Rhode Island Politics

Yet Another Madeline Walker Coincidence

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 20, 2005 |

According to Providence Probate Court Judge John Martinelli, cases similar to the case of Madeline Walker, the 81 year old Providence woman evicted from her home for failing to pay a sewer bill, are more common than they should be…At a Providence Probate Court hearing yesterday, Judge John Martinelli looked out into the packed courtroom…

Setting Some Things Straight

By Justin Katz | December 20, 2005 |

Although this isn’t something that I expected ever to write, the coming year’s Republican primary in Rhode Island is already a subject for blazing passions. That, in itself, strikes me as a healthy turn of events. Still, I remind commenters that Anchor Rising will insist that their conversations be civil. I should also clarify my…

A Madeline Walker Irony — or Coincidence — or Something Worse

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 19, 2005 |

Madeline Walker is the elderly Providence resident who lost her home for failing to pay a $500 sewer bill. A law proposed in the legislature earlier this year would have given Ms. Walker and others in similar situations a better chance to learn that their houses were being sold out from under them. House bill…

Toward a Non-Pixelated Movement

By Justin Katz | December 16, 2005 |

Believe me that I tried, as the comments on the Laffey Photoshop controversy trickled in yesterday, to convince myself that I was making a flaw out of a quirk. Believe me, too, that I’m not altogether happy about the contrast between these posts and the more substantive ones that others are publishing around them. Nonetheless,…

A Crack in the Machine?

By Justin Katz | December 15, 2005 |

Yeah, I know, it’s silly and not a little suspicious that such a thing would become a news story at all. Still… Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey has apparently been making some revisionist history — digitally removing a one-time political ally turned foe from all images on his Web site. The photos remain, but the…

Re: Rhode Island’s Retrograde Fiscal Culture

By Justin Katz | November 30, 2005 | Comments Off on Re: Rhode Island’s Retrograde Fiscal Culture

Andrew puts his post about Rhode Island’s fiscal position relative to its neighbors in the “Rhode Island Economy” category, but the issue is at least as political and cultural as it is economic. Over years of patchwork research, I’ve found that Rhode Island always tops Massachusetts in all the wrong ways. It takes bad or…

Providence GOP Hosts Media Celebrities

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 21, 2005 | Comments Off on Providence GOP Hosts Media Celebrities

Tireless Providence Republican Party Chairman Dave Talan passes along an announcement of what promises to be interesting panel discussion & straw poll he’s put together for Tuesday evening… PROVIDENCE REPUBLICAN PARTY GENERAL MEETING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22 @ 7:00 P.M. THE COLUMBUS THEATRE (270 Broadway – In Federal Hill) Featuring a special panel on “How The…

How would you Close the State Budget Gap?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 15, 2005 |

In today’s Projo, Scott Mayerowitz reports on Rhode Island’s projected $60,000,000 budget shortfall. The leadership of the legislature is ducking for cover when the subject of closing the budget gap comes up…Both [State Senator Steven] Alves and [State Representative Stephen] Costantino said it was up to [Governor Donald] Carcieri to propose cuts first. The governor…

Storm Clouds Brewing on the Horizon

By | November 14, 2005 | Comments Off on Storm Clouds Brewing on the Horizon

What a delight to read Andrew’s posting about freedom of speech bursting forth in the town of Coventry! And what concern all of us should have as we read his posting about potential government regulations which seek to squash the fundamental American right to speak our minds. Here are some earlier postings on this important…

Levesque: Early Warning or Something Else?

By Marc Comtois | November 9, 2005 |

It has been revealed by J. Michael Levesque that he himself had broached the topic of “infidelities” with the Governor earlier this year. It seems the timing was…convenient, to say the least: Levesque said he personally told the governor, during a private meeting eight or nine months ago, “that I had been hearing talk on…