Entries by Monique Chartier

Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit Rather than the Minimum Wage?

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Interesting. The R.I. Center for Freedom and Prosperity (disclosure: for whom I act as Communications Manager) came out late last week against an increase in the minimum wage and instead, makes the case for an expansion of Rhode Island’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). What do you think? “Hiking the minimum wage will cost jobs […]

Very Troubling Revelations About State’s Administration of Child Foster Care as It Transitions to Adult Foster Care

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In the wake of the terrible deaths of three children in or related to Rhode Island foster care, we learn from a report by outgoing state Child Advocate Regina M. Costa that

The state Department of Children, Youth and Families is allowing children in its care to live in more than 320 unlicensed foster homes. In more than 100 cases, those homes have been unlicensed for more than six months in violation of state law.

This is only the latest troubling revelation about DCYF. An audit last year revealed that the agency had squandered millions of tax dollars due to very poor oversight and accounting practices.

We await answers, accountability and solutions to both these completely unacceptable financial irregularities and, much more importantly, the issue of the safety of children placed in foster care by the State of Rhode Island. It is all the more important that the state get this right in light of the fact that it is in the process of transitioning the care of developmentally disabled adults from group homes to adult foster homes. To state the obvious, we CANNOT see the terrible events involving DCYF repeated down the road with adult foster homes.

Nice – R.I. Trucking Assoc Moves to Invoke Fed Regs Against Toll-Funded RhodeWorks

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The Providence Business News reports that the R.I. Trucking Association is attempting to bring to bear arguably the heaviest, most terrible artillery of all against Governor Raimondo’s toll-funded “bridge” repair program: federal regulations.

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation sent March 18, trucking association President and CEO Christopher J. Maxwell said the proposed bridge and overpass rebuilding program should require a National Environmental Policy Act review because it will use federal funds.

Check Out Your Legislator’s Ranking on the Freedom Scorecard

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Don’t miss the R.I. Center for Freedom and Prosperity’s “Freedom Index & Legislator Scorecard“.

From the Center’s statement earlier this week:

Lawmakers and the public are encouraged to visit the “Legislation” tab on the 2016 Freedom Index to determine the bill rankings for the majority of bills that have been rated, but not yet voted on. The “Summary” tab displays individual lawmaker scores.

RI’s Bad Biz Climate Even Captures Doctors in Its Net

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Wow, Rhode Island sure is not welcoming to doctors. (H/T GoLocalProv.)

Add this to the list of regulatory reforms that state leaders and the General Assembly must work on.

A new study released Monday morning finds that RI ranks among the worst places in America for physician to practice.

What Would “Empowerment Schools” Really Empower?

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I’m getting a bad feeling about this proposal by new state Education Commissioner Ken Wagner. From budgeting to class schedules, Rhode Island Education Commissioner Ken Wagner on Wednesday unveiled a plan to give principals and teachers sweeping control over most of the major decisions made in their schools every day. Participation by schools, including the […]

How is the Warwick Renovator Paying for Not One But Two Defense Attorneys?

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The RI Judiciary website indicates that David LaPlante, the now-former Warwick School Department employee charged with five counts of misappropriating $72,662 from taxpayers to purchase tools, equipment and materials for himself, has hired two attorneys to defend him against these charges. And one of them is former House Speaker, William Murphy, who reportedly doesn’t come cheap.

How is Mr. LaPlante paying for this? If he has assets other than his house from which he is funding this legal representation, the next logical question is, what is the City of Warwick doing to identify and attach those assets so as to recoup those allegedly stolen tax dollars that went into Mr. LaPlante’s house and tool shed? Because the rumor is that there is no equity left in his house for the city to do so.

The City of Warwick needs to go full bore both to hold Mr. LaPlante accountable (which they are doing by charging him) and to recoup what he allegedly stole, not only to demonstrate that they care about tax dollars and taxpayers but to discourage other potential … er, renovators.

And last but not least, a related question for legal experts: if Mr. LaPlante is convicted of one (or all) of these felonies, does he lose his pension?

Wow, Looks Like Chair of RI Democrat Party Egregiously Lied About Return Rate of State Pension Plan

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From Michael Riley’s informative and disturbing column in GoLocalProv this week:

According to [RI Democratic Party Chair Joseph] McNamara the last 5 years Rhode Island earned 9.3% in its pension plan. I was shocked to hear that and wondered where he got that “talking point” from. Never mind, let’s just go to Seth Magaziner’s RI Treasury website.

