Rhode Island Politics

At some point, it has to stop being relevant to argue about what Rhode Island has to do to “break out of its death spiral,” as former Economic Development Corp. head Michael McMahon puts it, and start talking about how to rebound from the collapse. There’s something of a sense of fruitless repetition to McMahon’s…

A couple of points to lightly touch upon now that the feds have joined with the State Police to do the heavy lifting. – The Attorney General has been patting himself on the back this week for recusing himself and purportedly handing the matter of his friend, the mayor of Central Falls, king of the…

This year’s deficit was $220 million. 2011 stands at $440 million. But three quarters of a billion dollars is the number for 2012. Gubernatorial candidate John Robitaille revealed this startling and grim projection last night at the East Providence Super Spring Spectacular. It’s being called the Medicaid Cliff. In two years, federal stimulus monies stop…

Rasmussen reports that Lincoln Chafee (I) and Frank Caprio (D) are currently tied in the race for governor, with John Robitaille (R) pulling 21%. Switch Caprio out for Patrick Lynch, and Chafee goes up to 35%, while Robitaille gains to 26%. Clearly, right-leaning conservatives are still buying Caprio’s moderate image. By way of a wildcard:…

The thing about politics and governance is that the battles can’t ultimately be won from the outside. Somebody’s got to step forward to take office and make the right decisions, with the right motivation and guidance, once in office. I pass the following along with the suggestion that running under the flag of a particular…

In today’s ProJo story about the General Assembly and pension reform, one sentence jumps out and explains the root problem at the heart of trying to change things here in Rhode Island: At least half, 55 of the 113 lawmakers, have a publicly-financed pension, or between 1 and 33 years of credit toward a possible…

General Treasurer Frank Caprio has released a cliff-notes version of his pension reform plan. It’s composed of two options for future retirees and will not affect current retirees. To summarize: Plan 1 – Combination Play or “Hybrid” Plan: Mimics the Federal plan: most of the plan consists of a fixed pension and his supplemented by…

ProJo’s Ed Achorn agrees that the unions have a big hand in running the state. But he emphasizes that they aren’t to blame. If there is a public enemy number one, it’s not [AFL-CIO President George] Nee. He’s just exploiting the system to enrich himself and the people who empower him. He does a very…