Self-Government

Why the Proposed Teachers’ Health Insurance Board is an Unconstitutional Violation of Separation of Powers

By Carroll Andrew Morse | January 4, 2010 |

A non-trivial question concerning the new teachers’ health insurance board proposed by the legislature but opposed by the Governor is which branch of government it would belong to. It’s obviously not the judiciary. And as currently structured, the board cannot be an offshoot of the legislature. A legislature has no power to delegate its statewide…

Colleen Conley: What Will It Take For You to Take a Stand?

By Engaged Citizen | November 24, 2009 |

Recently, I attended a GOP meet-and-greet, hosted by a group of beautiful women at one of their gorgeous “House and Garden” homes in an affluent neighborhood. The food was delicious, the wine sublime, and the hospitality of genteel, like-minded couples unparalleled. The Governor and his delightful wife made an appearance and both gave heartwarming speeches,…

Re: A Constitutional Glitch in the Ciccone Consolidation Bill?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 25, 2009 |

Monique points out that the state Constitution has to be considered in any plans to “consolidate” or “regionalize” Rhode Island’s cities and towns. And a direct reading of the first 4 sections of Article XIII of the Rhode Island Constitution certainly seems to rule out the top-down pile-driver consolidation recently proposed by Senator Frank Ciccone,…

A Constitutional Glitch in the Ciccone Consolidation Bill?

By Monique Chartier | October 24, 2009 |

Andrew brings to our attention Senator Frank Ciccone’s pile driver consolidation bill, enumerating the ways that this is a bad idea and adding some shrewd speculation about the (possibly calculated) existential threat that the bill poses to the Mayor’s office of North Providence, a position currently occupied, it would seem, by a trouble-maker obsessed with…

The Idea of “Consolidation” Takes Its Biggest Hit Yet, as Senator Frank Ciccone Enthusiastically Signs On

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 23, 2009 |

State Senator Frank Ciccone (D – North Providence/Providence/Anyone with a Monetary Interest in Dog Racing) has introduced a bill to implement about a strong as consolidation plan as is possible in Rhode Island — abolishing all city and town governments in Rhode Island, replacing them with county-level government (h/t Brian Hull). To make sure that…

The Disrespect for Democracy that is Binding Arbitration

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 20, 2009 |

More vigorously than at anytime since the 1960s, America’s political left has been promoting its two-point all-purpose plan for solving domestic problems: More government spending (point 2) paid for by higher taxes (point 1). At the Federal level, the focus of applying this philosophy has been on healthcare. At the state level in Rhode Island,…

Tollgate’s Five Dollar Revolution

By Marc Comtois | October 9, 2009 |

For the price of a $5 footlong, Tollgate High students can park their car for a year in the school parking lot. Toll Gate Principal Stephen Chrabaszcz said he decided to institute the policy for two reasons. First, to make the campus safer and reduce auto break-ins. Students would have to register their cars and…

Edward Fitzpatrick Versus Scott MacKay, Dueling Critics of Art and Democracy

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 24, 2009 |

Projo political columnist Edward Fitzpatrick and WRNI (1290AM) political analyst Scott MacKay have come to very different conclusions about what they witnessed at Congressman James Langevin’s town hall meeting in Warwick last week. MacKay quite clearly didn’t like what he saw…The iconic image of a New England Town Meeting was painted by Norman Rockwell in…

The RI Tea Party President on the Town Hall and the Community Dinner

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 23, 2009 |

On Saturday, I stopped by the Rhode Island Tea Party‘s roving protest at its stop in front of Senator Jack Reed’s offices in Cranston, where RI Tea Party founder and President Colleen Conley was one of the demonstrators. Ms. Conley has also been on the inside (literally) at Congressman James Langevin’s town hall meeting held…

Takeaway #1 from Congressman Langevin’s Town Hall: The Point of Failure in American Democracy

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 20, 2009 |

The first takeaway from Congressman James Langevin’s town hall meeting last evening (actually, it was a city hall meeting, but why quibble) is bigger than the issue of healthcare alone. It concerns one of the weakest points in the American democratic system, the committee system used for creating legislation. When asked if he had read…