The five year rate of return for the state pension plan was actually 5%, a far cry from 9.3%. Why did Mr. McNamara tell such a whopper?

Attention, Governor Raimondo: Corporate Welfare is Not Economic Development

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The Providence Journal reports today that the state Economic Development Corporation, now skulking around under the moniker of the Commerce Corporation, last night handed out over $14,000,000 in taxpayer dollars under the guise of economic development.

But on a busy night with a meeting that drew an overflow crowd interested in the unveiling of the state’s new tourism campaign, that vote was just one of many initiatives intended to help Rhode Island’s economy.The board approved three development projects for up to $12.8 million in Rebuild Rhode Island tax credits: Prospect Heights redevelopment, 560 Prospect St., Pawtucket, up to $3.7 million in credits; Union Trust Company Building, 170 Westminster St., Providence, up to about $3 million in credits; and 78 Fountain St., Providence, up to about $6.1 million in credits.

Targeted tax handouts do nothing to address the underlying cause of the state’s economic malaise, which is an excess of burdensome regulations, taxes and fees. If the General Assembly is wise, they will cut way back on these chunks of corporate welfare that lard the Governor’s budget and politely request that she do the right thing for the entire state by coming up with a plan for broad-based tax and reg reform.

MacBeth’s Party -Switching Shocker

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Well, this is quite the interesting and unexpected development.

House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Karen MacBeth of Cumberland filed official paperwork with the secretary of state’s office on Monday afternoon, telling a crowd of reporters she thinks Democrats no longer represent Rhode Islanders effectively.

In a conversation tonight with WPRO’s Matt Allen, Rep MacBeth cited the jamming through of tolls last month in only “thirteen days” over the objections of “screaming” voters as the straw that tipped her to make the decision to change parties.

With regard to a potential run for Congress from the First District, MacBeth told Allen that she expects to make that decision in approximately the next week. Um, has someone let her know that, if she does run for Congress, she would almost certainly face a primary challenger in September?

Who Was (Not) Minding the Store in Warwick When $72,000+ of Illegitimate Improvements Walked Out of the Budget?

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In December, we learned from an ongoing WPRI Target 12 investigation that a Warwick School Department employee had been charged with five counts of misappropriating an eye-opening $72,662 to purchase tools, equipment and materials for his own house. With the house now under a purchase and sale agreement, WPRI reports that the Warwick School Department is moving to secure its financial claim, though it’s not clear whether there is enough equity in the house to cover the tax dollars lost.

The school district’s attorney filed a Writ of Attachment about three weeks after the house went under contract, asking the court to order “security” for the district’s claims to the money used to buy the “items and supplies.”

Two things stick out here.

1.) The depth of greed on display by someone who apparently wasn’t satisfied with receiving $100,000/year plus generous benefits but had to – allegedly – supplement his publicly-funded compensation with various home improvement tools and materials also funded from the public coffers.

2.) It appears that all of these allegedly illegitimate purchases were not made in one day. Who was minding the store in the Warwick School Department while this went on? Why didn’t this get stopped at the first purchase? Is this laxness indicative of the attitude that elected officials and public employees have towards hard-earned tax dollars? If so, it is egregiously unacceptable and only underscores the case to cut taxes and cut the size of government as clearly our officials are not capable of handling its current scope.

Yet Another 38 Studios-Driven Cost to Taxpayers: Higher Liability Insurance Premiums

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Good on Kathy Gregg determinedly plowing through all of the different policies and coverage dates and information related to the EDC’s liability insurance to give us this article in yesterday’s ProJo.

The numbers may — or may not — be relevant to a question the lead lawyer in the state’s lawsuit to recover its failed $75 million loan to ex-ballplayer Curt Schilling’s video-game company seemed to answer, then recanted: Did the economic development agency’s own insurance pay for the alleged bad acts of its former director and deputy director in the 38 Studios legal case?

Gregg’s strongest headwind in trying to get this information appears to be a lawyer representing the state in its effort to recoup 38 Studios losses who ultimately refused to give her any straight answers on the critical matter of claims paid by this taxpayer-funded insurance policy.

