Rhode Island Politics

Re: Gemma’s “Breaking News”: What Did You Think?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 23, 2012 |

While Anthony Gemma didn’t present any direct evidence of his charges of voter fraud in Rhode Island, his written remarks from yesterday assert that direct evidence does exist (h/t Edward Fitzpatrick)…The five statements I have just presented to you represent a relatively small percentage of first-hand evidence developed by TRP. Testimony from these and other…

Gemma’s “Breaking News”: What Did You Think?

By Monique Chartier | August 22, 2012 |

The day previewed last week by Anthony Gemma in a somewhat hyperbolic announcement finally arrived. WPRO carried the press conference live – their follow-up report here – though they disappointingly cut away from the press conference after Gemma had finished his statement. An extensive report by WPRI, which includes reaction from various quarters, also names…

Dog Bites Man: Unions are Top Spenders in RI Politics

By Marc Comtois | August 20, 2012 |

GoLocalProv’s Dan McGowan has the surprising news that organized labor Political Action Committees have led the way in political spending this year: The majority of the Laborer’s Political League’s spending has gone to the organization’s voluntary fund in Washington D.C., but the PAC has made $1,000 max-out contributions to Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, Senate…

The Joys of Arbitration and Unionized Public Employment: “Fired DPW worker accused of theft gets job back”

By Monique Chartier | August 14, 2012 |

Ah, yes. And they wonder why many of us are wary of binding arbitration. A Department of Public Works employee who was fired after being arrested on charges he stole from the city, has won the fight to get his job back and will receive approximately nine months in back pay. Kenneth Naylor, 48, of…

EDC: Merely Broken Up and Redistributed Is Inadequate and Pointless

By Monique Chartier | August 11, 2012 |

The headline of Friday’s Providence Journal article Proposal would disband the EDC is incomplete. Let’s look at a description of the proposal from the article: The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation would be dismantled and reorganized with three components — one strategic office attached to the governor’s office, one university-led research arm and a reconstitut…

On State of the State: Getting RI Involved and on Track

By Justin Katz | August 8, 2012 |

On the latest State of the State with John Carlevale, I discussed Rhode Island’s civic scene and how residents can begin to get involved and sort through the system along with Lisa Blais, of Ocean State Tea Party in Action, and Marina Peterson, of East Bay Patriots. Of particular note, related to my habitual role…

Cicilline = Change???

By Monique Chartier | August 7, 2012 |

WPRO’s John Depetro is not wrong to have questioned RI PBS’s choice of moderator for “A Lively Experiment”. Dyana Koelsch, moderator of ”A Lively Experiment,“ which is featured Thursday at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s at Noon on PBS, admitted her role as a paid consultant to Congressman David Cicilline to WPRO’s John DePetro. My impression…

Legality of Executive Implemented In-State Tuition for Illegal Alien Students: Why Is the RI Attorney General Sidestepping One of the Specifically Delineated Obligations of His Office?

By Monique Chartier | August 1, 2012 |

Let me preface this post by saying that I applaud Attorney General Peter Kilmartin for moving to have Rhode Island participate in the Secure Communities Program. He had to be correct in that regard because it earned him a dubious rating on the (smirk) “Truth”-O-Meter. In late September of last year, the RI Board of…

Talking Teen Unemployment and the Minimum Wage on the Dan Yorke Show

By Justin Katz | July 26, 2012 |

630AM/99.7FM WPRO has posted my appearance on the Dan Yorke show, Tuesday, in two segments. The first is the initial half hour introducing the research from the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity and touching on some conclusions. For the second hour, Economic Development Corp. board member and VIBCO President Karl Wadensten joined us in…

One Legislator’s Pay Raise = A Mini Legislative Grant Program?

By Monique Chartier | July 22, 2012 |

For those possibly unfamiliar with it, the Legislative Grant program is a tax dollar slush fund controlled by General Assembly leadership from which tax dollars are distributed solely by and at the discretion of leadership to benefit those legislators who have been, in the eyes of leadership, good legislative Do-Bees. We need to clarify that…