Seeding the Grass Roots

RISC Winter Meeting: Governor Don Carcieri on Budgets, Benefits, and the Future

By Justin Katz | March 22, 2009 |

Governor Don Carcieri was the final speaker at the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition’s Winter Meeting (stream entire speech): RISC Chairman Harry Staley’s introduction: stream, download Opening remarks — coverage of the budget proposal has been “incomprehensible”; “politics is a contact sport”; “I am mad as hell”: stream, download The need for RISC and citizen action…

RISC Winter Meeting: EPTA’s William Murphy Encourages Engaged Citizens

By Justin Katz | March 21, 2009 |

The second speech at the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition’s Winter Meeting came from the East Providence Taxpayers Association’s William Murphy, who focused on local-level movement building (stream entire speech): RISC Chairman Harry Staley’s introduction: stream, download Murphy’s opening remarks: stream, download We must focus on our effectiveness as citizens: stream, download Step 1 is to…

RISC Winter Meeting: Gary Sasse Talks Taxes

By Justin Katz | March 21, 2009 |

Giving the first speech at the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition’s Winter Meeting, Gary Sasse, Governor Carcieri’s Director of the Department of Administration, spoke about tax policy (stream entire speech): RISC Chairman Harry Staley’s introduction: stream, download Sasse’s opening remarks — we compete for capital and labor, and tax policy affects our success: stream, download The…

A Winter Meeting in Spring

By Justin Katz | March 21, 2009 |

What better way to spend the first Saturday of spring than listening to political speehes at the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition’s Winter Meeting? RISC Chairman Harry Staley is currently making opening remarks. Frank Caprio has been walking the room. Ed O’Neil is here. And the governor just walked in with his entourage. 9:42 a.m. I’ve…

A Clarification in the Other Direction

By Justin Katz | March 19, 2009 |

Lest I be misunderstood, perhaps a note’s in order stating that I support the Ocean State 38 initiative that Travis Rowley describes. As a political organization, the RIGOP must reinvent itself at the local level and build from there — not just for fundraising, but in order to get to know voters and to identify…

Our Movement Needs a Common Focus, Not a Common Label

By Justin Katz | March 19, 2009 |

In attempting to navigate the difficult waters that separate my employer and the clients on whose property we labor, I’ve at times been called “The Diplomat.” I very often disagree with his decisions and, even more often, his methods, but there’s a job to be done, and it requires that responsibility be properly allocated and…

Ken Block: “Moderate” Is Not Another Word for “Republican”

By Engaged Citizen | March 19, 2009 |

Travis Rowley, Chairman of the Rhode Island Young Republicans, in a recent posting discussing the Ocean State 38 on the Ocean State Republican blog, purposely and inaccurately attempts to link the Moderate Party of Rhode Island to efforts to rehabilitate the RI GOP. In his post, Travis attempts to show that the RI GOP has…

Comments from the Chair

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2009 |

Or maybe it was a bar stool; I couldn’t see. Most of the talking at Thursday night’s Young Republicans event was of a mingling sort among the 60–80 people in the room, so I didn’t record it, but Travis Rowley and RIGOP Chairman Gio Cicione did offer more public comments: Travis: Stream, Download Gio: Stream,…

Out on the Town with Republicans

By Justin Katz | January 22, 2009 |

Well, the country boy made it to the city. Eventually, I broke down and paid $5 to park (next door, by the way). The room at McFadden’s is pretty full, but there’s still room if you can get here. So far, I’ve bumped into Gio Ciccione, Mark Zaccaria, Jon Scott, Dave Talan, Bob Watson, OSPRI’S…

Who Said Republicans Aren’t Fun?

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2009 |

As we old folks get our act together, on the political scene, we should ensure that there’s a continuity stretching down to our younger right-of-center compatriots. So, if you can put down that new book about Reagan and Buckley for a couple of hours on Thursday night, you might consider joining me here: Join us…