Rhode Island Politics
Here’s the Budget Office document showing the always-too-optimistic early revenue estimate for the state of Rhode Island: PDF. As you’ve likely read, the deficit is projected to be $219.8 million. It wouldn’t be surprising to find that number come in hundreds of millions of dollars too low. The reality is that Rhode Island has to…
While we’re talking political platforms, it’s worth noting that candidate Dan O’Connor has put himself forward as a candidate for whom those currently represented by John Loughlin (R., Little Compton, Portsmouth, Tiverton) should not vote. His letter to the editor of The Sakonnet Times isn’t online, but it’s adequate to summarize that O’Connor lists the…
Further campaign finance evidence proves pretty decisively that the Moderate Party’s main misstep was to fall into one of the many traps that Rhode Island’s political establishment has laid for those who might consider challenging their reign by methods that they haven’t rigged. From page 30 of the Campaign Finance Manual (PDF) provided by the…
As it happens, I spent more than a few moments pondering the statutory language in which Moderate Party founder Ken Block found a campaign financing loophole: 17-25-10.1 Political contributions – Limitations. – (a) No person, other than the candidate to his or her own campaign, nor any political action committee shall make a contribution or…
Extended excerpts transcribed from Justin’s recording of the remarks of East Providence School Committee Chairman Anthony Carcieri at the EPGOP Fall Fundraiser last Thursday. Most state senators are not so tactless or ill-advised as to attend a council meeting of the municipality that they represent and berate that body for attempting to budget responsibly. This,…
That’s a question that Rhode Islanders must be asking themselves almost on a daily basis. It’s not just that the November Revenue Estimating Conference set the baseline for the current year’s budget deficit at $200 million. It’s not just that, but for one-time fixes, the state government would have run deficits for several years even…
One doesn’t have to know the specifics to be taken aback by this dirt-bag move from State Senator Daniel DaPonte (D, East Providence) (emphasis added): Larisa has cost the city money, DaPonte said, by creating “monumental parks” named after the mayor’s mother. And, DaPonte continued, Councilman Robert Cusack has cost the city “hundreds of thousands…
Anchor Rising is well represented at tonight’s fundraiser in East Providence, as are the familiar faces of the RI right-wing, and Republicans, too. About 50 people here. Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian had to be elsewhere and spoke first: State GOP Chairman Gio Cicione went next: Gio noted that he was glad to finally be able…
I guess we now know why the Moderate Party’s coffers are about as full as the RI GOPs. Ken Block has managed to bait the sharks thanks to his own situational ethics. The Warwick Beacon editorializes: Moderate Party founder Ken Block has tried to get around campaign finance laws by funneling money to his fledgling…
This piece was originally published in abbreviated form (PDF) in the November 2009 issue of Providence Monthly magazine. Amidst the banquet of public power in Rhode Island, the term-limited governor stands mainly as a jester for activists to mock and insiders to blame. When their excess begets indigestion, angry lips shout his name. When indigestion…