Rhode Island Politics
Gotta love General Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s definition for legislative leadership: Follow the Senate president. Follow Speaker Fox. Be a leader. Lead by following! That sounds very Rhode Island. Real legislative leaders should be asking themselves why this whole process appears to be going so smoothly. Sure, the unions are putting on their show, as they…
So, today Tiverton voters will have the opportunity finally to do away with the financial town meeting (FTM) that has allowed a relatively small group of very motivated people to double taxes in the past ten years and ensure that they would continue to climb even during the worst economy that most of us have…
Readers of the Sunday Providence Journal will be familiar with the “In Quotes” column that typically appears on page A2; basically it’s a few notable quotes from the week, usually with a picture of the speaker. This week, one in particular caught my eye, because it’s from Brown professor Wendy Schiller, and I think it…
Even sharpened up, that cliche may not adequately describe the the duplicitious nature and predatory intent of the AARP’s testimony this week against pension reform. … Many have asked why AARP is engaged in this discussion. AARP Rhode Island’s advocacy on this bill fits into AARP’s broader, national campaign to Protect Seniors from fiscal instability…
Warwick Car Tax Revolt leader Rob Cote has done a great service to the citizens of Warwick and the state by keeping the heat on our elected officials regarding the car tax. Further to that end, he decided to drop in on the annual Car Tax Evaluation Committee meeting, buried somewhere in the State House…
Avid followers of Rhode Island politics are aware that John Robitaille was approached by the Frank Caprio campaign – and, in due course, by a circumspect Frank Caprio himself – about dropping out of the 2010 gubernatorial race so as to avoid the four way race that ultimately got Linc Chafee elected. (Robitaille demurred and…
Tonight, US Rep. James Langevin visited the protesters down at Occupy Providence. I wonder if the protesters are aware that he is one of the very people they are protesting against. No, he’s not the CEO of Bank of America or Goldman Sachs. I understand they’re protesting against corporate greed, especially the greed that is…
Hopefully I’m not inciting violence by only quoting in part from the Occupy Providence mission statement, but I’m just hoping that the recent actions by the Occupy movement in other cities isn’t a sign of things to come here in Providence. The Providence folks, in their mission statement, wrote Occupy Providence is a completely non-violent…
It’s interesting to see people come out and align themselves with the Occupy movement. Many of these are the same people who call the Tea Party wackos or zealots. By the same token, many people who fancy themselves Tea Partiers, look down their nose at the people attending the Occupy events. But if these two…
“Raimondo: Politics threaten reform“: State Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo told the Rotary Club of Providence on Tuesday that the biggest potential hurdle to pension reform is “politics, politics, politics: special interests lobbying politicians and telling them, if they pass this reform, they’ll go after them in the next election.”…Look, this is politics. Special interests. You…