March 2012 – Page 6

March 5, 2012

18,000 signatures later there are 119 candidates

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

One-hundred-and-nineteen Rhode Islanders qualified to run for presidential delegate in the state’s April 24 presidential primary.

In order to qualify to appear on the ballot, the candidates had to collect the signatures of at least 150 eligible voters. More than 18,000 signatures were validated by last Friday’s deadline, according to Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis.

Statewide, 36 Rhode Islanders will vie to represent Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Voters will elect 22 delegates on April 24.

Mitt Romney led all Republican candidates with 27 delegates hoping to go to the Republican National Convention. Twenty-three Rhode Islanders are Paul delegates, followed by 22 for Santorum and 11 for Gingrich. No one filed to run as a Roemer delegate. Voters will elect 16 delegates and 16 alternates.

Rhode Islanders must register to vote by March 24 in order to cast a ballot in the presidential primary. April 3 is the deadline to apply for a mail ballot.

April 24’s presidential primary will be the first test of the state’s new Voter ID law. Beginning this year, poll workers will ask voters to show a current and valid ID at the polls. A wide range of IDs will be accepted including a R.I. driver’s license, college ID, U.S. passport and social security card.

Although photo IDs will not be required until 2014, the Secretary of State’s office is visiting every city and town to provide free Voter IDs to registered voters who don’t already have a valid photo ID. This week’s stops include the Leon Mathieu Senior Center, Pawtucket, March 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the North Kingstown Senior Center March 8 from 10 a.m. to noon and the Cranston Senior Center March 9 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

March 5, 2012March 5, 2012

Promise Breakers: Taveras, Raimondo and Flanders

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

taveras_sotc_close — Providence Mayor Angel Taveras from the State of the City speech.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras now joins General Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Central Falls receiver Bob Flanders in a very exclusive group of Rhode Islanders. You’ve heard of the Promise Keepers, right? Well, these three are the promise breakers.

All three have asked retirees, in no uncertain terms, to give up a portion of the post-employment benefits that they previously negotiated for and agreed upon. They asked for a contractual mulligan, if you will.

Not that Taveras, Raimondo and Flanders don’t each have difficult situations to deal with – they do. But while fiscal health is important, so is being known as a community that keeps its word. And at this rate, Rhode Island is in grave danger of being known as the state where contracts are made to be broken.

This won’t serve the state well in any future negotiation, even if it’s with a big company looking for a tax incentive to relocate here. If we did it to the people who served and protected us, they might reason, why would they not also do it to us?

But on a more elemental level, faith in government is really all that holds us together as a civic community. Once we can’t trust our government to keep its word, all bets (and social contracts) are off. I’m not saying we’re there, or even close, but we should certainly do whatever we can do to avoid that path altogether.

Give Taveras credit here. Of the three promise breakers, he has leaned the least on the contractual mulligan strategy. Before going to the retirees, he raised taxes significantly and fought hard to raise revenue through other means, most notably by begging the colleges and hospitals to ante up as well.

And he has been pretty honest about his ask. When I asked him prior to Saturday how he felt about asking for such concessions, he was pretty blunt about it: “A lot of people have gone forward based on promises that have been made and most of them have kept their side of the bargain. Obviously the city is at this point saying we need to change our side of the bargain and that is always a difficult thing.”

At his plea to retirees on Saturday, he repeated several times, I’m told, that his ask was by no means fair. He repeated it to Ted Nesi later in the day.

Raimondo, on the other hand, sold her pension-cutting plan under the banner of being fair, that is when she wasn’t fist-pumping to the pro-business crowd. And Flanders … well, I’d be surprised if the concept of fair ever even occurred to him. He simply threatened to behead retirees if they didn’t agree to his pension-slashing terms. Seriously, he told them “a hair cut is better than a beheading.”

In the short term, Taveras’ more humanistic approach may save fewer dollars. But it’s little wonder he’s the most popular pol in the state. And in the long run, that kind of political capital can get you a lot more concessions than deception or decapitation.

March 5, 2012March 9, 2012

Commodification of Suffering: An Ethics of Charity

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

While shopping at Whole Foods last week (yeah, I do that often #smirking) I came across a new Whole Foods brand coffee. It was arranged in a pyramid styled display, and the store rep., having just completed the task of assembling it, stood nearby staring on with a look so proud it bordered on the supercilious.

I stepped closer to observe that the coffee was being shipped in from all around the world: Latin America, East Africa, India blends. Of course this is nothing new, we always bring in goods from places we’ve either colonized or helped facilitated the colonization of (think Vietnam). But what struck me most was what I read on the side of the container: “A hand up to over a million people. 30¢ from every can goes to alleviating poverty worldwide where Whole Foods Market sources products.”

Hmmm… “A hand up,” “alleviating poverty worldwide.” Really?

There are two immediate ways in which I might problematize the crisis in Western altruistic thought — and the capitalist work of Whole Foods in this endeavor:

First, it positions us, as Westerners who live in and with a “First World” perception, to imagine that essential poverty can be alleviated by 30¢. And what a bargain that is! In fact, it’s a 2 for 1 special, because not only can one purchase a can of fresh, organic, fairly traded coffee, but one can also purchase one’s redemption from having to think or be concerned about the constructed impoverished conditions of the people who laboriously tend this coffee on land they don’t own, or even control. One need not expend cognitive energy contemplating the worker’s labor conditions, which are likely politically influenced by social and economic mandates from one’s own First World government; just 30¢ and it all goes away.

Pardon me a moment while I run to my bookshelf, grab my bible and reread the parable of the Good Samaritan:
[Luke 10: 30-37]

²⁹But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
³⁰And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
³¹And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
³²And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
³³But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
³⁴And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
³⁵And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
³⁶Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
³⁷And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. [KJV]

The marketing formation of this coffee creates a way for western consumers to escape critiques of capitalism. Rather than fundamentally question this economic monolith, we choose, instead, to tolerate it; and Whole Foods makes it a benign affair. In many ways that which we call “neocolonialism” is merely the refitting of the old colonialism to a contemporary world and political cultural order. The labor of those othered is still exploited, but said exploitation is somehow in the very same moment alleviated — and that apparently with 30¢.

Real photographs of the women on the side of the can have simply become twenty-first century iconographs of acceptable indigence. Think “Aunt Jamima,” still clothed in her class-status-cueing raiment, still brandishing a smile of contentment, only now she is receiving a so-called fair wage.

Next, when we consider the example of Africa we know that it was a continental European colonial outpost. And we know that the economic corruption and deleterious identity politics were introduced by morally challenged European powers and are sustained by African hegemons. American media and educational structuring silence this past and present in such a way that it is held external to the lived experiences of both Third World laborers and First World consumers. Capitalist frameworks of knowledge exploitation, and our participation in its perpetuation, are obscured by an altruistic desire to purchase our 30¢ redemption from having to care any further about the way in which neocolonialism cashes in on, as Jesus would assert, our neighbor.

