RI Political Corruption
I intend to spend a little more time perusing the report titled Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom (PDF), put out by the George Mason University Mercatus Center, but Rhode Island’s predictable rankings, among the 50 states, are notable without extensive commentary: Fiscal policy: 41 Regulatory policy: 48 Economic…
There’s not much to say about this, but it’s so nearly a cliché unto itself that it begs mention: Without any official notice, the Senate yesterday voted unanimously to confirm House Speaker William J. Murphy’s deputy assistant, Patrick T. Burke, as a special magistrate in the Superior Court. … Unlike judges, magistrates are not vetted…
The Ocean State Policy Research Institute has kicked off LRB Watch to track the wins with the State Labor Relations Board. Despite claims from certain quarters that the board is “management” heavy, OSPRI finds that labor has one 15 of 19 decisions since 2006. When it comes to matters that OSPRI classifies as “major” —…
And now to the Ed Achorn talk in Barrington. I missed the beginning, owing to the need in this state to circumnavigate rivers. A few notables in the crowd, including a unionist who’s disrupting the question period by trying to turn the session into a discussion of Mr. Achorn and the Projo. The crowd actually…
Word on the street is that the RI Senate Judiciary Committee has indefinitely postponed its hearing on marriage issues. On a related note, a source in a position to know informs me that the reason even informed citizens can be surprised by such events is that the General Assembly exempts itself from open meeting laws.…
The KPMG report on the Providence Tax Collector’s office provides enough clues to tell us how the Cicilline administration will attempt to explain that no deliberate act of corruption occurred with regard to Felix Garcia’s tax-lien(s). The timeline of the liens is as follows:(January 2006) The initial city lien is placed…In June 2004, approximately eight…
Here are the two-and-a-half versions from the KPMG report (courtesy of the Projo) of where the idea of John Cicilline writing a $75,000 check (that he couldn’t cover) to help reconcile Felix Garcia’s tax debt came from. According to the version of events presented as Providence Tax Collector Robert Ceprano’s, John Cicilline more-or-less out of…
Simply because it represented an unanticipated expenditure during a time of extremely tight budgets — indeed, when the town council is pondering a “token” reduction in its own pay totaling $2,520 — I made note of the Tiverton Town Council’s decision to make $900 available to municipal officials to attend a Grow Smart RI workshop…
It’s important to keep in mind that this report consists mainly of allegations, some of them (at least) made by people with compromising motivation. That said, the insight into the practices of our state are well worth familiarization: [Probate Judge Robert E.] Rainville says he has done nothing wrong — and that the complaints against…
In today’s Projo, I have an op-ed detailing how the Rhode Island Superior Court’s dismissal of the Ethics Commission case against William Irons ignores basic precedents that have been established by the Courts regarding legislative immunity. The decision is being appealed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. More detailed background on the cases cited and…
