Rhode Island Politics
It appears that vocal Tea Party figure and District 31 candidate for the General Assembly’s House Doreen Costa has attracted the attention of some mentally deficient (probably unstable) supporter of the status quo: According to a police report, the car also contained “expensive electronics such as a navigation system, CD player, and IPod which was…
A Sunday that happens also to be a holiday seems well suited to this minor observation concerning a man who left the public sphere before my time, as it were. From a recent op-ed by former Governor Lincoln Almond: Every insurer in this state is seeking rate increases, some higher than Blue Cross, some modestly…
This statement will surely draw heat, but it seems to me that an objective view of perceptions among Republicans and, especially, conservatives in Rhode Island is that Governor Carcieri chose to end his term as a leader early (in contrast to his term as an administrator), for the reason that Larry Ehrhardt expressed succinctly in…
… because the senate president picked up an opponent Wednesday and her smirky lieutenant has decided not to seek re-election. I learned this double scoop of delightful news Wednesday night at the RIGOP Convention (with apologies to Andrew for whooping in his ear when the second item was announced from the podium). Beth Moura is…
For some reason a statement released by the Moderate Party’s candidate for lieutenant governor, Jean Ann Guliano, capped for me a little wave of inexplicable optimism, yesterday: Many have pointed out that my running for state office is admirable, but what we really need are committed people in the General Assembly, people who are going…
On last night’s Matt Allen Show, Monique talked government spending and legislative grants with Matt. Stream by clicking here, or download it.
The ProJo highlighted the RI General Assembly’s “Legislative Grant Program” (nee earmarks or the “rub-n-tug), focusing on the legislators (mostly State Rep’s) who believe it’s essentially a political spoils system. As reported by the ProJo’s Randall Edgar, Rep. Karen MacBeth (D-Cumberland) is one of those questioning the “process”: Testifying before the House Finance Committee this…
On my wish list of general changes to Rhode Island government structure is bringing state representation more directly in line with voter residence. I’ve argued that legislators would thereby be more accessible and that such a system would create a more direct line for involved residents to move up the ladder of governance — moving…
State Democrats’ lopsided (88 to 32) endorsement of Frank Caprio indicates that party operatives understand, at least, what sort of rhetoric the electorate wants to hear, just now: “We are going to be the party that holds the line on taxes. We are going to be the party that streamlines state government. We are going…
I hadn’t had time to explore the new news site, but apparently, Go Local Prov (which is affiliated with WPRO) has been featuring regular commentary by RI Future founder Matt Jerzyk, including a Rhode Island “who’s hot and who’s not” column. The list typically has the slant that one would expect from Matt, but one…