Though we think ourselves “Good Samaritans”, in fact we have become political actors, “Levites” and “priests,” at the register in Whole Foods. No coming closer out of compassionate concern, no oil and wine of healing or bandaging of wounds, no picking up from the road side and transporting to the inn, no financing of medical care to nurse back to health; nothing of a sorts. Just 30¢ to alleviate the poverty. Oh, the suffering worker will remain in poverty, no doubt! But it will be somewhat alleviated as the oppressive economic relationship of our’s and our neighbor’s world is authorized by this insidious transaction of misdirection. The irony of the issue at hand is not that we didn’t provide a charitable service, but that we got to walk away imagining that we did. And this is, as Slavoj Zizek would say, “the commodification of suffering,” where the aim is not to end the economic relationship hinged on disparate power, rather it is to maintain it by benevolently prolonging it as though one were giving alms.

“The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible.” -Zizek

March 5, 2012March 8, 2012

Budgeting for Disaster – Part III

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

We continue our tour of state budget documents. The Executive Summary has a lot of useful information, but the parts that I find myself referring to most often are not the text descriptions of the Governor’s program for the various departments, but the numbers in the back: the summary tables, the planning values the Budget Office used to predict the future, the wonderfully informative appendix C, which shows how much state aid each Rhode Island city or town gets, and appendix D, which does the same for education aid.

In a state with one bankrupt city and several more threatening to dive into bankruptcy, these are the focus of a lot of my attention. What deserves at least as much attention are the same sections from previous years. Let’s start with Appendix C.

The first thing you’ll notice if you flip, click, scroll, or slide to Appendix C is that local aid comes in lots of different forms. There is “appropriated aid”, which comes out of the general state taxes (called “general revenue” in the budget), and “shared” (or “pass-through”) aid, which is money the state collects on behalf of a city or town. For example, “payment in lieu of taxes” (PILOT) money is paid to a town instead of taxes on state property, and is appropriated in the budget, while the meals and beverage tax is a portion of the sales tax, collected on behalf of a city or town and passed on to them.

The meals and beverage tax collected in Providence restaurants goes to Providence and the tax collected in Newport restaurants goes to Newport, and so on. The numbers in the appropriated aid represent actual decisions made by legislators and the governor. The shared aid numbers are just estimates of how much those taxes will bring in.

There are a couple of things worth noticing about these numbers. One is that the state is planning to give the cities and towns $61 million in appropriated aid in 2013, which is exactly the same amount budgeted for 2012. Level funding sounds like a cold shower, but compared to recent history, it’s a warm bath. In 2008, appropriated state aid amounted to about $250 million. Or well, it would have, except the legislature cut $10 million halfway through that fiscal year. Providence got a $2.4 million cut, Pawtucket lost $850,000, and Woonsocket lost $600,000. Central Falls was hit for $250,000.

These are cuts in the neighborhood of 1%, which doesn’t seem that big a deal, although they came halfway through the fiscal year, so the cities and towns had to cut around 2% of their expenses to make up for the lost time. For cities under financial stress, this hurt.

For 2009, the Governor proposed a slight increase in aid, back up to $244 million. But once again, this was cut halfway through the fiscal year, to $215 million. Providence was cut $5.7 million, Pawtucket $2 million, Woonsocket $1.4 million, and Central Falls $600,000. Again, the cuts came along well into the fiscal year, making them at least twice as hard to deal with. For Central Falls, this worked out to cutting more than 7% of the annual municipal budget in a few months.

The pretense of maintaining the level of aid was burst by this point, so the Governor proposed cutting municipal aid by 14% for fiscal year 2010, to $184 million. Are you keeping track? To recap: In September 2007, Central Falls was on track to get $3.6 million from the state, or a bit less than a fifth of their budget. By May of 2009, the Governor was suggesting they get by with half that amount, a 10% cut in their budget.

But even that cut wasn’t enough, and with only months to go in the 2010 fiscal year, the state slashed total aid yet again, from $184 million to $118 million. Providence saw a $12 million cut, Pawtucket $5.1 million, Woonsocket $2.8 million, and Central Falls $750,000. This time, quite a bit of the cut came in the last quarter of the year, leaving virtually no time to make up the cuts. And for the 2011 budget Carcieri proposed to cut total municipal aid all the way down to $49 million. That year, insurgents in the Assembly pressured the leadership to put a little aid back in the budget, but it still only got up to $60 million, down 76% from just three years before.

I’m sure it was a coincidence that Central Falls went into receivership in May of 2010. At least the way everyone talks about Central Falls, their bankruptcy was all the fault of their unions and retirees, and the state played no part besides offering them a receiver to work out their issues. Their annual budget was $18.9 million in 2008, of which $3.6 million was state aid. In 2010, they were promised only $1.8 million, but got only $1.1 million. And in 2011 they didn’t even get half of that.

In 2008, Providence expected to get $65 million from the state, to help with its $302 million municipal (non-education) budget. In 2009, it went down to $57 million, and in 2010, the city still expected to see $49 million, but got $29 million instead. Over two short years, the state cut 10% of the Providence budget, and each time it happened well after the fiscal year was underway. But it’s fashionable to blame David Cicilline for Providence’s fiscal crisis, so apparently there’s no point in asking Governor Carcieri or any of the Assembly leadership what made them think the municipal budgets could withstand this kind of abuse without cracking.

Here’s the part that makes it all a bit worse. A lot of the aid cut technically did not go to the city or town itself, but to you. In the fall of 2009, towns expected $133 million of state aid to reduce the property tax on your car in fiscal 2010. The state was paying a portion of your taxes for you. The towns only got half of that, and almost all the rest was cut for fiscal 2011. Essentialy, the state was telling the cities and towns to make up the difference from property taxes on cars—now! Some did send out new car tax bills, but many just sucked it up and made cuts.

You see a lot of people wringing their hands about Rhode Island’s municipal fiscal crisis—How will we pay for all those retirees? What were those Mayors thinking? Can you believe those unions?—but how often do you see the story of the state budget included in the saga?

When I describe this sequence of events to people, they will point out that state revenues plunged in 2009, so the state had no choice. But this is an absurd position to take. After all, during each year of these huge municipal aid cuts, Rhode Island was increasing the amount of a generous tax cut granted to the richest taxpayers in the state. That is, taxes were cut further each year at the same time aid was slashed to all the cities and towns. Governor Carcieri and Assembly leaders felt that lower taxes on rich people were important enough to slash aid to cities and towns—a position they still hold.

Next: Education (really)

March 5, 2012March 5, 2012

Cryptic Crossword #1

Welcome to the aggravating world of cryptic crossword puzzles. If you’ve never done one before, they’re like crossword puzzles, but devilishly difficult. (If you didn’t hate me already, you will after you try to solve this!)

