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Rhode Island has reached the point that election day isn’t election day, and not only because early and mail voting blur the calendar. As we’re seeing with the special Congressional race currently underway, for all intents and purposes, the Democrat primary is the election. And with so many candidates vying for that position, one can hear…
A new study by criminology professors from the University of Rhode Island and Rutgers University — Luzi Shi and Jason Silver, respectively — produces some interesting results, although the URI press release is arguably inaccurate. Here are the headline and lede: Americans favor punishing only protestors they disagree with, new research shows Study finds Americans…
This is precisely the sort of application of supposed common sense without due process that incrementally undermines our rights. There is no process for a candidate to remove him or herself from the ballot, and as far as I know, there are no standards in law or regulation for the Board of Elections to determine…
Rhode Island Current, a newcomer to the Ocean State’s media landscape, recently published an article by Nancy Lavin asking the perennial question, “What’s with RI jobs data?” Over the decades of my interest in the topic, this ambiguity has been a running theme. The state has no (and cannot have any) economic confidence. We’re like…
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos’s attempt to tar competitor Gabe Amos for — get this — having ties to Home Depot is fascinating: He wants voters to focus on his work as a public servant and to ignore the fact that he was a registered lobbyist for Home Depot despite the company’s ties to the far-right…
Decreasing political participation is unhealthy, limiting voters’ choices, tilting incentives toward corruption, and separating We the People from the exercise of government authority, and campaign regulation reform would be a good place to start looking for a fix.
Whether well-intentioned or conspiratorial, prescribing political activism as a form of therapy will inevitably create a destructive cycle.
Spin from Attorney General Peter Neronha, which local media picked up mostly without skepticism or even context, shows Rhode Islanders are defenseless against the activists’ storyline.
Update: The RI BOE voted 5-2 today to review all of the signatures on Sabina Matos’ nomination papers. Ms. Matos is on the Democrat primary ballot for the RI CD1 special election and ballots have already been mailed out to military and out-of-country voters. It is unclear if the outcome of the BOE’s review would…
Do we have a test case, for bringing this session’s Supreme Court’s ruling in Tyler v. Hennepin County to Rhode Island? In Tyler v. Hennepin County, in a refreshingly short 9-0 opinion, the Court ruled that when local governments seize property over unpaid taxes, they are only entitled to keep what was owed. So after…