Several hours after a story recounting this conversation appeared online, Wistow called The Journal to say: “There was some misunderstanding.” “I expect they paid and I believe they paid, but I have no firm basis for saying it,” [Attorney Max] Wistow said. “I really don’t know. I assumed.”

Well, that’s very helpful and informative.

The upshot of it is that taxpayers are paying more for liability insurance on behalf of the state almost certainly because the insurance companies had to pay a claim on behalf of two former EDC officials to settle the state’s lawsuit against them. Add yet another 38 Studios-related expense that taxpayers are picking up, all the while, not getting comprehensive answers – at least, not yet – as to what happened and whether there was criminal activity involved.

38 Studios Audit that Chafee Killed Finds More Payments to Corso Than Indicated in Court Filings

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The House Oversight Committee is finding some interesting stuff in the documents that Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, the firm that former Governor Chafee started to hire to conduct an audit of 38 Studios then inexplicably changed his mind, turned over to the committee. From today’s ProJo:

… political inside-player Michael Corso and his companies may have been paid more for his consulting services than the $2.032 million indicated in court filings. The ledger entries tally up to $2,414,892.

On the criminal side,

Asked the status on Thursday, Col. Steven G. O’Donnell, the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, said: “The investigation is coming to conclusion and I can’t give you specifics beyond that at this point.”

Note to Rhode Island’s Attorney General: it cannot be sufficiently emphasized, sir, that the investigation needs to be complete and comprehensive; otherwise, it will simply be a cover up.

Tax Credits are Bad Economic Development, Especially for Projects that Banks Won’t Fully Fund

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The Providence Journal reports today,

The Commerce Corporation on Monday will consider three more projects for the state’s Rebuild Rhode Island tax credits: an affordable-housing project to renovate the public-housing complex Prospect Heights in Pawtucket, and two mixed-use projects in Providence with residential and commercial space, one in the historic Union Trust building at 170 Westminster St. and the other at 78 Fountain St., on the surface parking lot across from The Providence Journal offices.

The problem is that the criteria for receiving these particular tax credits, which the rest of us pay for, seems to be projects that couldn’t get fully funded by the private sector, leading to real questions about their viability.

The Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit is intended to help cover financing gaps for projects that might otherwise not go forward.

Broad-based tax and regulatory reform, not targeted tax credits, is a far more effective way to do economic development. Worse, though it is for only part of the funding, these particular tax credits make taxpayers the stopgap funding source of last resort. If banks didn’t think the project made sense to fully fund, that signals that the project is not financially viable. It is no help to anyone other than the individual developers for Rhode Island officials to put tax dollars at risk by funding financially precarious projects.

Note to RI’s Governor: Business is Booming in SC Due to Its Good Biz Climate, Not its “Innovation Campus”

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It was good to see the House Finance Committee demonstrate some healthy skepticism late last week towards the $20 million bond that the Governor wants to put on the ballot for a – cue one of her favorite buzz words – “Innovation Campus”.

And it was on display Thursday as lawmakers questioned administration officials about the initiative, which would use that $20 million as seed money for a winning team of companies and universities to build a research campus, or campuses, somewhere in the state.

It was irresponsible and bordered on dishonest that, in pointing to a state with a good economy, Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor mentioned the presence of an innovation campus but not the hospitality of its business climate.

In support of the Innovation Campus plan, Pryor came armed not only with the Brookings Institutions’ report that recommended it, but a list of places across the country where government, academic and corporate dollars had been used to build something. At the top of his list was Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research in South Carolina, which was built with assistance from BMW and a $40-million bond.

Both lawmakers and voters should say “no” to this bond proposal. The very last thing that Rhode Island’s economy needs is yet another vague initiative inspired by a buzz word and funded by ever more borrowing on the taxpayers’ already maxed out credit card.

Is Something Amiss at One of the State’s Largest Firefighter Unions?

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H’mmm. NBC 10 investigative reporter Parker Gavigan is on the trail in a story he broke late this afternoon.

The financial health of one of the state’s largest unions, the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters, is in question, according to multiple members of the group.

Johnston Councilwoman – and Dean of RWU – Taking Best of Both Possible Worlds

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Well, this is a tad awkward. Investigative reporter Jim Hummel has rumbled Johnston Councilwoman Stephanie P. Manzi and her husband sending their children to (presumably) better schools in Narragansett on the residency basis of an 800 square foot cottage in that town while grabbing a homestead exemption for their house in Johnston.

