General Assembly
Here’s a worrying tidbit about a frontrunner for the open House Finance Committee chairmanship in the General Assembly: [Rep. Helio Melo (D, East Providence)] is the current deputy Finance Committee chairman, and House leaders signaled their confidence in him by letting him take the lead on last year’s big end-of-session, income-tax overhaul. I suppose that…
In response to my post about Democrat RI House Speaker Gordon Fox’s reshuffling of General Assembly staff, a legislator whom I’d count among the good guys emails a mitigating consideration: I see the budget is projected to increase by $1.6 million over last year. However, I also understand that the re-districting process is slated to…
Anybody who wonders what lesson the General Assembly’s Democrats took from the last election need only read this: “In our effort to achieve savings, we have worked diligently to manage the legislative department within the enacted budget levels without seriously impacting day-to-day operations,” wrote [House Speaker Gordon] Fox in a cover letter that also spelled…
The RI House now has 9 Republicans (ten, if you include John Savage, from East Providence). 12% is better than nothing, I guess. At least both chambers will have heckling sections, now that Rhode Islanders have given the Democrats the run of Rhode Island, with Linc Chafee as a governor alternately to cheer buffoonishly as…
With 100% of the precincts reported, Tiverton put nearly every candidate endorsed by Tiverton Citizens for Change on the Town Council. That should make for a very interesting dynamic. More interesting, although less encouraging, is that the group left the School Committee and the Budget Committee (but for one endorsement) to the opposition. At the…
Last night, Andrew was in studio for the Matt Allen Show, talking about his review of General Assembly votes on several important bills. Stream by clicking here, or download it.
It’s hard enough to get people motivated about learning about and voting for General Assembly candidates in the general election; the primaries require a whole ‘nother level of commitment, but just as important, in some cases. I bring that up because Jim Hummel recently noted that a North Kingstown candidate running in the Republican primary…
As one learns the “how it works” of Rhode Island, becomes increasingly convinced that it doesn’t work, and considers taking steps to change things, one striking lesson is the rigged nature of the General Assembly. In aggregate, legislators are the core of power, in the state, yet individually, the rewards are so minimal and the…
The article’s about Governor Carcieri’s failure to nominate a candidate to replace Child Advocate Jametta Alston, but this is the line that stands out: “I don’t expect we’ll be back,” [Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed (D., Newport) said. “I really want to enjoy the summer.” One wonders if that was the impetus for the mysterious feeling…
I’m not sure if the idea put forth by potential Lieutenant Governor candidate Robert Tingle (h/t Steve Peoples) for reducing the size of the legislature involves eliminating an entire chamber as does Patrick Lynch’s, but for fans of unicameralism for the State of Rhode Island, allow me to counter with the concise rationale for a…