Rhode Island Politics
Rep. John Edwards (D, Tiverton, Portsmouth) has submitted legislation (H7060) that — in attempting to add ballot-question sorts of direct democracy to the list for campaign finance disclosures — would erode Rhode Island’s already apathetic civic participation. Political candidates receive votes, ultimately, based on the decisions that they will make in the future, and voters…
So yesterday, Judge Sarah Taft-Carter issued a temporary injunction against the City of Providence rolling public retirees into Medicare once they hit 65. The trial to determine whether the injunction should be made permanent starts in May. The city had to demonstrate a compelling public “emergency” in order to do so; the retirees had to…
I’ve asked before, why does the state’s redistricting process need to be done this way? The state hires an outside consultant who takes some of the data, draws a map, shows it to some people, gets feedback, draws another map and the process continues until finally a few of them agree that they’ve created a…
Thanks to WPRI’s indefatiguable Ted Nesi for the heads-up. Rhode Island’s largest public-sector union declared victory Friday in a lawsuit against Pawtucket, just hours before the mayor revealed the city is running an unexpected $2.3 million deficit. Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter ruled Jan. 5 that Pawtucket cannot force retired teachers to start sharing the…
… and who is disadvantaged by the 68,000 voters to be gratuitously moved from RI-2 to RI-1. (It’s a “compromise”, dontcha know.)
Last month, Governor Chafee petitioned the federal government on Wednesday to reclassify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses … Last week, Speaker Fox added his voice to the effort by appeaing to the law enforcement side. House Speaker Gordon D. Fox says he’ll personally petition the U.S. Department of Justice to seek a…
A new report on the unpaid fines from the RI Board of Elections (BOE) is out (h/t Dan McGowan) and it is five pages of names and the amount they owe. Some of it is a who’s who of Rhode Island politics. So first, how does someone get fined by the BOE? Once a person,…
Two aspects of this Monday editorial in the Providence Journal, lauding Central Falls Superintendent Fran Gallo for progress in her school district are interesting. For one, multiple Projo columnists have compared Democrat General Treasurer Gina Raimondo favorable with Republican reformers in other states, like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Ohio Governor John Kasick, on the…
On the last weekday of 2011, David Klepper of the Associated Press writes what could be the least surprising news story of the year (h/t WPRO News)…As he prepares for his second year in office, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is looking for ways to spur the state’s frail economy, rescue its struggling cities and…
Last week, the state escalated its involvement in East Providence’s budget problems by putting in a Budget Commission. It did so only one month after sending in a Fiscal Overseer. Observers have correctly pointed out that this was three full months earlier than called for by the procedure outlined in the so-called Fiscal Stability Act…