Councilwoman Manzi told us the cottage – and not this 3,200-square-foot house in Johnston they’ve owned for more than a decade – is where the children live.

Hummel: “Full-time?’’
Manzi: “Full-time.’’
Hummel: “You’re sure about that?’’
Manzi: “Yes I am.’’

Yes, awkward, especially as Councilwoman Manzi is currently Dean of the Roger Williams University School of Justice Studies. Dr. Manzi is certainly practicing “real world practical application” of the resources of two different towns.

… one of the most valuable tools that we can provide our students with is the ability to link the theoretical knowledge in the classroom to its real-world practical application.

Providence Shuts Down Business with Enormous Tax Hike Followed by Ostrich Act

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Great job by GoLocalProv’s Russell Moore, who has been following developments from the beginning, bringing this downright scary situation to light.

That the City of Providence, in its greed for ever more tax revenue, drove this business to close with a near quintupling of its property taxes is already really bad. Hellooooo, Providence officials: you cannot endlessly jack property taxes and expect it won’t have negatively impact your tax base.

Nearly one year after being hit with a $1 million tax hike by the City of Providence, Teppco, a propane terminal located at ProvPort, has officially closed its doors. The company will cease doing business in Providence this week — a move that will cause its 36 employees to look for new jobs.

Worse, however, refusal by city officials to answer questions about this insane tax hike caused a potential buyer of the business to walk away – taking with them the prospect of saving those thirty six jobs.

Moreover, the failure by city officials to respond and work to resolve the issues caused Teppco to lose a potential buyer that would have allowed the facility to continue to operate and retain jobs.

From the beginning, Providence officials had refused to answer the business’ questions about the basis for this insane property tax hike. Incredibly, at one point, the affected business actually resorted to filing an APRA request of Providence to try to get answers. But with answers still not forthcoming, the buyer walked.

What did Mayor Elorza know about this? How is it remotely responsible for Providence officials to simply bury their heads in the sand and refuse to engage after inflicting what turns out to be a fatal tax increase on a business?

Alternate (Probably More Accurate) Definition of “Fine” To Describe State Pension Fund

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Financial wiz and former congressional candidate Mike Riley has a column in today’s GoLocalProv in which he describes a conversation that took place on a recent episode of A Lively Experiment about the health of the state’s pension fund.

A recent panel on A Lively Experiment contained a political science professor, a newspaper editor, a politician, and myself.

The premise was that Rhode Island currently at 56% funded using a 7.5% discount rate in March 2016 would be fully funded by 2040. The politician agreed with the assessment of Treasurer Magaziner that since over 5 out of the last 6 fiscal years the State earned 9.3% that we would be fine and easily be fully funded in 2040. The newspaper editor immediately agreed despite the fact that neither the politician nor the editor has any actuarial skills or basis for their prediction that we will be “fine.”

So first let’s define what “fine” means. In politician parlance, we’ll be “fine” means the comment he made will not be remembered and he can go on pretending he knows something about pension finance for the rest of his political career. In Rhode Island he can sit in the Statehouse next to dozens of others with similar skills. We’ll be “fine,” to the editor means that his newspaper will certainly be dead and buried by 2040 and he may need a government job soon. So why not double down on his lack of knowledge, and on his ridiculous endorsement of a kindergarten teacher for the Treasurer of a critical status State like Rhode Island. Wisely the political Science Professor, passed on having any idea how to answer the question and calculate the odds.

Mr. Riley will outline in an upcoming column where the state pension fund actually stands. Meanwhile, one cannot help but wonder whether our elected officials, including specifically the General Treasurer and the Governor, are also using one of these darker, alternate definitions when they tell the public, usually in a reassuring tone, that the state pension fund is “fine”.

State Officials Needlessly Shovel $200M+ Out the Door

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The money wasn’t altogether lost. And it appears to involve only federal, not state, funds. (Not that that should be viewed as a mitigating factor, your honor!) But this sort of thing does little to boost taxpayers’ confidence that our elected officials has adequate safeguards and monitoring in place to prevent the waste, fraud and […]

Vitally Important that the R.I. Supreme Court Weigh in Now on Truck-Only Tolls

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Rep Patricia Morgan is absolutely correct. Governor Raimondo needs to ask the R.I. Supreme Court now, not after she has committed taxpayers to hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowing, whether tolls on trucks only is constitutional. If the governor refuses to do so, it is confirmation that she fully intends for tolls to go on cars under the political cover of a court ruling — but one that would come years down the road, after taxpayers are on the hook to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Wall Street and to her pet political friends.

