Patrick Laverty
This would be funny if it weren’t so sad. The incumbent Congressman’s staff put out press releases on his behalf that contradict each other. According to one, it’s a bad thing that out-of-state groups support Republican Brendan Doherty. But then the other hand, Cicilline wants to tout the fact that out-of-state, national groups support his…
As you might remember, I sent a few questions to State Senator Walter Felag on April 30. I guess Hummel was right when he showed us that members of the Assembly do not respond to non-constituents. More than a week later and no response from the Senator. I guess I shouldn’t hold my breath, but…
It seems that locally some people are on a “Full Time Assembly” kick and I’m not sure why. I don’t see how this is possibly a good idea. One of the latest people to suggest it is URI Professor Len Lardaro in an On Politics blog post with Ian Donnis today. Ian lists out Lardaro’s…
According to a Ted Nesi article on WPRI.com yesterday, Providence will be receiving a $5 million advance from Johnson & Wales University (JWU) immediately. Back in February, JWU agreed to commit $6.4 million to the city over the next 10 years. What also makes this interesting is the city’s explanation on what they’ll do with…
We have a debate going on in Congress about raising the rate on student loans from the current 3.4% to the old interest rate of 6.8%. There is very little coincidence that the Democrat-controlled Congress who passed this change set the expiration date for an election year. Either continue with the Democrat chosen rate or…
According to multiple reports today, two Providence Councilors, John Igliozzi and Terry Hassett now are seeking to amend the ordinance that the City Council just voted on a few days ago, to now lessen the cuts by $3-4 million. From the RINPR blog: “I am acting in what I believe to be a much fairer…
I was reading Phil Marcelo’s story in the Providence Journal today about the state legislators who had joined ALEC but weren’t too familiar with the organization. One thing near the end that stuck out was Sen. Walter Felag looking into canceling his membership. I decided to steal a page from Andrew’s book and send Senator…
Some of you might remember a few months ago when Senator Elizabeth Crowley of Central Falls wrote a letter to the editor in the Providence Journal excoriating the city’s receiver Robert Flanders. Flanders had recently appeared at the newspaper’s annual Follies show dressed in an executioner’s outfit and touted himself “Lord of the Pink Slip.”…
Businesses will set up shop where the tax laws are more favorable to them. And in other news, water is wet. Maybe it would seem obvious to most that people will be motivated by lower tax rates. However, if you listen to some on the left, especially locally, this isn’t true. But how do you…
I was in my car yesterday afternoon listening to Matt Allen talking about this new ordinance in North Smithfield and talking with town councilor Ed Yazbak about it. The Town Council in North Smithfield will put new contracts up for public review for two weeks before signing. This ordinance will only cover contracts that the…