Rhode Island Politics

Allan Fung: “Please Join Me Once Again as I Embark on This Journey to Bring Cranston Back and Make it a Place Where Dreams Come True”

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 14, 2008 |

Allan Fung, former Cranston citywide Councilman who lost a 2006 Mayoral bid to current mayor Michael Napolitano by less than 100 votes, announced last evening his intention to run for Mayor of Cranston again this year; here are a few excerpts from his announcement address…Tonight, we stand here two years and a world apart from…

Meaningless talk and inaction in a crisis: Why Rhode Island’s crisis will get worse before it gets better & what to do about it

By Donald B. Hawthorne | May 14, 2008 |

The state of Rhode Island is in a deep financial crisis. Resolving its large budget deficits will require real and significant structural changes to the status quo. The status quo was best summed up in a passing comment by Representative Gorham last night on the Matt Allen show: Gorham talked about how the state budget…

Changing the scope of what is subject to union contract bargaining for RI public employees

By Donald B. Hawthorne | May 14, 2008 |

On the Tuesday evening Matt Allen WPRO show, Matt interviewed State Representative and House Minority Whip Nick Gorham about Gorham’s bill H-7664, which would redefine the scope of issues subject to bargaining for RI public employees. During the interview, Gorham noted that there are very different approaches across the 50 states as to what issues…

Update on Legistlative Grant “Sunshine” Bill

By Marc Comtois | May 9, 2008 |

When both Anchor Rising and RI Future agree on the merits of a piece of legislation, one would think passage through the House would be a no-brainer, no? I haven’t seen anyone who doesn’t agree with Rep. Nick Gorham’s Legislative Grant Sunshine Bill. It would require that all such grants: …must be included in the…

Digging a Deeper Hole

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2008 |

See, here’s the sort of proposal that illustrates that our legislators truly do not understand and/or are unwilling to address the structural problems that plague Rhode Island: After a lengthy debate, the House put off a vote on a bill sponsored by Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, that would require all state public works…

Surviving the Post-Transition

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2008 |

The current news and politics atmosphere has something of the feel of a transition. We’re between the passage of the supplemental and the initial markers presaging the debate over next year’s budget. We’ve seen the parade of interested parties, and we’re well aware that discussion has returned to the back room. What’s next? Well, the…

“Tricky” Sue Menard

By Marc Comtois | May 6, 2008 |

It appears that Woonsocket Mayor Susan Menard has been channeling Richard Nixon. She had a secret recording operation set up in her office. The mayor has a concealed audio/video recording system installed in a credenza behind her desk in her City Hall office. The device recently came to light during a work session regarding the…

Jim Baron’s Biggish Thoughts on Smallish Legislation

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 5, 2008 |

I tried to excerpt down Jim Baron‘s weekly column in today’s Woonsocket Call, but couldn’t find much to cut out. It’s worth fighting through the lack of proper spacing between paragraphs to read the whole thing.

Raising Concerns

By Justin Katz | May 5, 2008 |

Methinks there’s a missing “my” in Karen Lee Ziner’s “Remarks raise concern” piece on the front page of yesterday’s Local News section: A nonprofit group whose board members include First Lady Sue Carcieri asserts that nearly 45 percent of all immigrants in Rhode Island — legal and illegal — lack high school diplomas and “this…

Singleton Retiring from the House

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 5, 2008 |

According to Vinaya Saksena of the Woonsocket Call, former Republican currently Independent State Representative Richard Singleton will not seek re-election because he is moving out of state. This creates an open-seat election in House district 52 (Cumberland).