Republican state Rep. Patricia Morgan has introduced a resolution urging Governor Raimondo to seek a Rhode Island Supreme Court opinion on the constitutionality of her Assembly-passed plan to toll tractor-trailer trucks before the tolling gantries go up at multiple locations on six Rhode Island highways.

Trove of New 38 Studios Money Docs Underscores Importance of Real Investigation

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Monday’s must-read, the Providence Journal’s Political Scene, today by Kathy Gregg and Patrick Anderson, once again doesn’t disappoint.

They report that, on Thursday, the House Oversight Committee will be looking at some very interesting documents and figures that came out of a non-audit audit ordered by then-Governor Chafee. It appears that the former governor wanted the headline that an audit would take place but not an actual audit, presumably because the public might actually learn things about 38 Studios from an audit and heaven knows we can’t have that.

In 2014, the EDC refused to release (not at ALL suspicious on their part) any documents about the non-audit audit to House Oversight. But happily, Deloitte has forked them over.

Deloitte Financial Advisory Services provided the lawmakers on the Rhode Island House Oversight Committee with hundreds of pages of correspondence about the 2012 “audit” that never was, and more than 1,670 pages of 38 Studios ledger entries reflecting where the money went, right down to the last $3,066 check before the company collapsed. The recipient: Scoop Marketing.

Money in. Money out: $232,000 to “consultant” Mike Corso on March 30, 2012. A March 29, 2012, payment to the Maynard Police Department ($300). Back-to-back MasterCard payments totaling more than $90,000 in April; $16,205.96 for “chk 2850 voided on 5/23/2012” for financing fees, that hinged on unspecified R.I. Film and Television Office action, now part of the well-chronicled history.

The document release — which will be the focus of a House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday — is stunning on multiple levels.

Once again, we are reminded that Michael Corso, close political ally/crony of former Speaker Gordon Fox, received millions of dollars from 38 Studios – millions that are now coming out of taxpayers’ wallets as we (inexplicably) repay the 38 Studios bonds. We have been assured for years that a State Police investigation of 38 Studios is underway. However, it is important to note that, ultimately, Attorney General Peter Kilmartin has a huge say in the direction and result of any investigation. Unless the investigation includes a real audit (not a Chafee audit) of where every dollar that Michael Corso received from 38 Studios went, how much went to any elected officials, under what circumstance, AND THE RESULTS MADE PUBLIC, this investigation will be an enormous sham and cover up by the Attorney General.

House Votes to Ban Use of EBT Cards at Strip Clubs, Casinos, Liquor Stores

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Kudos to the R.I. House of Representatives for doing so. Obviously, if these tax dollars are being spent at such venues, they are not being spent for survival, as is and should be the intent. Any senator who votes against this bill must be asked why they support the complete squandering of tax dollars on highly questionable spending.

Once relegated to the pile of NGN (not going nowhere) Republican-sponsored bills at the State House, a proposed ban on the use of EBT cards at liquor stores, casinos and strip clubs won House approval Thursday on a 66-to-1 vote.

Targeted Tax Breaks Work for Elected Officials But Not Necessarily for Economy or Us

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In GoLocalProv yesterday, Pam Gencarella outlined all of the flaws with TSA’s and other targeted tax incentives, starting with the fact that they seem to buy friends for elected officials at our expense.

Isn’t that what RI government is doing every time it provides a tax credit or a tax stabilization agreement, or designates an area as an enterprise zone? Sure, we might keep a business here or we might attract a new business there (although the languishing I-195 land indicates otherwise) but does that help improve RI’s economy?

“Fair” Workweek Would Be Anything But to Rhode Island’s Already Beleaguered Businesses

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Dale J. Venturini is president and CEO of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association but she spoke for all state businesses when she made the overwhelming case in Tuesday’s ProJo against this hideous proposal.

For the first time in Rhode Island’s history, legislation is being proposed in the House of Representatives that would place impossible scheduling requirements on businesses. It would not only change the way business is done in the state but would cripple it.

The bills are offered under the guise of a “Fair Workweek for Rhode Island,” but they are anything but fair to local businesses, large and small.

