For your “Yes, next question” file, consider the Newport Daily News headline, “Do school bus companies have a monopoly in R.I.?”
At each step, the imposition of new rules and technology seems minor and maybe justified, but eventually, the people find themselves tangled in a network of regulation and taxation.
In a small, probably inconsequential, way the order of candidates on Tiverton’s ballot for Town Council provides a test case for trusting the system.
A new Not Real News segment explores what RI politicians are really thinking, the Conservative Binder catches up on some right-leaning news from the state, and Justin discusses the Providence College lockdown and ominous economic news for the state.
Rhode Islanders have reason to have a growing sense that the benefit of the legal doubt will always be applied unequally as insiders continue to find “loopholes” in the rules that they have helped to create.
Why isn’t Rhode Island government interested in visually exciting architecture? Because our system makes paying off insiders too high a priority, says Mark Zaccaria.
Let’s play along and assume that the goal of the Municipal Resilience Task Force really is to develop innovative “strategies and policies to prepare for a post-COVID-19 future.”
Why are our expectations for the professionals who operate something as important as our education system so low?
RI Republican Senator Gordon Rogers notes a COVID-driven move by the governor that illustrates the case for school choice all the time.
With an unusually large COVID-19 budget hit in Tiverton, the big spenders are looking for people to blame for not stopping their spending.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for August 10, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, August 24, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
For a moment, Tiverton had a glimpse of a different way — one in which people with very different ideas and incentives are honest and open and work toward a compromise, replacing kick-backs and showboating with mutual understanding.
Not every teacher, first-responder, clerk, or other public servant considers themselves to be Democrats or part of the “progressive-left” movement in Rhode Island. Yet every employee who is member of a government union in our state is paying dues that directly support this extreme political agenda… along with the corrupt quid quo pro that comes with union political spending. A new report, from our Center, exposes that Rhode Island’s hyper-partisanship and radical agenda is funded by government union political spending: Click Here Now To Read It.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for July 28, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, August 3, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
A faction of Tiverton government led by Council President Patricia Hilton is trying for a fourth time to give the council sole control of revenue from the Twin Rivers casino in town.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for July 20, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, July 27, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
I have been close to these budgets. Very close.
A “lack of funding” cannot be the culprit for every decision from local officials that change services or reconsider programming. When a 1% or 2% fiscal nudge in anything is blamed, I seriously question the competence and/or the integrity of those using the argument.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for June 22, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, June 29, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
Part of the explanation for why new legislation retroactively blesses anything local chief executives have done to change their budget processes can be found in the East Bay.
There was something odd about a news report that Tiverton’s Interim Town Administrator Christopher Cotta and Town Council President Patricia Hilton were “livid” and “doubly frustrated” upon learning that Governor Gina Raimondo had permitted the reopening of the Twin River casino in town without consulting them.
On the latest episode of Tiverton on Track, I Zoomed with Tiverton Town Council Members Donna Cook and Nancy Driggs.
As may or may not be happening in other Rhode Island towns, the governor’s emergency declaration (not to mention the example that she’s setting) has dramatically reduced the number of town officials who actually matter. With three Town Council members — Joseph Perry, John Edwards (the Fifth), and Stephen Clarke — as well as the leadership of the Budget Committee completely abdicating their authority and shirking their responsibility, the town is being entirely run by the triumvirate of Town Council President Patricia Hilton, Interim Town Administrator Christopher Cotta, and Town Solicitor Michael Marcello, with a supporting role for Vice President Denise DeMedeiros. No other elected officials in town matter. Even the town’s Home Rule Charter bends to what the Triumvirate decrees.
Meanwhile, on the school side, the suspended teachers’ union president and the National Education Association of Rhode Island are taking advantage of the fact that the school department is forbidden by law from disclosing details of the incident. NEARI is also pledging to stick it’s well-funded, mobster-like nose in the town’s elections to ensure that the town has management that the union prefers starting in November.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for May 18, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, May 25, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
When a special interest has this much money and power and a taxpayer-funded infrastructure to maintain the muscle for a nonstop political campaign, how can the people of any town really have their own voices represented?
I applaud the decision makers, at all levels of government, that quickly responded to the medical crisis. But health issues only represent one component of the challenges in front of us. We all hunkered down for weeks to ‘flatten the curve.’ Our common goal was to ensure that, as a community, we had enough hospital beds for those most vulnerable. Well, we’ve flattened the curve. (And we know now that the survival rate of COVID-19 in the United States is almost 95%.) Why then are governments having a hard time moving to the next stage during this time of testing? I can only believe that most people were more familiar with the fears and responses to the medical side of the crisis.
Let’s explore the impact on small businesses. Almost half of all employees in the United States work for a small business. In fact, 96% of Rhode Island businesses are small businesses. They are the engine of our economy. Business owners can feel in their bones, the impact of this shutdown on Rhode Island. We owe it to the rest of the citizens of Rhode Island to communicate this feeling.
The budget for next year is one of the worst produced in the last twenty years. This budget is characterized by the Council’s complete lack of interest in reducing costs to prepare for the economic downturn and its continuing emphasis on the growth of Town government. In fact, the only changes over a routine year are using the Fund Balance to provide revenue for routine spending and to cover any shortfalls in State funding. Currently the budget is at the Provisional stage and there are further votes, but significant changes after this point are rare.
The budget that begins next July 1 has a residential property tax increase of 4.43% at a time when the unemployment rates for Portsmouth taxpayers are probably at least 16%.
When an unexpected crisis hits, it’s very important to watch the things that the people in charge prioritize, because it shows voters and taxpayers what they value.
Two council members who have tried to act as a check on the council president’s unbridled power are Donna Cook and Nancy Driggs, and they discuss some of their concerns on the latest episode of Tiverton on Track.
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for April 13, included talk about:
I’ll be on again Monday, April 20, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.