Patrick Laverty

The Nanny State Again

By Patrick Laverty | April 26, 2012 |

Oh here we go again. Yeah it sounds like a good idea. Don’t you want to keep people safe? Do you want someone else to get killed? But that’s not the point. The point is that the General Assembly keeps passing bills forcing people and businesses to do things that make sense, but still they…

Secretary of State Advertises For A Union

By Patrick Laverty | April 24, 2012 |

The Providence Journal has a story today by Randal Edgar about a “bug” on the Secretary of State’s envelopes. For those unaware, a bug is a little icon that is placed on an item or a screen, sort of like advertising. You’re probably familiar with the television network bugs during their programming. On NBC, they’ll…

Taking on Ted

By Patrick Laverty | April 22, 2012 |

Ted Nesi writes a weekly notes column and posts it on Saturday mornings. I tried writing my own for a few weeks and it’s really a lot of work. It’s not something that can be thrown out there in a few minutes, as it does take a bunch of researching and note taking. So it’s…

“Single, Ready to Mingle”

By Patrick Laverty | April 20, 2012 |

When even the left is showing disgust for the entitlement system and the issues with it, you know there’s a problem. I don’t like to use anecdotal examples (“Oh yeah, well I once knew this guy who…”) but it’s not like this is the right-wing version of Michael Moore out to do a hatchet job.…

Democrats Stay Home

By Patrick Laverty | April 16, 2012 |

If you live in the First Congressional District, the only race you care about voting in on primary day this fall and you’re a Democrat, you can stay home. The race is over, just come vote in November. Anthony Gemma was on the Helen Glover Show this morning and he repeatedly contrasted himself with Republican…

Gemma’s Back in the Race

By Patrick Laverty | April 15, 2012 |

Local businessman Anthony Gemma formally announced his bid for Congress today in CD1. He’ll be running as a Democrat and facing off with David Cicilline in a primary this fall, I think. You’d never know who his opponent is though by his speech on Sunday. According to reports filed by Ted Nesi and Ian Donnis,…

The Nanny State

By Patrick Laverty | April 12, 2012 |

Some readers have questioned my conservative credibility, and that’s fine, no worries there. We’re all somewhere on the spectrum. However, the philosophical spectrum isn’t just bi-directionally linear. There are other forks in the road in different directions from being conservative or liberal, and one is libertarianism. I won’t claim to be a staunch or strict…

One’s Playing Checkers, the Other is Playing Chess

By Patrick Laverty | April 11, 2012 |

Come on now. When you are the incumbent, shouldn’t you usually have the better team and the better responses available? Today’s response and then response to the response posted on the RI NPR OnPolitics Blog, between Brendan Doherty and David Cicilline’s spokeswoman wasn’t even close. If this was a boxing match, it’d easily have been…

Cicilline “Apologizes”

By Patrick Laverty | April 10, 2012 |

Now what could I possibly have to say negative about David Cicilline finally admitting that he misled the voters and may not have described Providence’s financial picture accurately and is now apologizing? Why am I using the quotes in the title? Well, lets take a look at Tim White’s story about the Cicilline apology. Congressman…

The Slippery Governor

By Patrick Laverty | April 2, 2012 |

One skill that you can learn by watching the local politicians is a nice way to evade any tough questions. Simply don’t answer them. I don’t mean you just sit there and stare at the questioner, but you answer the question you want to answer. On this weekend’s Newsmakers, Governor Chafee was the guest and…