And don’t miss Arlene Violet’s smart, insightful take on this in today’s Valley Breeze.

Drivers Licenses for Illegal Aliens Are Exactly the Wrong Thing For Rhode Island

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Tuesday at the State House:

Debate over making it legal for undocumented immigrants to drive automobiles in Rhode Island echoed through the State House Tuesday as hundreds turned out to have their voices heard on a series of bills on opposing sides of the issue.

Illegal immigration erodes taxpayer-funded budgets, wages, jobs for legal immigrants and citizens, public safety and sovereignty. The only way to address it is to stop offering incentives for people to come here – here to the United States and, in this case, here to Rhode Island. For the State of Rhode Island to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens would be a step in exactly the wrong direction as it would encourage rather than discourage illegal immigration into the state. Most deplorably, state elected officials who are advocating for these licenses are doing so for crassly selfish, politically-self-promotional reasons and definitely not with the best interest of Rhode Island – or, laughably, public safety – at heart.

Why Does the BOE Refuse to Fire Their Flagrantly Insubordinate Director?

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For years, BOE Executive Director pretty much did what he wanted in his official capacity, with little respect, seemingly, for the authority or wishes of the board itself. Yet they have repeatedly refused to pop him – once again, as recently as last night, despite the fact that he had yet again disobeyed a direct order of the board. (In fact, two board members are apparently so indulgent of Kando that they stormed out of last night’s meeting because another board member wanted to reveal yet another undisclosed instance of his insubordination!) Why?

With tempers flaring and voices raised, two Board of Elections board members stormed out of a monthly board meeting Wednesday night while another criticized Executive Director Robert Kando’s job performance.

Within hours, Kando was suspended for 30 business days beginning Monday. The reason: He failed to sign up in January for management classes he was directed to take in connection with his last suspension.

Further, this inexorably raises the question: is the board looking away from other instances of poor or questionable operations within its purview – possibly even including ballots and the conduct of elections?

Stronger Leverage for Failure to Pay Tolls Would Only Applies to Newport Bridge … Yeah, That’s the Ticket

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Huh, this must be a huge coincidence, following as it does closely on the heels of the passage of the governor’s horrendous toll plan: bills have popped up that would give the RI Turnpike and Bridge Authority greater leverage to punish people and collect from those who fail to pay tolls when crossing the Newport Pell Bridge.

A series of bills filed in the General Assembly on behalf of the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority would allow the agency to report toll violators to the Division of Motor Vehicles, which would place a hold on license and registration renewals.

Technically, the new statewide tolls – collections and presumably punishments – will be administered by RIDOT. [Correction.] In fact, statewide tolls will be administered by the R.I. Turnpike and Bridge Authority. But So is there any doubt that, if these bills pass, this punishment and leverage would quickly be extended to toll violators around the state, not just those crossing the Newport Bridge?

It Begins: National Trucking Association Moves Upcoming Meeting out of RI Due to Tolls

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So this is not good. Toll gantries are three years away (by the way, what was the peddle-to-the-metal urgency to get tolls passed seeing it’s going to take so long to implement them?) and they’re already chasing business away.

A trucking group has changed its plan to hold a national meeting in Newport in the summer of 2018, in protest of the recently approved RhodeWorks program.

RhodeWorks imposes tolls on some trucks to pay for repairs to the state’s aging bridges. “It’s not that we don’t want to be in Newport, it’s that we can’t support a state where the administration seems to be anti-truck,” said Brian Parke, Northeast chairman of the Trucking Association Executives Council.

Worse, the governor responds with an I-got-mine shrug.

In a statement, Governor Raimondo spokeswoman Marie Aberger wrote, “We’re pleased Rhode Island will now have the money we need to rebuild our roads, as well as putting people to work.

Tolls For Thee But Tax Amnesty for Me?

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Nice work by WPRI’s Dan McGowan ascertaining that Rep. Thomas Palangio (D, Providence) might well have benefited from a bill he was co-sponsoring.

A Rhode Island state representative has pulled his name from legislation that would put a 10-year statute of limitations on the collection of state taxes after acknowledging that he may owe the state more than $120,000 in back taxes.

The hypocrisy here is palpable. Rep. Palangio voted to legalize a whole new, highly destructive revenue stream (tolls) … but appears to have been caught trying to relieve himself of his obligation to pay an existing one.

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