Logistics

These puzzles are too difficult to try to solve online. You’re much better off printing the puzzle and working it on paper. That way when you’re thoroughly frustrated, you can toss the paper in the recycling or burn it after drawing me in effigy with green and blue pencils. Click this link to get the full, printable version.

I usually have scrap paper handy to work out the answers. Burn that, too.

About Cryptic Crosswords

Cryptic crosswords originated in Britain, and came to the US largely through The Nation magazines’ Frank W. Lewis, who died in 2010. A code-breaker during WWII and founding member of the NSA, Lewis developed a unique style on which I, poorly, model my own.

Unlike traditional crosswords, cryptic crosswords seek to obscure the answer with a complex clue. Half of the clue defines the answer while the other half expresses the answer cryptically. For example, the clue “Chimneys hold a thousand oddities (6)” would yield the answer “flukes”:

(6) indicates the number of letters in the answer
Chimneys means “flues”
a thousand is abbreviated “k”
Flues “hold” k, making “flukes” or oddities.

This type of clue is called a charade. There are several other variations, and I’m particularly partial to anagrams.

At The Nation, Lewis has been succeeded by Cosima K. Coinpott, aka Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto. They’ve put together this fine page on how to solve cryptic crosswords. You might want to print that out, too, so you have yet more stuff to burn.

About the RI Future Puzzles

Unlike most cryptic puzzle makers, I theme all my puzzles; it’s my thing. The theme of this first puzzle should be entirely obvious. (Start with 28 across.) Subsequent puzzles may or may not have a Rhode Island theme or a political theme. As I look through my file, I see ones about thunderstorms, household appliances and China. Whatever strikes my fancy…

I’ll attempt to post puzzles on at least a fortnightly basis, including the solution to the previous puzzle with the new one.

Best of luck to all. Please call ahead if you’re planning on stabbing me.

March 4, 2012March 5, 2012

Bits & Pieces: Barry Hinckley to Bruce Springsteen

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

I’ve got a lot of subjects bubbling around, but nothing in-depth to bring you, so I decided that I’d do one of these links & commentary bits about the week.

Mr. Hinckley (photo: Hinckley For Senate)

Barry Hinckley’s Ad & Fox Interview: Mr. Hinckley, who’s running for U.S. Senate to unseat Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has managed to rake in nearly 300,000 views for an economics issue advertisement starring his son Hudson (and brings some free publicity for Save the Bay, courtesy of a sticker that’s briefly on Hudson’s shirt). Unfortunately for his campaign, he followed it up with a disastrous interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox News in which the younger Hinckley says that he doesn’t care about the economy (and behaves just like a 5-year-old should). The elder Hinckley appears to whisper the answers to his son after that. That video is also quickly racking up hits, and reviews have not been good (“creepy” is the word being thrown around. How bad is it? It started popping up on my Facebook feed from non-RI people. The interview may be destined for more exposure throughout this campaign cycle.

WPRI Poll Lacks General Assembly Approval Rating: We often hear how bad the U.S. Congress’ approval rating is (at one point being around 9%). Shouldn’t the same thing be checked on in Rhode Island? The Feb 20-23 2012 WPRI Poll measured the approval ratings of President Barack Obama, Governor Lincoln Chafee, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, and Treasurer Gina Raimondo. I realized that escaping from measurement were the legislators of this state, who arguably exercise more power (collectively) than any other state officials. Since the poll gave the chattering class plenty to talk about, would the conversation have been steered towards state government if it’d been included? Especially as many legislators will be facing reelection this year. Short of that, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed takes a grilling on WPRI’s Newsmakers.

Brown’s President-Elect Keeps Mum on Assisting Providence: GoLocalProv has video of Christina Paxson essentially saying nothing new about handing over a greater share of payment-in-lieu-of-taxes for Providence. This makes sense. Ms. Paxson probably doesn’t want to undercut outgoing President Ruth Simmons, who has held firm on the “Brown’s paying enough” line (however unconvincing the rest of the city finds it). Beyond that, Ms. Paxson probably can’t make much of a difference since she doesn’t become President until July 1st, the start of the next fiscal year, after Providence will have to have closed its budget gap.

Virginia’s Senate Race Gets Ugly: While I’m on campaign ads, NPR has a story about a potential challenger for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Jim Webb. An inspiring first campaign ad has already drawn an attack ad from a SuperPAC. Watch the videos before you read the story. Negative campaigning at its worse.

Anthony Gemma Will (Most Likely) Run Again: An unsurprising event in the Congressional District 1 race, RI Public Radio’s Ian Donnis has it through sources that Anthony Gemma will take another shot at being the Democratic nominee. Since Mr. Gemma has sold off his share in his Mediapeel advertising company, been attacking David Cicilline every time a poll comes out, and been running Facebook ads for at least a year, don’t expect anyone’s jaw to drop at the news, especially as Mr. Cicilline’s poll numbers make him look increasingly vulnerable.

Mayor Angel Taveras Brings His Case to Retirees: Making the case (essentially) of “would you rather lose your foot or your whole leg?”, Mayor Taveras went before the city’s retirees to attempt to address pensions and COLAs that are contributing the the city’s budget shortfall. No one thinks Taveras is to blame for this problem, but retirees are understandably hostile. Providence’s freshman mayor has been between a rock and a hard place his whole term; but his popularity hasn’t waned and he continues to advocate for a long-term solution. Worst case scenario: bankruptcy with a hostile receiver. Best case: the crisis is solved. Since few want to see bankruptcy happen, what I think may be likely is that the city manages to clear the July 1st deadline, but its fiscal woes may continue.

Bruce Springsteen’s New Album to Drop March 6th: With 10.8% unemployment, unpopular politicians, and a generally gloomy outlook on the state’s future, I wonder how the Boss’ new Wrecking Ball will go over here. Personally, I listened to “We Take Care of Our Own” about a thousand times when it appeared on YouTube. The line “where’s the work that’ll set my hands, my soul free” still gets me. But since the Boss’ appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the Celtic rock “Death to My Hometown” has been playing in my head, with its Gilded Age imagery. The album is also the last on which Springsteen’s longtime saxophonist Clarence Clemmons played before his death.

March 4, 2012March 4, 2012

RI DMV: ‘Puters…yer doin’ it wrong!

In general, I’m not much for complaining about government services. Yes, pretty much everything could be a lot more efficient, but the more you know about how things work, the more you realize that budgets often determine what gets cut and what survives.

But even I have my limits.

To be sure, I’ll let you know when I get to the part that’s got me cheesed. All the other stuff that precedes it is de rigueur, par for the course. To wit…

Prelude: Johnny Is a Bad Boy

Last Tuesday, I spent a full day on a relatively simple task – renewing my extra-expired registration. If I were a good boy, it all could have been much easier. But I’m very naughty, indeed, as you shall see.

I let the notice that I needed to renew sit on my desk for many weeks. I’d look at it every time I went through the bills, but I never felt like it was the priority. (As I said, naughty.)

