cost of American jobs. And a headline from Reuters on Thursday. Fiat sees at least 100,000…

Sakonnet Bridge Tolls? Bye Bye $2.6 – $16 million in State Slot Revenue

By Monique Chartier | January 15, 2013 |

Several months ago, I contacted Newport Grand to ask what percentage of their visitors came from Massachusetts so that we could project how much tolls on the Sakonnet River Bridge would cost them in business – and, by extension, cost the state in lost revenue from the slot parlor. I didn’t get very far, leaving…

Master Lever Master Confusion: What Happens to Votes Cast For An Unaffiliated Candidate?

By Monique Chartier | January 13, 2013 |

In a post yesterday describing some of Ken Block’s findings about apparent voting problems with the master lever, Patrick wrote 115 times [in Burrillville], the line was connected in favor of the Moderate party, but then all but 18 times, the voters chose someone else for Governor. The initial temptation is to make a glib…

A State Full of Smart Non-Criminals and GoLocalProv Had to Import a Felonious, Bad Government “Mindsetter”?

By Monique Chartier | January 8, 2013 |

Look, GoLocalProv does and has done some excellent work. Just this morning, for example, we taxpayers appreciate the reminder to our elected officials that 30+ cities and towns have busted the tax cap since 2009. (Why? Property taxes in Rhode Island were quite high enough in 2009. Was there, for example, a corresponding increase in…

Study Finds that Twirlie Lightbulbs Pose Health Hazard (In Addition to the Mercury!)

By Monique Chartier | January 5, 2013 |

While filling in at WPRO last week, John Loughlin shared a political rumor that Governor Chafee might take a position in the Obama administration – in the Department of Energy as (and it’s possible that John was being facetious about this title) the Deputy Undersecretary of Twirlie Lightbulbs. In that possibly fictional position, Mr. Chafee…

Words of Wisdom About Teacher Pay and the Perils of Binding Arbitration: Guess the Speaker

By Monique Chartier | December 29, 2012 |

This column by Steve Frias in the Cranston Herald contains, among other things, some fascinating history about the evolution and implementation of public pensions and collective bargaining in RI. Some quotes highlighted by Frias from the early 1990’s in particular stand out, not so much because of their substance, though they are absolutely correct, but…

Ominous: Gov Does Not Rule Out Tax Hike

By Monique Chartier | December 27, 2012 |

Over at On Politics, Ian Donnis reports that Gov Chafee will not say whether his upcoming budget will include a tax hike. Governor Lincoln Chafee is declining to talk specifics about whether his next budget will include revenue increases – a.k.a. tax hikes. The governor offered this comment during an interview last week (excerpts of…

“States Doling Out the Best Benefits”: Guessez Vous Who Is Number One?

By Monique Chartier | December 26, 2012 |

Ah, yes. Another week, another undesirable ranking. Rhode Island once again finds itself at or near the top of a category quite disadvantageous to the people who pay the bills. Thanks to commenter ANTHONY for sharing a link under another post that sent me click-clicking around curiously until I happened across this 24/7 Wall Street…