General Assembly
John DePetro and Justin Katz explore the increasingly disconnected behavior of RI’s political elite.
Darlene D’Arezzo discusses civic engagement and running for office with Jessica Drew-Day
John DePetro and Justin Katz examine the ways an excessive purview and incompetence leave Rhode Island politicians and bureaucrats vulnerable to scams and other bad decisions.
Americans really need to be able to step back a bit from the immediate issue addressed in legislation and think about how it relates to our understanding of society’s proper structure. A Rhode Island bill going after self-checkout lanes in retail stores is an excellent case study. Kathy Gregg writes in the Providence Journal: An army…
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.