When I finally did jump online, I found out that I owed state taxes from 2008. I knew that I hadn’t paid, and, like the registration, it was “on the list”. What I didn’t know is that I hadn’t even filed! (Very naughty, indeed.) Someday, I’ll write a confessional about my 2008 taxes, but for now, suffice it to say that if you’re a 1099er, 1) don’t have a very good year followed by a very bad year and 2) pay your quarterlies!

Well, I got that sorted out with the state and went to register online and, guess what… I owed taxes! This time it was the excise to Pawtucket, where I hadn’t lived for some time. So, I got that paid off and went to register and, guess what… The 90 day grace period had expired. (Have I mentioned that I’m a bit naughty?)

There was nothing for it; I had to go to the actual DMV.

Reset – Naughty Johnny is To Blame

I think it’s perfectly reasonable for the state to use these mechanisms to enforce payment of taxes. I owed, and I knew that I owed. That I found out about these issues online rather than after an hours-long wait at the DMV is, frankly, a benefit to me.

So good on the state for having this in place, and good on the state and the municipalities for coordinating.

My Day at the DMV

Last Tuesday, I underwent the pilgrimage. It was the next-to-last day of the month, so the parking lot was full, the place was crowded and the waits were long. Really long. Three-and-a-half hours long.

That’s really a long wait for a DMV counter, but it is what it is. If I had paid my taxes, I wouldn’t have been in this mess. So I waited, getting a little work done on the laptop, so it wasn’t a total waste.

My number came up, and I thought I’d be done in a few minutes. WRONG!

‘Cuz, guess what… I owed taxes in Pawtucket! Only, I didn’t owe taxes in Pawtucket. I had paid those taxes some six weeks earlier. SIX WEEKS! Surely that’s enough time for the notice to find its way from Pawtucket to the DMV.

Or not. According to my research, forever and a day is not enough time for the coordinated systems to update. They NEVER update.

It’s a one-way street. The city of Pawtucket can put a hold on your registration, but they can’t take it off again. Instead – and it’s like this is some horrible trick they’re playing on you – you’d never know about this until you waited at the DMV.

The DMV clerk suggested that I call Pawtucket to fax the paperwork. She had all the phone numbers on a card. Apparently, this is so common that everybody knows the work-around.

I was hungry and opted to go home, grab a bite, confirm my payment and head up to The Bucket. I said to the tax collections clerk there, “DMV says I have a tax hold…” and she cut me off saying, “…buy you already paid.” She was already reaching for the forms.

“We’re not connected to their systems,” she said. But that’s factually incorrect. They’re only partly connected to the DMVs systems – connected in the way that serves them, but not in the way that serves the rest of us.

This is where I draw the line. If you’re going to play in this space, you have to complete the loop – your system has to be a complete thought.

The DMV should insist – INSIST – that any structure that can curtail one of their processes must – MUST – include the removal of that curtailment. (And, no, waiting until you get a DMV clerk to tell you to telephone the curtailer to fax the curtailment removal paperwork does not count.)

A Fully-Assed DMV System

Never serve rancid meat to the health inspector; never present a half-assed computer system to a computer jockey. For computer systems to deliver the efficiency benefits they promise, they must be fully-assed.

Since it’s clear that nobody involved has ever thought this through, here’s the way the DMV should be set up.

All the paper goes away, as does the waiting area. If there’s a line, it should be a line to get on a computer terminal, of which there are many. This approach requires far fewer clerks, so those people can be repurposed into coaching people who aren’t that great with computers fill out the forms ON THE COMPUTER.

Here’s why. When you fill out the paper form, the DMV clerk just re-enters all that information into a database. The database that ALREADY EXISTS is so thorough that the clerk knew the gross vehicle weight of my van…but she had to push the paper form back to me so I could write it in. (Do you have any idea how insane that is?)

The sad fact is that I have an account in the DMV database, but I can only access it from a remote computer and can only access it in a very limited way. Literally, I couldn’t even access my account from the DMV because there is no Wi-Fi service there!

The Saddest Part

I actually know the people who put together the DMV’s web services. The people at RI.gov are technically a company called RI Interactive, a specially-missioned group that can only do work for government entities. They prefer to be self-funded. That is, they don’t charge the government entity anything; they make money on those little fees we pay for using the web services.

They do spectacular work, and every service that they develop is fully-assed. But, because of their mission, they are prohibited from working on the “back end systems” like the DMV database and its interface.

I’m not saying that RI.gov should run the DMV IT program. (Okay, I _am_ saying that, but I understand why that can’t happen.) I’m saying that EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT IT GROUP should model its work on what RI.gov does.

It’s not rocket surgery. It’s basic usability. It’s basic work-flow development. It’s basic government services.

RI DMV: use your whole ass! Ask RI.gov; they’ll show you how.

March 4, 2012March 4, 2012

RI Tea Party: Anti-Monsanto and Anti-Sustainable Development

The latest in ‘why the RI Tea Party confuses me:’

This extensive list was included in a blast-email today from Marina Peterson of the East Bay Patriots. In the same breath where she urges consumers to organize against Monsanto to “put them out of business or at least try,” she announces the upcoming meeting on “Agenda 21.”

Some background on Agenda 21 from this article on Tennessee tea party groups:

Chattanooga has a direct connection with Agenda 21. Dave Crockett, director of the city’s Office of Sustainability, said Friday he attended the 1992 U.N. meeting in Rio De Janeiro as a local businessman. He said the idea of Agenda 21 was simply a way for governments to look at how they could do things better and think of how things could be “greener” in the process.

Examples include putting energy-efficient light bulbs in street lamps, trying to promote consuming food grown within 100 miles and also community issues such as crime or poverty, Crockett said.

Agenda 21’s goal is to get measurable goals to make human life better.

Go figure.

March 3, 2012March 3, 2012

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Check this out.

This is a really cool map of the US, showing where federal tax dollars are going. That is, to which parts of the country. It has a number of different categories, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Income Support, Unemployment, plus an overall picture.

Guess which parts of the country are hoovering up most of the federal tax dollars? Think it’s the welfare queens in NYC, Chicago, and LA?

Nope.

It’s the south. As in, the Red States, the ones most likely to support candidates who are screaming the loudest about the tax burden and the need to cut taxes.

The other irony is that the states receiving the most fed money tend to be on the lower end of state taxes. Take a state like South Carolina. SC already has a Republican Legislature, Governor, low taxes, a friendly business climate, the sorts of conditions conservatives are advocating for RI.

Guess what? They get more back from the fed government than they pay. What this means is that Blue States, like NY and California and NJ are subsidizing low taxes in the south.

I have addressed this theme before. I apologize for any redundancy, but this situation continues.

The fact is that the sorts of policies that conservatives advocate don’t work. Last I checked, SC’s unemployment rate was pretty much up there with RI’s rate. IIRC, they were one place behind us.

Look at the map, see the concentration of benefits in Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, as well as highly rural parts of Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan, and Texas.

