Rhode Island Politics
Here are two provocative pieces on public education issues, including teachers’ compensation and public school performance: First, Tom Coyne of RI Policy Analysis on RI Teachers Unions. Second, a multi-part debate in the Narragannsett Times between Robert Walsh, Executive Director of the NEA-RI, and Tom Wigand, an attorney.
Nothing is sweeter in a debate than when your opponent makes outlandish statements and hands you an overwhelming rhetorical victory. This just happened in the East Greenwich teachers’ union contract dispute when NEA union officials made public comments that showed how they live in a delusional world, completely disconnected from any form of reality. Recent…
One of our local newspapers, The North East Independent, weighed in this week with these editorial comments on the East Greenwich teachers’ union contract dispute: East Greenwich teachers union officials apparently won’t budge on a request for a tiered system for health care co-pays, reasoning that teachers on low steps will not be able to…
Here’s what Hugh Hewitt says about our RINO senator, Lincoln Chafee, in today’s Daily Standard: “Stephen Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, is being urged to take on Senator Lincoln Chaffee in the 2006 primary so that GOP voters don’t have to vote for a Democrat in November 2006. (Chaffee voted against the war,…
Well, it’s official. A group is attempting to draft Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey into a run for Sen. Lincoln Chafee’s seat. A group of Republicans statewide has organized a committee to encourage Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey to challenge Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee in 2006. There are 85 names on a letter given to Laffey…
If you ever wanted some clear examples of how far the NEA teachers’ union (with at least the implicit support of their bureaucratic allies in public education) will go to win desired contract terms, read this posting and learn about three inexcusable actions in my home town of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Let’s begin with…
The two local newspapers published last Thursday a new letter to the editor I wrote about the ongoing NEA teachers’ union contract dispute in East Greenwich. The editorial begins: The issues of retroactive pay and “work-to-rule” are at the heart of the dispute in the East Greenwich NEA teachers union contract dispute. The union expects…
This posting continues a periodic series on Rhode Island politics and taxation, building on fifteen previous postings (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV). It also builds on several previous postings on educational issues: There are well-known deep performance problems with public education in America. Yet, receiving…
The overall economic cost structure of the American airline industry is pathetically unsustainable. This is not news; the elephant has been sitting in the room for years now but most everyone has refused to acknowledge its presence.
Carroll Andrew Morse has a terrific, focused posting entitled First They Came for the Radio Talk Show Hosts… that gets to the heart of the latest fallout from campaign finance reform here in Rhode Island. Once again, we have an example of how legislation has unintended consequences that, in this case, affect our freedom of…
