Rhode Island Politics
Thanks to Chuck over at The Senescent Man, check out this website entitled Kay Coalition Against Casino Gambling (KAYCO), which is a statewide coordinating body helping local community groups to resist the spread of the gambling industry in their neighborhoods. Casino gambling serves no positive social purpose. We must continue to oppose all attempts to…
Governor Carcieri has put forth his case against the privatization of Beacon Mutual in today’s ProJo. First, there are risks: Rhode Island employers should worry about this expansion because Beacon is not just any insurer. Beacon has two statutory duties that no other insurer has: First, Beacon must offer insurance at the lowest possible cost…
Two political issues, important to concerned citizens here in Rhode Island, arose at the end of the legislative session here in Rhode Island. The first issue, as reported in this ProJo article, is about lobbyist spending disclosure requirements: …Fending off cries from Common Cause of Rhode Island and Secretary of State Matt Brown that their…
The State House passed the budget last night: By an overwhelming majority, the House last night passed a new $6.35-billion state budget which cuts pension benefits, lowers the car tax and drastically increases the fee developers pay to receive historic tax credits. In stark contrast to last year, the debate in the House was generally…
H. Philip West, Jr., Executive Director of Common Cause in Rhode Island, has written an important editorial: If you think that citizens have a right to know about campaign contributions and lobbyist payments to public officials, here’s some scary news from the Rhode Island House of Representatives. In the final hours of the 2005 legislative…
Five years ago, fighting the Rhode Island educational establishment of bureaucrats and teachers’ unions reminded me of Sisyphus, who mythology says was condemned to constantly pushing the rock up the hill – only to have it slide back down so he would have to repeat the senseless effort again and again. But the winds of…
Rhode Island Politics & Taxation, Part XXI: Blocking More Charter Schools Means Hurting Our Children
The latest news on charter schools in Rhode Island is bad news for our children, especially those who need our help the most: The House Finance Committee’s decision to impose a two-year moratorium on new charter schools has derailed plans to open such a school in East Providence this fall. Dennis Langley, chief executive officer…
Here is the Hall of Shame showing who voted for the childcare unionization bill. We will never forget. They all deserve to be defeated in 2006. For the full story on the childcare unionization bill and political dynamics, read this posting.
Marc rightfully noted the good news on pension reform passed earlier this week, followed by a word of caution. The caution flags are now out in full force because the week wasn’t even over before the unions of Rhode Island were out attacking the pension changes passed in the State House: Unions representing state employees…
In my last post on the apparent passage of the 2006 RI State Budget in which Gov. Carcieri won important concessions, such as reducing pension benefits for state workers, I commented . . .now is no time to let up. This is just the first battle and there is no guarantee that it has actually…