The problem we face as a state is not something that can be solved on a state level. It’s too big. It’s a national problem. Forbes Mag recently had libertarian paradise New Hampshire as a state facing one of the biggest budget shortfalls in the nation.

We need investment in our country as a whole. The whole country needs to address this. Cutting taxes in RI won’t solve anything. It will just make us more like South Carolina.

March 2, 2012March 3, 2012

Progressive Infrastructure (or Lack Thereof)

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

When I was on David Segal’s campaign for Democratic nominee for Congressman in 2010, I went to to the WPRI primary debate. One of the things Mr. Segal suggested as a way to combat the recession was investing in infrastructure. Months later, after the election, the Providence Journal published an editorial saying essentially that actually, that was a good idea, that the economic return on investments in infrastructure is relatively high (I’m unfortunately unable to find the editorial). But roads and train tracks and sewer lines aren’t glamorous things, so we forget the sinews of our nation, leaving them to fall into neglect and disrepair.

Likewise, progressive infrastructure is lacking in the state. Drinking Liberally, while a great place to meet and talk to great folks, is not progressive infrastructure. At best, it is the foundations of progressive infrastructure, a ground where ideas meet and mix, where initiatives are discussed. That’s fine. Those places need to exist. But they shouldn’t be the only places.

Perhaps it is the inevitable result of decades of near single-party rule in Rhode Island. Democrats, fat after years of legislative dominance, don’t fear other parties or insurgent challengers. Leadership exerts its control, with opportunists sneaking in and building their own power bases in the party apparatus. While not a perfectly dominant system, it largely functions. The factionalism of the past has diminished. If the only organization is the Party, then insurgents aren’t a threat. They lack organization, one that can rival the strength of the Democratic Party.

What seems to me to happen instead is that people largely fall in line behind particular people. We hitch our wagons to rising stars (although some people remain on the wagon long after the star has faded). As these power players jockey for position, our differences surface not only because of particular ideological positions, but also because of clashes of personality between our chosen candidates. It is a mercenary engagement at best, as otherwise dedicated people put aside their ideals for expedience and influence.

Rhode Island Democrats have been unabashed in their disdain for voters. For 72 years the Party has held legislative power in the state. This disdain for voters leads to ridiculous situations, such as the redistricting debacle aimed at protecting loyal incumbents and punishing opposition members in the General Assembly and in the cities and towns. Or the disenfranchisement of left-leaning voters in the name of preventing “fraud”. Or the knee-jerk “rally round the flag” response to abysmal poll numbers for U.S. Congressman David Cicilline, whose pride may very well be jeopardizing the Party’s control of Rhode Island’s Congressional District 1. Or the ability of the Party to run a candidate for Governor who not only ran like a Republican, but talked like one too. They paid for that misstep in the last election. They aim to make another in this one.

Where have progressive leaders been throughout this? Silent. Unable to vocalize their positions, even when such positions are the will of the people of the state, unless leadership also agrees. Then, a bone. They benefit from the same systems; the lack of uncompetitiveness in their districts or wards, the rise of personality-based politics, etc. They require the Party, so they go along to get along.

When Mr. Segal’s campaign ended, it stopped. The students like myself returned to our schools, those who were graduated returned to the labor force. They scattered. And there an opportunity was missed. We never formalized the ties that bound us. We believed in a progressive vision of Rhode Island. Over 11000 primary voters did, too. That is a sizable number in a state our size. Where was the infrastructure for that? What happened to it? That should be enough to make any candidate think twice about failing to court them. Our people vote. We need to build a progressive infrastructure to force the progressive agenda this state needs to the fore.

A progressive infrastructure is organized voting and activism and media. It’s saying that together, you are stronger than when you are alone. If you vote progressively, and talk to your friends, and that’s it, what did you do? When the politician you voted for gets into power, they won’t know you. They won’t consult with you. You didn’t tell them the reason you voted for them. Is it any mystery then why they ignore what you want? You’re just an anonymous voter. As far as they’re concerned, you wholly endorse all of their policies.

This is the first goal of any progressive infrastructure: organizing voters. When politicians must court voters, they have to, at least partially, implement those voters’ preferred policies or face a candidate who will. Since we can identify the vague issues that matter to voters via polling, we fail to organize voters, instead attempting to “motivate” them. Thus we forget that in a democracy, the loudest yellers get heard first. Those who never speak up get nothing. Rhode Islanders want specific things, but unless they’re willing to articulate those desires before they vote, they aren’t guaranteed of getting them.

Which comes to the second part: activism. The story goes that when Lyndon Johnson had spent a lot of political capital to get the Civil Rights Act passed, Martin Luther King, Jr. knew there was still a need for the Voting Rights Act, and he went to President Johnson and told him as much. And Johnson said, so the story goes, “I wanna do it. Now make me do it.” This is something we need to realize, politicians will disappoint. They have egos on them, but they have to, because their jobs demand it of them. You have to be active, you have to apply pressure. Without pressure, they’ll do whatever they want, no matter how irrelevant it is.

Part of that pressure is where media steps in. I want to be clear here: I think all media is subjective to some extent. To me, there is no truly objective news story besides no news story at all; if only because it comes from a human being. It’s important you know a reporter’s bias, but a biased reporter is not the same as a bad reporter. If a story’s facts are verifiable, if the writer address their own biases and doesn’t attempt to deceive you, then that’s good reporting. Media steers the conversation. It exposes problems, it relays the information that matters to its audience and, most importantly to this discussion, it identifies that audience.

As progressives, we have a duty to organize as voters, to pressure our politicians, and to support and foster our media. If you’re a progressive and you’re happy with what you have right now, then you’re insulated and isolated. We can no longer rely on a candidate-to-candidate strategy of advancing to our goals, because it’s not working.

March 2, 2012March 2, 2012

‘Access 2011’ Looks at General Assembly

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

The General Assembly complied with the state Open Meetings law nearly 100 percent of the time last year, according to our new “Access 2011” report.

House compliance rose from 94 percent in 2010 to a record 97 percent last year. Senate compliance increased from 90 percent to 99 percent over the same time period. The Senate’s mark equaled the record it set in 1999 during the administration of former Secretary of State Jim Langevin, who introduced the first “Access” report in 1997.

“A critical measure of government’s commitment to keeping the public informed about its activities is accountability.”

The state’s Open Meetings law requires most governmental bodies to post meeting notices and agendas at least 48 hours in advance. While the General Assembly is exempt from the law, the House and the Senate do issue meeting notices in accordance with their own rules.

As in previous years, nearly all the violations occurred during the last days of the session. Nineteen of the 20 total Open Meetings violations occurred during the two days before the General Assembly recessed on July 1. In 2010, there were 28 last-minute violations.

March 2, 2012March 2, 2012

Advocating to End Racial Profiling in RI

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

PROVIDENCE, RI – On Wednesday, March 7 at 4:30 PM, community members and advocates are expected to show up en masse to share their views on racial profiling in RI at a hearing at the State House before the House Committee on Judiciary. But folks have been speaking out on the topic for years, including youth and adult advocates from Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), an organization founded to support Southeast Asian Youth in Providence.

