Rhode Island Politics

The Campaign Closes and We Get Ready to Vote

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 1, 2010 |

At John Loughlin’s campaign rally held in East Providence this afternoon, I was able to ask a couple of candidates and a couple of guests if they’d like to deliver an election-eve message to the readers of Anchor Rising. They all graciously obliged…“The most important thing you can do right now is to get out…

Still More Assembly Candidates on the Chafee Promise that the Legislature Will Approve His Sales Tax

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 1, 2010 |

Here are more responses, received last night and this morning, to independent candidate Lincoln Chafee’s public assurance that the state legislature will go along with his proposal to extend the Rhode Island sales tax to items currently not taxed, made during Friday’s night WJAR-TV (NBC 10) Gubernatorial debate…If the governor is leading the way on…

They See Not the Impact of the Laws that They Wrought

By Monique Chartier | October 31, 2010 |

In his post about America’s conception of liberty and the civic structure that supports it to broad issues of the day Justin points to State legislators who apparently have no concept of the effects of the legislation that they pass at the behest of self-interested and ideological constituencies Indeed, they do not. Perhaps the biggest…

No National Democratic GOTV Money for RI

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 31, 2010 |

The principle of triage suggests that this Scott MacKay report from the WRNI (1290 AM) On Politics blog means that the Democrat powers-that-be think that their candidates in Rhode Island are either sure things or lost-causes…The Democratic National Committee has dropped some end-of-campaign money into 11 states for Get-Out-The-Vote efforts heading into Tuesday’s elections, but…

Lincoln Chafee Promises that the General Assembly Will Pass His Tax Increase. But Do Current General Assembly Members Agree That He Can Speak on Their Behalf?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 30, 2010 |

I also had the opportunity to ask a sitting General Assembly member running for re-election, State Senator Frank Maher (R-Charlestown/Exeter/Hopkinton/Richmond/West Greenwich), what he thought of independent gubernatorial candidate Lincoln Chafee speaking for the General Assembly by saying…“If the governor is leading the way on the tax increase, the General Assembly is going to go along,”…

Lincoln Chafee Promises that the General Assembly Will Pass His Tax Increase. But Do General Assembly Candidates Agree That He Can Speak on Their Behalf?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 30, 2010 |

One of the distressing observations that can be made about Rhode Island’s established political class is that they don’t really seem to understand how democracy is supposed to work. For example, during last night’s Gubernatorial debate, independent candidate Lincoln Chafee took the extraordinary step of asserting that the legislature will pass his proposed expansion of…

RI Reformers Split on Governor

By Marc Comtois | October 29, 2010 |

RISC is buying what Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio is selling and have endorsed him for Governor over Republican John Robitaille. Their reasoning: RISC wants to acknowledge that Republican John Robitaille, who is a friend and member of RISC has run a very competent and credible campaign- -and yes, as of this writing- -is running…

Shoving Back

By Justin Katz | October 29, 2010 |

Even on the construction site, I’ve heard criticism of gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio for his “shove it” comment, related to a general sense that one should have respect for the office of the president. Firstly, one must wonder why President Bush did not receive similar defense against his hostile critics. Secondly, President Obama’s hardline partisanism…

ProJo PolitiFlacks for Cicilline

By Marc Comtois | October 28, 2010 |

Oh, it sounds so good, doesn’t it? PolitiFact will fact check politicians to see what is true and not. But, as we’ve been pointing out here and there, PolitiFact can be used as another vehicle to slant political news coverage, albeit under the guise of “fair and balanced” fact checking. Justin has already explained how…

Bob Goes to the Statehouse

By Justin Katz | October 27, 2010 |

I’m thinking that Bob Venturini might be my choice for lieutenant governor. After all, this is precisely my argument against Robert Healey’s “abolish the office” platform: Venturini said he would turn the office into “the ultimate watchdog and policy center,” and use it as a “bully pulpit” against “waste, abuse and corruption.” He added, “I’d…