General Assembly
Perhaps the most-challenging thing about good-government reforms is that, for the most part, we’re seeking to develop and implement them on the basis of a shallow political and organizational philosophy. Consider legislation that would change Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA). Some of the adjustments make sense, but I’m not so sure about…
John DePetro and Justin Katz check in on the insider operations of the RI State House, bureaucracy, and media.
A broad review of history suggests that the time to stop a dangerous social or political trend is when the changes being implemented are relatively minor and the concerns are arguably still hypothetical. At that stage, the general value of cooperation can overcome the preferences of this or that faction. As the factions disregard the…
John DePetro and Justin Katz talk the Rhode Island politics of the day.
Once upon a time, the common wisdom was that government work couldn’t compete with the private sector for pay but made up for it in benefits and job security. Whether that was ever true, I don’t know, but it has long been the case that government workers in Rhode Island get the best of all…
John DePetro and Justin Katz pick apart the false image the establishment presents of the Ocean State.
John DePetro and Justin Katz consider the year ahead for Rhode Island.
Like it or not, we’re all tangled up with each other, so in some degree, the choices we make and the value we create or destroy affect everybody. How we structure society is a decision about how we utilize “our” resources. That doesn’t mean maximizing efficiency or economic advancement or anything else must be the…
Although the core political story in Rhode Island is inevitably Democrat, this isn’t a partisan post. The one detail I recall from Amity Shlaes’s book, Coolidge, that detracted from the 30th President’s story was an anecdote from when he was the Republican president of the Massachusetts Senate. A lobbyist persuaded him to go one way on…
John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the contribution of politicians and the media to the most pressing issues of the day.
