Rhode Island Politics
An interesting feature in Monday’s Providence Journal came as four short reports about new legislators in the General Assembly: Rep. Dan Reilly (R, Portsmouth), Rep. Doreen Costa (R, North Kingstown), Sen. Nick Kettle (R, Coventry), and Rep. Chris Blazejewski (D, Providence). The way they’re framed from the beginning tells readers a great deal about the…
G. Wayne Miller of the Projo is reporting that former state police Superintendent Brendan Doherty will announce his candidacy for Rhode Island’s First District Congressional seat on Thursday… A longtime Cumberland resident, Doherty will make his formal announcement at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday at Imperial Packaging Corp., a Pawtucket manufacturer.Meanwhile, Ian Donnis of WRNI (1290AM)…
Sure, it’s a small matter in the great scheme of things. But it’s been a particularly galling one. The General Assembly may finally have harkened to the outraged voices of business owners about the insanity that comprises our boiler inspection law. Yes, it’s only one of many regulations that cause an unnecessary drag on Rhode…
So, Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns Executive Director Dan Beardsley is warning of the large dollar amounts that state and local taxpayers are going to have to begin paying if the state Retirement Board approves actuarial recommendations: The Retirement Board, which is chaired by General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, is set to vote Wednesday…
RI General Treasurer Gina Raimondo uses an apt metaphor to describe the significance of the state’s public pension problem: “If you remember one thing from me this afternoon, remember this,” Raimondo said, speaking bluntly: “fixing this state’s pension system is not an issue, it is the issue. Our state retirement debt is an anchor holding…
I don’t know Providence finances well enough to quibble with Mayor Angel Tavares’s budget proposal, but in emphasis and presentation it stands in stark contrast to Governor Lincoln Chafee. Tavares led with controversial and concrete initiatives for spending reduction, while Chafee led with a massive tax increase. Maybe they’ll get to the same place —…
Further to Marc’s post about Rhode Island’s junior senator going around baselessly alarming seniors, in the other Congressional chamber, Rhode Island’s First District congressman was almost exultant last week about Paul Ryan’s proposals to modify Social Security and Medicare. “It’s interesting,” Cicilline said Tuesday during a half-hour interview with WPRI.com in his Pawtucket district office.…
The report on the Cicilline Adminstration’s fiscal inadequacies has dropped. The major findings, according to the ProJo: — “The Administration transferred funds from the Undesignated Surplus (Rainy-Day Fund) without approval of a majority vote of the City Council as required.” — “The Administration did not provide financial information on a timely basis to the independent…
No one likes to be though of as hard-hearted. But in an effort to find places to cut–to reduce our “obligations”–we simply need to take a closer look at our Human Services budget, which has $2.1 Billion (federal and state) in “assistance, grants and benefits” alone. Within that budget is the spending requested for the…
Speaker Fox and the various members of the Democratic leadership say the Chafee plan is dead…..Right? “I’m not going to swear on any Bible about revenue enhancements at this point,” Fox said. “Before we go to the taxpayers and say we need to increase your taxes, we need to build some credibility with them to…