Hear more about their work here in this podcast of excerpts from my February 15 interview with PrYSM youth leaders, ?Sangress Xiong and Yonara Alvarado, and PrYSM staffer Franny Choi. It aired lived on my weekly program, Sonic Watermelons on Brown Student and Community Radio.

During the interview, Xiong, Alvarado and Choi talk about recent campaign actions, like the February press conference introducing House Bill 7256, the making of the local documentary called Fitting the Description, and other recent activities that they have participated in with PrYSM and the Coalition Against Racial Profiling. Alvarado (who is Latina) says she became passionate about the topic after being in the car and witnessing racial profiling when her uncle was stopped by an officer, and subsequently feeling less faith in whether officers are best serving the community; Xiong, who is Hmong (Southeast Asian), helps explain how a practice once known as “Driving while Black” has expanded to include not only the Latino/Hispanic community, but the Southeast Asian community in Providence as well – including friends and neighbors of his.

I also spoke with the three guests about the benefits and limitations of using digital media tools to collect stories from people who’ve been subjected to racial profiling, and for doing outreach about legislative efforts like the Comprehensive Racial Profiling Prevention Act that will be reviewed and discussed at next Wednesday’s House Judiciary hearing. The ten-page bill deals primarily with conduct during motor vehicle stops and searches, and among the provisions are:

Requirements for officers to document (in writing) the “reasonable suspicion” or “probable cause” grounds for conducting a search of any motor vehicle,
A determination that identification requested during traffic stops be limited to driver’s license, motor vehicle registration, and/or proof of insurance, and (unless there is probable cause of criminal activity) only asked of drivers
A mandate to create standard policies and protocols for police vehicles using recording equipment, such as documenting every stop that is made and prohibiting the tampering or disengagement of equipment.

In addition to collecting the probable cause information, the bill would require officers to collect data on race during stops – and departments to maintain and report this data at intervals over a 4 year period. Choi says collecting data is key to ending racially divisive practices, and – along with the ACLU in their work on the topic – points to a local, southern RI city for proof of its inclusion in the bill as being “effective legislation.”

In Narragansett, says Choi in the excerpts, the department began collecting information without the legislation, and found a drop in “racial disparities in stops” after instituting the policy. The ACLU also found recent actions and improvements in Johnston. At the end of the day, says Choi, “when you’re pulling someone over, have a reason to pull them over.”

***

To connect with PrYSM about their work on Racial Profiling, visit www.prysm.us or email franny@prysm.us. For more information about the Coalition Against Racial Profiling or next Wednesday’s hearing, contact Nick Figueroa of the Univocal Legislative Minority Advisory Coalition (ULMAC) by email at policy@ulmac.org. Anyone can attend the hearing and sign up to testify, but Figueroa highly encourages anyone who would be testifying for the first time to contact him in advance for information and tips on the process of giving testimonies and what to expect in the hearing. For example, four other bills are scheduled to be discussed on the same night and in the same hearing (meeting), so 4:30 may be the start-time for the hearing, but not necessarily when the Racial Profiling Bill is addressed.

Additional clips from the interview will be made available on VenusSings.com and IsisStorm.com, where you can also follow show updates about Sonic Watermelons, which airs live every Wednesday, from 6-8 PM (EST) at www.bsrlive.com.

March 2, 2012May 22, 2016

Care providers feel sting of state cuts to disabled

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Seven Hills Orchestra with High School Students — A Seven Hills facility in Mass. (photo courtesy of UMass. Medical School)

Employees of the Seven Hills developmentally disabled care facilities in Rhode Island are striking today to call attention to what their union representative says is an unfair attempt by management to cut their pay. The proposed pay cuts, he said, are a direct result of losing $26 million in state funding in the current year budget.

“While we think what the employer is doing is wrong,” Jack Callici said, “The governor has completely turned his back on the developmentally disabled by not restoring one penny that was cut last year.”

He said the 250 union members he represents at the 17 Seven Hills facilities in Rhode Island and southeast Mass. have been asked to accept a 5 percent pay cut as well as a 10 percent increase health insurance costs.

“These are $10 an hour workers,” Callici said. “They can’t afford this. They will either reduce their coverage down, or drop it altogether.”

He said the budget cuts would be more easily absorbed by Seven Hills employees who have much higher pay grades. Noting that the union pay cuts would save about $100,000 and CEO David Jordan earned more than $500,000 in 2009, Callici said, “if that poor guy brought in just $400,000, it would pay for all the cuts.”

Seven Hills isn’t the only facility for the developmentally disabled in Rhode Island reeling from state budget cuts. Many facilities, according to Callici, have cut service to people with developmental disabilities from eight hours a day to six.

“Eight hours is important so people can go to work,” he said.

Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Care Workers union rep Jim Parisi said the Trudeau Center in Warwick has also cut service from eight to six hours. He said employees he represents there could have their hours reduced to part-time, which would “will cost them thousands if they have medical insurance.”

March 2, 2012March 2, 2012

OP protests Pfizer, ALEC joining 7 N.E. Occupies

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

op pfizer — Members of Occupy Providence protest Pfizer in Groton, Conn. on Wednesday.

Despite the cold rainy weather, about a half a dozen Occupy Providence members took part in the #F29 Shut Down the Corporations at Pfizer in Groton, CT. The national action was called by Occupy Portland to protest members of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a front group that writes model pro-corporate legislation.

The coordinated inter-occupy direct action against ALEC and Pfizer in Groton resulted in a civil disobedience where 8 people were arrested after Pfizer refused to send a representative out to discuss their ALEC initiatives. It was a success by any standard. The coalition, which consisted of occupiers from Occupy New London, Occupy Shoreline (CT), Occupy Hartford, Occupy Worcester, Occupy New Haven, Occupy Boston, Occupy Providence and more, gathered in Groton to march to the Pfizer facility, and then participated in a dynamic teach-in to work on ways to build non-violent protest in the Occupy movement.

Occupy Providence’s Susan Walker said, “We couldn’t believe how many police cars and officers were there. It was a little intimidating at first. But we walked right up to the crowd and joined about 100 other protesters in mike checks about Pfizer and ALEC. The energy was great. The costumes and signs were creative- an activist costumed as Big Bird with a sign ‘Hey Pfizer, Test This Bird’ was my favorite.”

CT residents were angry because Pfizer negotiated $161 million in tax incentives to build the facility, bulldozed a residential neighborhood, and then laid off 1500 local workers once the tax incentives abated. Not only that, but they resented that Pfizer is a heavy hitter with ALEC in legislating for corporate greed.

The march ended back at the main gate where access was denied. Several Occupiers approached the gatehouse and asked for a representative to come out and speak to us as was requested in an advance letter that was sent. They were denied. The group decided to march around the facility and approach all the gates and ask to speak to a Pfizer representative.

