Rhode Island Politics
I’ll confess: I’m as curious as anybody about commentary related to myself and things in which I’m involved, which is why I found myself standing in the Middletown Barnes & Noble in my dirty carpentry garb a couple of hours ago flipping to the index of Steve Laffey’s just-released book, Primary Mistake: How the Washington…
Two independent sources that I consider to be reliable have informed me that former United States Senator Lincoln Chafee has officially disaffiliated from the Republican party, according to voter registration records available from the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s office. That the records are available now indicates that the disaffiliation occurred several months earlier. If…
Today’s weekly Political Scene column in the Projo has more detail on Representative Richard Singleton’s (I – Cumberland) decision to switch from Republican to Independent. He says he’s upset at both the national and local Republican parties…Singleton said he has been upset for some time over President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq and…
An old joke down in Washington (as I’ve heard) is that inhabitants have a peculiar method of reading books: index first. Of course, “Washington” is a metonym for American politics, and the index-first urge is a natural one for anybody who may find his own name (or that of another person or an organization about…
WPRO’s (630 AM) Dan Yorke reported last evening that state Representative Richard Singleton (R – Cumberland) has announced that he is leaving the Republican party. Yorke (as well as a few other sources) say that Representative Singleton will not become a Democrat, but will act as an independent where the organization of the General Assembly…
According to the Associated Press, after Democratic Party fundraiser and convicted con-man Norman Hsu missed his court date yesterday, Congressman Patrick Kennedy reversed his original decision to keep his $6,200 in donations from Mr. Hsu and decided to give the money to charity instead. However, even after the no-show at court and the issuance of…
Both intentionally and not, I’m on various email lists from conservative bloggers and activists from around the country, and their content is often too far toward meat-throwing for my tastes. I’ll admit, though, that I often chuckle at what the guys are up to and delete their messages. I’ve got to side with Dan Yorke…
Matt Jerzyk of Rhode Island’s Future and Tim Raymond of Rhode Island’s newest news aggregator StartRI (see comment #3 here) {UPDATE: the earliest source on this appears to be a Projo Political Scene item from last Friday} are reporting that Senator Jack Reed will return the $2,500 in campaign money he received from Norman Hsu,…
The ProJo reports that teacher benefits in RI are “all over the board” and gives some stats in the differences among plans by district and differences in buyback options. It’s an old and familiar tune around here, but the central point is worth repeating: Last year, after a decade in which health insurance emerged as…
Here’s a lesson in the proper application of the word “unscrupulous” for Charlene Lima: Unscrupulous vendors in Thailand have been selling meat of the deadly puffer fish disguised as salmon, causing the deaths of more than 15 people over the past three years, a doctor said Thursday. Clearly those vendors need increased fines and a…