Rhode Island Politics

What Profiteth a Community

By Justin Katz | September 26, 2007 |

It may be that the education discussion needs a broader context, because there’s a substantial way in which Thomas’s argument is beside the point: As to the point I was actually raising, yes, it matters what pocket the money comes from. Andrew’s comment raises exactly this issue. My view is that basing education funding on…

Another Bigger Picture Thought Related to Mr. Costa

By Justin Katz | September 25, 2007 |

A short while ago, I objected to Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Gio Cicione’s red-meat throwing, and I think the Democrat status of Tiverton Town Councilman Hannibal Costa gives an example of the danger inherent in a party chairman’s drifting away from tempered party building. If the RIGOP could get its act together and come…

R.I.P. Rep. Paul Crowley

By Marc Comtois | September 24, 2007 |

Representative Paul Crowley, D, Newport, has passed away after a battle with cancer. The Governor has ordered that the Rhode Island State flag be flown at half staff. ProJo has more (Matt does, too). : Veteran Newport lawmaker Paul W. Crowley, a champion for schoolchildren and the city where he was raised, died this morning…

Of Federal Judges and Federal Candidates

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 24, 2007 |

1. According to Charles Bakst in Sunday’s Projo, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian is more interested in running for House or Senate at a future undisclosed date than he is in running for governor in 2010…[Lincoln Chafee] says he’d welcome a gubernatorial bid by Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, a close ally. Avedisian, who says he has…

Donnis Previews Talk with Governor Carcieri

By Marc Comtois | September 21, 2007 |

The Providence Phoenix’s Ian Donnis previews an interview with Governor Carcieri over at N4N: Carcieri remained characteristically upbeat during a taping this morning of WPRI/WNAC TV’s Newsmakers, but his ability to deliver remains open to question. When I asked why Rhode Island has been relegated to playing defense on the casino issue, the governor answered…

Laffey’s FEC Fine: Less than nefarious, more like a mistake

By Marc Comtois | September 21, 2007 |

The headline says “Laffey agrees to pay FEC $25,000 fine“, the details indicate something less nefarious than implied: …the FEC, in a Sept. 6 conciliation agreement made public yesterday, said it had “found reason to believe” that Laffey’s Senate campaign committee and his treasurer, Richard J. Sullivan, violated federal campaign law by “failing to identify…

Finish This Sentence: When The Going Gets Tough, the Rockefeller Republicans…

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 21, 2007 |

Thursday’s Warwick Beacon carried its report, written by Russell J. Moore, on former U.S. Senator/former Warwick Mayor Lincoln Chafee’s disaffiliation from the Republican party. (Moore mentions Anchor Rising’s early coverage of this story; we appreciate the hat-tip). However, the item in the article that really caught my eye was current Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian’s answer…

ProJo Will Print Baloney After All

By Marc Comtois | September 19, 2007 |

Apparently some of the baloney that blogs put out is good enough for the ProJo to pick up. And unattributed at that. On Saturday, Andrew broke the story that former Senator Chafee had finally left the GOP. So did RI Report’s Tom Shevlin, who has some “original thoughts” on the way it was reported by…

Quantifying the Trend Which Led to the 3050 Tax Cap Law

By Donald B. Hawthorne | September 17, 2007 |

Why did the Rhode Island Senate Bill 3050 tax cap bill become the law of the land? Because of this unsustainable economic trend: …These [union] demands, as in past negotiations, have resulted in school spending – and therefore taxes – rising faster than the increases in the incomes of the working families and retirees who…

Sunday’s First Page, Above the Fold, Part I: Chafee Quits the Party!

By Justin Katz | September 16, 2007 |

In a piece that was apparently written yesterday, the Providence Journal’s Bruce Landis explains that Lincoln Chafee didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left him: Lincoln D. Chafee, who lost his Senate seat in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment in last November’s election, said yesterday that he has left the party. Chafee said…