Adventures in Town Government

Sign reading "You'll Get It Eventually"

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Open Questions About Mysterious Decisions

By Justin Katz | September 13, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz talk about inexplicable decisions being made in Rhode Island government and media.

Mary Brimer on State of the State

State of the State: Critical Race Theory, Part 3

By Justin Katz | September 8, 2021 |

North Kingstown Councilwoman Mary Brimer joins Richard August to discuss racism and critical race theory (CRT) in North Kingstown.

A man with his head in a box

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Narrative Dominates

By Justin Katz | September 7, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review multiple ways state and local government seem not to be acting as one would expect competent professionals to act.

A locked luggage box

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Boxed in by the Past

By Justin Katz | August 9, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz take on unprecedented developments in RI government and politics.

Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt's Facebook page

As in Woonsocket, we’re going to have to figure out the lines of public transparency.

By Justin Katz | August 6, 2021 |

Two Woonsocket residents are suing Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt with the help of the ACLU for deleting their posts on and blocking them from her Facebook page: Greg Duhamel said he was banned last November when he made a post challenging Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt’s attempt to claim credit for the building of a skate park.…

A field split between dirt and grass

Should conservative Rhode Islanders create a sanctuary town?

By Justin Katz | August 5, 2021 |

Mairead McArdle has been writing about conservative areas around the country that have been trying to break away from their progressive municipalities, and today’s essay asks, “How Could Conservative Pockets Break Away From The Liberal Local Governments That Control Them?” McArdle directs readers to a summary of procedures collected by the Carl Vinson Institute of…

Newport Superior Court

Our legal system has developed a systematized path to eliminate our right to self governance.

By Justin Katz | August 3, 2021 |

At the core of our very ability to call our system a “representative democracy” is that we write down rules by which we all must abide.  New rules can be implemented and old rules can be repealed or amended, but the more fundamental it is, the more difficult it is to change.  Thus, bureaucrats can…

A dog in the circus

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Governing Circus

By Justin Katz | July 26, 2021 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz talk about the politics of the day, with things that should be easy proving difficult and things that would have to be difficult being passed off as easy.

Tiverton Town Hall

A local charter can never be clear enough to thwart local officials with no respect for their community.

By Justin Katz | July 22, 2021 |

On Tiverton Fact Check, I’ve posted an update on efforts to block residents from putting budget proposals on the ballot of our financial town referendum.  The upshot is that it’s not good. In the course of declining to intervene and force the Board of Canvassers to reverse its refusal to allow voters to consider other options…

South Kingstown schools logo

Advocacy Solutions took one for the insider team in South Kingstown.

By Justin Katz | July 21, 2021 |

The South Kingstown school department has provided Anchor Rising with a little bit more detail on the hiring of a PR firm to handle the matter of local mom Nicole Solas (and to criticize her): Then Chair and School Committee member Emily Cummiskey reached out to the District’s legal counsel, wanting to quickly respond to a…