Rhode Island Politics
As much as I encourage our readers to come up with brilliant political reactions to instances of our state government’s corrupt insanity, I’m not prepared to be sanguine about the midnight amendment’s (PDF) effects. According to a plain reading of the text, here’s how the in-house group that may potentially be privatized (read, the union…
In my previous post, I focused on the possible/probable drawbacks of Rep. Lima’s midnight budget amendment that implemented an extensive review and appeal process before any privatization of State government services. Commenters to the post have looked at it from a different angle and may have been able to chicken soup out of chicken… Commenter…
The ProJo covers most of the angles regarding last night’s budget debate, but I couldn’t find anything about the “amendment” (Article 42-RELATING TO PRIVATIZATION OF STATE SERVICES) that Rep. Charlene Lima proposed at midnight. In actuality, it was a full-fledged bill that Rep. Lima explained she had been trying to bring to the floor for…
After all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the budget….and the tone deaf Legislature still approved the freakin’ courthouse in Lincoln (as reported by Dan Yorke). I guess I understand, I mean, what kind of dent could a measly $71 million put in a $300 million deficit, right? Um…..
Jim Baron of the Pawtucket Times has a preview of the some of the amendments that House Republicans will offer during today’s floor session on the state budget…The House Republican Caucus – tiny but feisty, and even pugnacious when they think the need arises – wants to amend the state budget to increase school aid,…
RI GOP Chair Gio Cicione went on the Dan Yorke Show to defend himself and the RI GOP regarding the now infamous “1,000 Worker layoff” sign. Yorke’s position is that the sign provided the unions with an excuse–or added weight to their rhetoric–that the Governor was unfeeling and “gleeful” over impending State Worker layoffs. Yorke’s…
Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank Williams made headlines a few months ago for his smackdown of Governor Carcieri’s idea of across the board cost-cutting as “draconian.” Well, the Governor is waving a bloody steak in front of the Judicial lion again: Governor Carcieri is criticizing legislators for authorizing up to $71 million in borrowing for…
So, I read the story in today’s ProJo about the ongoing budget battle and came across this: “This isn’t a Democratic budget by any means. This is a Republican budget. Let’s face it,” said Tom Slater, D-Providence, who did not sign the petition and said yesterday he wasn’t aware of it. “I would never have…
Thanks to the “flat-funding” (or maybe not) of education that is included in the House’s budget plan, Governor Carcieri and the NEA find themselves on the same side of an issue. Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said….“There is no doubt…that Governor Carcieri has grave concerns about the House Democrats’ short-sighted plan to balance the budget by…
In case you missed it, State Treasurer Frank Caprio told Dan Yorke last Friday afternoon that he thinks that the quickest and easiest way for the Governor to lay off 1,000 state workers would be to focus on the non-union employees. Caprio added that non-union employees make up 1/3 of the state work force and…