RI Political Corruption
While this post is a reply to Justin’s about the controversy surrounding State Senator Stephen Alves and the failed A. Duie Pyle tax incentive, it is also a report on the way things are done in the General Assembly when a citizen is attempting to access information about bills and the legislative process. In the…
Senator Stephen Alves defense against allegations that he tried to use his position as Senate Finance Committee chair to compel Rhode Island cities and towns to give him their pension business is taking shape. It looks as if Senator Alves will argue that his committee chairmanship gives him such absolute power over Senate finance matters,…
State Senator Stephen Alves has broken two days of silence to firmly deny charges that he blocked a tax incentive out of political revenge. Describing the allegations as “ridiculous and baseless”, he called his main accuser, lobbyist Jeffrey Britt, a liar and affirmed that he had never been opposed in principle to the tax incentive…
From Ian Donnis at the Providence Phoenix’s Not-for-Nothing blog…Speaking this morning on the John DePetro Show, Governor Carcieri added his voice to Gio Cicione in calling for state Senator Stephen Alves to resign his Senate Finance Committee chairmanship while he remains under federal scrutiny. Carcieri called for the state Ethics Commission — which he has…
Helen Glover feels for Stephen Alves, in a way similar to this frightening guy’s feelings for Britney Spears.
This definitely has a very Rhode Island ring to it: When a family-owned Pennsylvania trucking company announced plans early this year to build a New England distribution center in Johnston and create 120 well-paying jobs, Governor Carcieri and Mayor Joseph M. Polisena hailed it as an economic triumph. But when tax-incentive legislation to help lure…
I didn’t realize that it was so hard to find models and/or fireman and policeman hats: The sculptor who made the 9/11 memorial that became the center of attention after Mayor Charles Lombardi buffed out the likenesses of two former public safety officials from the granite surface spoke out yesterday, saying that while he understands…
In what sort of environment could anyone possibly find it acceptable to place the faces of two local (and living!) officials on a monument to others who died heroically in a distant city? A decision by Mayor Charles Lombardi to remove the likenesses of two of the town’s former public safety officials from the town’s…
Montalbano’s public statement gives the impression that he thinks $12,000 is a reasonable fine for a minor paperwork error: I am pleased to have reached a resolution of this matter that is fair and just. The finding of the Ethics Commission in this case – that I failed to complete my paperwork – accurately reflects…
… becomes probably the last person in Rhode Island to admit the obvious: Resolving months of legal back and forth, state Senate President Joseph Montalbano today settled the ethics case against him for a $12,000 civil penalty. … Montalbano was accused of engaging in a conflict of interest by voting to put a casino proposal…