The police had painted a blue line demarcating a boundary protesters weren’t supposed to cross. One protester later mused “blue line from the blue pill (Viagra) company- did Pfizer plan it that way?”

In unified action of civil disobedience, the whole group crossed the line, and got within 20 feet of the heavily guarded gate. Eight protesters then walked straight up to the gate house, linked arms, refused to leave, and were arrested one by one.

Civil Disobedience arrestees were singing Solidarity Forever as the paddy wagon hauled them away. Occupiers chanted and mike checked for a little longer.

Walker noted, “I found the vibe of the police presence really interesting. It was intimidating at first. I think it was almost a 1:1 ratio of officers to occupiers. Early on occupiers had chanted, “The Police Need a Raise! The Police Need a Raise!” which was a pressing local issue. The officers were respectful and seemed to have our safety in mind.”

As the march around the facility continued, police made sure we stayed on the sidewalk, that traffic could flow, and even blocked traffic so we could cross streets.

Walker continued, “I’m willing to bet some of the officers know families who were hurt by Pfizer’s layoffs, or who were displaced when they built the facility in the first place. But these are guesses, not facts. It’s a fact that those arrested were treated well and released promptly. I really got the feeling some of the officers felt like they were marching with us.”

After a break, the group reconvened at the New London All Souls Unitarian Church for a teach-in by a War Resisters League member from Voluntown, CT. In the workshop, an energized 30-40 people from over 7 different occupations worked together to develop a stronger, more effective movement. It included 3 first time occupiers whose excitement was palpable, one commented, “This is the most empowering day of my life.”

After protesters introduced themselves, CT Brian led the group reading off #F29 highlights from around the country from Twitter, starting with a report from Tucson, where they forced a G4S prison deportation bus to cut a hole in their own fence to get the deportees on the road.

This an interesting snapshot video of a twitter reading at 3:15 ET.

#F29-#CT #OP-Snapshot-3:15 National Actions http://youtu.be/1cC4BhIpFxQ

The facilitator broke down the elements of successful activism into 8 components- constructive work/alternatives, common understanding, non-violence discipline, demonstrations, allies, negotiation, research/Info gathering, and legislative/electoral reform and let the participants break into groups to work on the aspect most resonant to them.

Then each study group was given a list of questions, like for the demonstrations sub-group focused on “how we can best demonstrate our concern”.

Each small group reported back to the whole group their observations. The demonstration group reported that they felt the ALEC protester was a good model as it was focused on a key issue that connected with the central messages of Occupy. A person from one of the last standing of the New England encampment, Occupy New Haven camp resident Danielle DiGirolamo, reported on Alternatives- that much of this has started with natural medicine and alternative energy becoming more mainstream and Susan Walker added that “basically we feel there are a lot of alternatives to what the corporations are spoon feeding us.”

Then the group was asked to order the different parts of a campaign with respect to the sequence they should occur in. They selected- Common understanding, Research, Allies, combined Training/Education, create Constructive alternatives, Negotiation, Non Violent Discipline, Legislative Action, to which the facilitator commented, not the usual order but “I’d say that’s perfect.” At the end materials on non-violent training were distributed.

Protesters nationally were successful in raising awareness about ALEC a legislative shadow organization as Occupies around the world united for systemic change.

Check out the embedded video from the Occupy Portand Video Collective.

The large Anti-Corporate greed protest in LA included masked Anarchists and possible young actress marching behind a banner of People Over Profits in the middle of a large crowd. One tweet reported that- when the March arrived at Walmart, many workers from WalMart stepped outside. The police responded by telling them to go back to work or risk arrest. An interesting accidental exposure of the Police bias to protect corporate property before people.

Perhaps the management had called. A t that time the LAPD was not threatening the protesters with arrest, only the Walmart workers, seeming to be more of an attempt to suppress worker solidarity with any movement that dares to unite people behind pro-worker programs- living wage, right to organize, right to strike to name a few. Had Walmart succeeded in forming the Grass Roots Union they sought, management wouldn’t have been so quick to suppress what could have been interpreted as a walkout.

Walker summed up her experience this way. ” It’s inspirational that Occupy Providence got to participate in a national coordinated day of action against ALEC. The bottom line: retailers, for-profit prisons and pharmaceuticals are writing legislation, and paying legislators to get it passed. The prisons are writing the laws? Really? It’s not OK. “

By Robert Malin & Susan Walker

March 1, 2012

Cannabis compassion centers could get green light

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Medical marijuana compassion centers may be able to open soon thanks to a compromise deal between legislators and Governor Chafee that would limit the amount of marijuana a compassion center could on its premises.

“Basically the compromise sets out stricter guidelines for the compassion centers,” said Rep. Scott Slater, D- Providence, the sponsor of the bill in the House. “One of the major hangups that the governor had and the feds is the profits the compassion centers listed in their applications.”

By limiting the amount of medical cannabis that a compassion center could have on site, lawmakers hope that federal authorities would not have reason to intervene. It would also allow caregivers, or medical marijuana growers, to provide the compassion centers with marijuana they grow. He said it was unclear whether they will be able to sell their product to the compassion centers.

The original medical marijuana compassion center law was approved in 2009, but after a long process to select the three state-approved centers, Governor Chafee then declined to give final approval for the centers after federal authorities threatened to intervene if the compassion centers opened. Medical marijuana is still not recognized by federal law.

Chafee, according to a press release, now seems to be more comfortable with the way the centers would operate. “I look forward to passage of a bill that will avoid federal intervention and bring needed medicinal relief to those who stand to benefit,” he said.

Slater, whose father sponsored the existing law, said the bill will be heard in committee sometime in the next few weeks and then will have to be voted on by both the House and Senate before the compromise bill becomes law.

March 1, 2012April 15, 2012

Senator Whitehouse explains the Buffett Rule

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, sponsor the so-called Buffett Rule, sat down with the Center for American Progress to discuss his bill for a mandatory income tax rate of 30 percent for millionaires.

“Regular folks,” he said, think politics has become rigged to favor the richest Americans “and that’s a bad framework for people to be looking at this United States government from. Unfortunately in a lot of ways, it’s a very accurate framework, and the tax code is one of the ways to prove that is really the case right now.”

The substantial change to the tax code, he said, would be that capital gains would be taxed just like any other kind of income for those who make more than a million dollars in a year. So a CEO who gets paid in stock options, would still have to pay taxes on that if they earned more than a million.

He said the proposal could come up for a vote “in the three or four months on either side of the New Year” when Democrats will could be negotiating from a position of strength because of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Right now, he said, the bill isn’t likely to get substantial floor time, unless the American people demand it.

Prompted by a question at the very end of the discussion, Whitehouse, who it turns out was once considered a candidate for the Supreme Court, threw a jab at the Citizens United decision: “Corporations are not people. I think the decision claiming that they were will go down in history as one of most grievous errors of the Supreme Court.”

