Rhode Island Politics
A caller to Rick Adams’s show (listen here) just suggested to Don that Anchor Rising publish background information — voting records, fund contributors, family employment, union sympathy, and so on — for each of Rhode Island’s legislators. That’s a fantastic idea, and we should certainly give some thought to ways in which to get it…
The alarm siren that this news sets off should be audible as distantly as Hawaii: Superior Court Judge Netti Vogel last week issued a permanent injunction blocking the state’s three-year agreement with United. United rival Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island had sought the injunction, claiming the state’s handling of the bids was…
While visiting The Learning Community Charter School in Pawtucket, Governor Carcieri floated the idea of removing the state’s charter school cap, which limits each school district to two charter schools (except Providence, which is allowed four). Predictably, there are those who disagree with the Governor about removing the cap, even though recent studies have shown…
According to Boston resident Dan Flynn, to whom Michelle Malkin links, many residents of that city are still suffering a hangover from their indulgence at the country’s political office party. The slurred speech was not charming, and the promotion was not forthcoming. Such is the image that comes to mind while perusing the stream of…
Over at National Review Online, John J. Miller previews the 2006 Senate races. With all due respect to the conservative mothership, he gets Rhode Island completely wrong. Lincoln Chafee, the sort-of Republican, isn’t well liked by many of his GOP colleagues because they worry he’ll bolt the party if it means he can stay in…
Just to add to the observations that have been touched on here and there at Anchor Rising, the 2005 Catholic Almanac has revealed that 9 of the 10 most Catholic states sent their Electoral Votes to John Kerry, with only Lousianna (#10 overall) in the Bush column. Rhode Island, at 63.5% of its population, is…
I see that Marc beat me to mentioning that Tom Coyne piece. When I first spotted Coyne’s headline, on Saturday, before I realized who the author was, I smirked; in Rhode Island, even the mantra that the “politics have got to change” has been corroded by endemic apathy. The most proximate cause of my delay…
Tom Coyne of RIPolicyanalysis.org wrote on Saturday that politics in Rhode Island will change, it is merely the pace and manner in which this change occurs that is in question. He offered that either the voters will decide to bring about, via the ballot box, a more equitable political system or will the state go…
In Sunday’s ProJo, M. Charles Bakst, erstwhile stakeholder of the political commentariat of Rhode Island, took Sen. Lincoln Chafee to task for his waffling on both supporting fellow Republican President Bush and staying a Republican at all. His flirtation with bolting the party — and, more especially, his decision not to vote for George W.…
Pre–election day, Marc and I had a short cross-blog exchange that touched on the state ballot’s spending referenda. Marc did his homework and argued on behalf of some of the spending measures, including the URI biotech center. For my part, noting that I considered mine little more than a protest vote, I declared: “not a…
