Rhode Island Politics
From the AP via Turn to Ten: A Rhode Island lawmaker says House Speaker William Murphy has told his colleagues he’s stepping down from his leadership post when the next term begins. Rep. Kenneth Carter told The Associated Press he was in a meeting last week in which Murphy told his committee chairs he would…
Hopefully, Bob Walsh is merely trying to manufacture a self-fulfilling prophecy, here: “We are preparing, if there is a session in October, to be present and strongly advocating for binding arbitration,” says Walsh, executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island. And, “we are fairly comfortable we have the commitments we need to…
From the RIGOP: The Rhode Island Republican Party has today filed an Ethics complaint against Attorney General Patrick Lynch stemming from his acceptance of gifts from industry associations that he regulates. Attorney General Patrick Lynch has violated Regulation 36-14-5009 of the Code of Ethics, which prohibits public officials from receiving a gift of more than…
The Providence Journal today published a very disappointing op-ed from Rep. John Loughlin (R, Tiverton, Portsmouth, Little Compton) that Monique posted on Anchor Rising back in March to some extensive commentary. Loughlin’s premises are that we have a moral obligation to fulfill the pension expectations of public employees and teachers who are vested in the…
Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed will appear on the John DePetro Show this morning. Click here to stream live. Though Tara Granahan wasn’t sure a few minutes ago whether the Senate President would be taking calls, some questions may suggestion themselves from this interview with the ProJo’s Katherine Gregg.
After concurring with Justin’s doubts about bonuses and the definition of profits at Twin River, Valley Breeze Publisher Tom Ward contrasts a notable item on Senator Whitehouse’s resume with his vote a couple of weeks ago to continue funding ACORN. Rhode Island’s former chief law enforcement officer, ex-Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, voted to continue funding…
The in-boxes of Rhode Island’s state senators have been the battleground, of late, for a political spat between Sen. Leonidas Raptakis (D, Coventry, East Greenwich, Warwick, West Warwick) and Sen. Daniel DaPonte (D., East Providence, Pawtucket): Raptakis wrote to Senate President Theresa Paiva Weed to suggest that the legislature should reconvene (PDF). DaPonte wrote a…
So we’ve all supported the right of the Moderate Party to form, and it’s been an interesting process. Now that Ken Block has achieved the milestone of officiality, however, the big question is what the group actually means by “moderate.” The 4E marketing — economy, ethics, education, and the environment — is tantamount to declaring,…
As evidence of the suggestion, in this morning’s vlog, that Rhode Island Democrats mainly utilize the governor’s office as a scapegoat, I present Travis Rowley’s calling out of Senator John Tassoni (D., Smithfield) for his obvious attempts to hand the General Assembly’s garbage to the governor: Perhaps worse than their inability to fiscally restrain themselves…