Interestingly, Ted Nesi reports this morning that National Journal recently ranked Whitehouse as the 19th most liberal senator after two consecutive years of being ranked as the most liberal.

March 1, 2012March 5, 2012

Budgeting for Disaster – Part II

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Growth of the state budget over the past 20 years. Looks scary, no?

Look at it grow

So what’s in the state budget? Funny you should ask. In the accompanying chart, you can see the breakout in a graph prepared by the House Fiscal staff. They publish a digest of the budget every year that is pretty helpful in figuring out what’s going on. What you can also see from the graph is how the budget has grown in 20 years.

What you see looks like huge growth, and if you compare it to the inflation rate over those 20 years, it seems to confirm what everyone says, that government spending is out of control and so on. You know how that song goes.

In fact, there are some serious problems in government spending, but they’re pretty specific and we’ll get to them. But first, let’s talk about inflation. The inflation rate is calculated based on a household’s expenses, and it looks at the rise in prices of the things that people buy: groceries, gasoline, auto insurance, medical services, TVs, washing machines, and so on. Your state government does not actually buy a lot of groceries, and I’m betting that you do not buy a lot of services from corrections officers or park rangers. That is, there’s no reason to think that the inflation rate tells you anything useful about how much government spending should grow.

What’s really at issue in questions like this is whether the taxes the state levies are weighing down the state’s economy. If taxes are soaking up a bigger proportion of the state’s economy than 20 years ago, that’s not good news unless we’re getting a lot more services. So what’s the story?

In 1992, the state collected $1.74 billion in taxes, and the state’s economy (measured by personal income reported by the BEA) was about $21.1 billion. So the state collected taxes equal to 8.25% of the overall economy. Using the 2011 BEA income number and the economic predictions in the budget [on budget page ES-13] we expect personal income in 2013 to be about $49.7 billion, out of which the Governor’s budget will pull $3.27 billion in taxes, or 6.6%, or nearly one-fifth less than in 1992.

Ok, you say, but property taxes have taken up the slack, right? In 1992, RI cities and towns collected $990 million in property taxes, meaning that state and local taxes together were around 12.9% of the state’s economy. I don’t know what property taxes will be in 2013, but they added up to $2.11 billion in 2011. In order for them to get up to the 1992 proportion of the overall economy, property taxes will have to jump by 48% from their 2011 levels. They went up a lot last year, but no city or town’s taxes went up nearly that much.

In other words, no matter how you slice it, state and local taxes are taking up a smaller share of the state’s economy today than 20 years ago. Maybe it’s hard to believe, but it’s true: the biggest reason we’re getting less government these days is because we’re paying less for it relative to the size of the economy. If state and local taxes added up to the same proportion of our economy in 2013 as in 1992, the state and cities and towns would have an additional $900 million dollars in revenue each year, far more than the deficits of the state and all the cities and towns put together. I’m not saying that this is the right measure, but it’s not possible to argue successfully that the gross level of state and local taxes we have now is slowing the state’s economy.

Again, I know this is hard to believe, but in reality there is a specific reason why it’s hard to believe, and there are ways in which our taxes are slowing our economy. You just can’t see it in the broad averages. We’ll get to that down the road, when we get to a detailed picture of taxes. For now, I’m going to stay on spending, and focus on the makeup of the bars in the graph next.

Assistance, Grants, and Benefits (really)

The legend is a little hard to read, but the yellow at the bottom of each column is personnel expenses (which includes benefits), and moving up, you have good old “Other”, followed by aid to local governments, “Assistance, Grants and Benefits”, capital expenses, debt service, and operating transfers. Let’s look at the big ones here.

Starting again from the bottom you have personnel expenses. This includes the infamous pension payments, which have gone up a lot since 1992, but have been pretty well matched by the rise in health benefit costs. For 2013, the pension payments will be about $167 million, and health benefits $183 million [ES-32]. The 1992 payroll included a bit more than 16,000 state employees (on paper). As of now, there are 13,700 employees, almost 1,000 fewer than are officially in the budget.

What about salaries? This is a little harder. You see, until recently, the budgets were silent about how many positions were actually filled. You’d see that 16,000 employees (full-time equivalents) were approved for the budget, and that’s all it would say. But some positions hadn’t been filled for years, and lots of unfilled positions had no money appropriated for them. If you take a strict apples-to-apples comparison, you get that the average annual wage of a state employee in 1992 was about $37,000, and in 2012, it was $61,300. It turns out that this is pretty much exactly the rate of inflation for those years. On paper, at least, salaries have risen slower than the budget as a whole. It’s not possible from the public documents to say how many positions were filled in 1992 (though maybe a reader will have that number for me). But you can say that wage growth is absolutely not driving the budget’s growth.

Moving up to the purple band, you have the aid to local governments. The bulk of this is education aid, scheduled to be $674 million in 2013 [ES Appendix D]. This is a big number, and quite big enough to mask the devastating cuts to aid to the non-education parts of local government in 2008-2011. In 2008, the state appropriated $244 million for aid to municipal governments. In 2011, that number was $60 million [ES Appendix C]. Education aid was cut during those years, too, but not nearly as much. Are you still wondering why municipal governments are struggling to stay above water? You can sort of see this decrease in the 2008-2011 columns, but the presentation doesn’t make it very clear.

The blue band above the purple is the one that excites the most attention. This is “Assistance, Grants, and Benefits.” It sounds like it means welfare, but it’s just an accounting category, and covers everything from Medicaid to the money the state library gives to the Historical Society to maintain the collection of battle flags in the state house atrium, the silver tea service from the USS Rhode Island, and the other artifacts they keep for us. It also includes student aid at URI, unemployment insurance, TDI payments, and more.

The big bulk of this chunk is Medicaid, at $1.66 billion [B2-12 and B2-118 for previous years]. It is probably the fastest growing chunk of this category, too, but it’s not easy to be sure from the documents. Less than half of it is actually health care to poor people. Most of the rest is care for the disabled and elderly. The state pays approximately 48% of the cost, and federal dollars cover the other 52%.

Here’s the point I can’t help see in this graph: The biggest cost driver in the three biggest parts of the budget is health care. It’s more than 10% of personnel costs, it’s part of what cities and towns use state aid to pay for, and it’s far and away the biggest part of the Grants and Benefits layer. If you really want to find the reasons why the state is spending as much as it is and seems like it’s getting less than in 1992, the cost of health care is impossible to ignore.

And yes, you could solve the budget problem by cutting health care out of the budget—slash employee benefits, and all benefits to poor people, wheel the old people and disabled out of their group homes and down to the curb. That might keep health care costs from bankrupting the state, but it won’t keep it from bankrupting all the rest of us. If there ever was a case for government malpractice, it can be found in the utter silence of Lincoln Almond and Don Carcieri when it came to addressing this problem.

Next: Municipal Budgets
Full Series: Budgeting for Disaster

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387