Rhode Island Politics
Former Judge Mark A. Pfeiffer, appointed as receiver for troubled Central Falls, has come out with his recommendation (PDF): merge Central Falls with Pawtucket (via 7to7). “The problems are so severe that they cannot be solved solely through efficiencies and additional revenue at the city level,” he wrote. ” … state action is required if…
For those interested, HERE is a working list of all of the earmarks contained in the lame duck FY2011 budget. I assume it will be continually updated as required (hence, the “working”). I’ve also broken out the RI earmarks from messr’s Reed, Whitehouse, Langevin and Kennedy and you can download it HERE. All told, according…
List courtesy WPRI’s Ted Nesi. The summit takes place this Friday at RI College; Nesi provides schedule and format details here. John Simmons, Executive Director, Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council Robert Flanders Jr., Chairman of the Board of Regents Ray M. Di Pasquale, Commissioner of Higher Education Elizabeth Roberts, Lieutenant Governor (tentative) Anne Nolan, President…
Fresh from orientation at the General Assembly, State Representative Doreen Costa (R, Exeter, North Kingstown) told the crowd of about 100 people attending last night’s RI Tea Party Strategy meeting about her day: Of particular note, Costa mentioned that the equipment is in place and almost final to post the results of every vote of…
I’ve argued again and again, to anybody who would listen, that bond issues on Rhode Island’s ballots are part of a scam whereby the local government spends the money that we’ve allocated to it on non-essentials and then promotes that which it has left undone as evidence of the dire need for more revenue. Anybody…
Anybody who wonders what lesson the General Assembly’s Democrats took from the last election need only read this: “In our effort to achieve savings, we have worked diligently to manage the legislative department within the enacted budget levels without seriously impacting day-to-day operations,” wrote [House Speaker Gordon] Fox in a cover letter that also spelled…
I note a couple things from the ProJo story about Chafee spokesman Michael Trainor’s defaulted loan from the RI EDC. 1) Trainor and his partners approached the RHODE ISLAND EDC for a loan for a business based in CONNECTICUT. 2) The business plan centered on the purchase of three companies in the south that would…
NEA RI Assistant Executive Director John Leidecker was arrested this morning by Bristol and RI State Police accused of the online impersonation of Bristol State Representative Doug Gablinske. Mr. Leidecker, who holds a law degree from Roger Williams University School of Law [edit] and is a practicing attorney, allegedly sent phony e-mails to constituents using…
I’m not sure how else executives could pursue budget cuts than asking the folks beneath them to provide suggestions, but it’s eminently predictable that they would respond to requests for budgets that show significantly lower spending in such a way as to make the cuts seem impossible. So, the Department of Public Safety insists that…
Bill Felkner, of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute, which today announced Mike Stenhouse as its new Executive Director, recently offered a review of where the RI center-right stands as a coalition: And while [Lincoln Chafee was running left and wooing the unions], the center-right was splintering to ineffectuality. Ken Block, the Moderate candidate, thought…