Rhode Island Politics

Watching the House: Adjusting the Political System

By Marc Comtois | February 8, 2007 |

As if the whole Rhode Island system of disaffiliating and re-affiliating doesn’t allow for enough shenanigans, H 5320, proposed by Representatives John DeSimone (Chair of the House Separation of Powers Committee–sheesh) and Peter Wasylyk want to make it even easier. Howe? By reducing the time between disaffiliating and re-affiliating from 90 to 29 days: Here’s…

Watching the House: Different Perspectives on Illegal Immigration

By Marc Comtois | February 8, 2007 |

Then there is H 5367 (Proposed by Representatives Peter Palumbo–Deputy Majority Leader, Stephen Ucci, Joe Trillo, Raymond Church, and Arthur Corvese) which seeks to create “THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION RELIEF ACT”. The purpose of which is: This chapter seeks to secure to those lawfully present in the United States and this state, whether or not they…

Watching the House: Civil Unions

By Marc Comtois | February 8, 2007 |

Representatives Paul Crowley, Elaine Coderre (Deputy Majority Whip), John Patrick Shanley, Donald Lally, and J. Russell Jackson have proposed H 5356, which seeks to establish legal Civil Unions in Rhode Island. 15-3.1-2. Requirements. – For a civil union to be established it shall be necessary that the parties to a civil union satisfy all of…

Watching the House: Stop State Employee Insurance Buyouts

By Marc Comtois | February 8, 2007 |

While some are privileged enough to get regular emailings from the General Assembly, the rest of us can still keep an eye on the Bills being proposed in either the Senate’s or the House’s daily proceedings. Now, even if most of the legislation proposed by the the Republican delegation stand about as much chance of…

DePetro and Yorke: Can they be Happy Together?

By Marc Comtois | February 7, 2007 |

When I read that WPRO had dropped morning host Dave Barber, my first thought was that they must have hired someone new. The only question was: who? Too early for Buddy…Arlene? Now we know, as reported by both the ProJo and Phoenix, former WRKO and WHJJ host John DePetro has joined the WPRO fold. The…

Eureka! Overtaxation leads to Unintended Consequences

By Marc Comtois | February 6, 2007 |

Editorializing about the “Charitable Conundrum,” the ProJo provides this bit of evidence that some Democrats may (finally!) be learning about basic economic principles: The opening years of the 21st Century have not been happy ones for many nonprofits in Rhode Island. High taxes have driven many rich people away from the state, for at least…

Talking Budget: Is Compromise in the Air? (Or is it just talk?)

By Marc Comtois | February 4, 2007 |

{N.B. Here at Anchor Rising, we watch (or TiVo) the local Sunday morning shows so you don’t have to. Here is a transcript of this morning’s Channel 12 Newsmakers, hosted by Steve Aveson and also features Ian Donnis of the Providence Phoenix (who has a little more, here). I’ve offered a few (very few) comments…

RI’s State Legislature: the Guarantor of Customer Service!

By Justin Katz | January 31, 2007 |

They’ve obviously got nothing worthwhile to do with their time: Saying that Rhode Island consumers are being taken advantage of when they’re forced to pay surcharges for gift certificates, Rep. Stephen R. Ucci has introduced legislation that would prohibit businesses from charging any additional fees to gift cards or gift certificates. “After certain regulations were…

Re: Governor Carcieri’s Budget: Early Reporting

By Carroll Andrew Morse | January 31, 2007 |

Here are some annotated excerpts of Governor Donald Carcieri’s explanation of his budget . 1. Cuts are necessary because, under the existing structure of Rhode Island government, spending is growing twice as fast as revenues… Here is the problem we faced in putting this budget together. Although our revenues were projected to grow at the…

Governor Carcieri’s Budget: Early Reporting

By Marc Comtois | January 31, 2007 |

The Governor has just releases his State budget proposal for next year. Scott Mayerowitz of the ProJo chose to highlight the “several accounting tricks, one-time sources of revenue and other gimmicks to balance his tax and spending plan,” (sheesh, no in-story editorializing there, Scott) and glossed over one major source of cuts (state workers). Ray…