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His son may be in trouble with him at home, but in Washington D.C. it’s the corporate lobbyists and apologists who have drawn the ire of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
At a congressional hearing on Tuesday called “Restoring Our Democracy” which focused on how to make special interests more accountable in the political process, Whitehouse took Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute to the proverbial woodshed when he not-at-all-surprisingly suggested that Sheldon’s DISCLOSE Act put too high a burden on SuperPACs.
The highlight is when, in talking about a disabled veteran he met recently, Whitehouse put some perspective on the different type of sacrifices expected of Americans to protect our country’s principles.
“We had asked that you man to go to Afghanistan and we sent him down a road that had an improvised explosive devise under it that blew both his legs off,” said the senator. “If we can ask that young man to do that we can ask the Koch brothers to put up with some impolite blogging.”
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Both the biggest and smallest newspapers in Rhode Island weighed in last week on whether or not the federal government should subsidize private sector flights to Block Island. Interestingly, it was New Shoreham’s paper of record – not the state’s – that thought to make an economic argument on behalf of Rhode Island.
“And why, more than anything else, is RIAC sponsoring Cape Air, a company that started in Massachusetts and now flies all over the globe, over homegrown New England Airlines?,” asked the Block Island Times editorial (reprinted in the ProJo, I should note). It goes on:
Why not give the $900,000 in federal funds, and another $250,000 in state support, to our homestate company, instead? Why not encourage the local airline to fly high? The jobs and money this service would bring should stay with a Rhode Island company.
The New England Airlines crew already know how to handle the tricky island landing strip, already know how to service the Islander airplanes that Cape Air would have to buy to fly here. And they’re here for us, year round, when we’re sick, when we need medications, when the ferry’s not running, when time is of the essence, and when we simply want some Chinese food flown over. They’re a lifeline service, and we need them.
The Projo, on the other hand, makes no economic argument at all. Instead – and I’m not making this up – they say spending $900,000 federal transportation dollars to help a private company succeed in the local marketplace is a good idea because the elite will probably appreciate a way to avoid the “colorful” people who take the ferry.
We suspect that those who fly to Block Island will be considerably less overtly colorful than those on the Block Island Ferry. Indeed, that’s one reason the proposal for service to Block Island from Green sounds so appealing to some folks, especially to the affluent who can afford it. [The] focus was less on locals than on out-of-staters, even if leveraged-buyout specialists planning to build gigantic summer houses might rival people behaving badly on the ferry as threats to Block Island’s allure.
Where to begin with this one…
First, given what has been going on in Rhode Island as of late, the Providence Journal editorial board might want to be more reticent in advocating for the public sector to pick winners in the private sector. Secondly, there are literally at least 900,000 better ways Rhode Island could use $900,000 in transportation dollars than by subsidizing air travel to Block Island.
But the truly abhorrent angle of the Projo’s piece is that the typically-conservative editorial board is actually advocating for economic redistribution – a force it often claims to disdain. The difference is in this case wealth would be being transferred to the elite, rather than the middle class.
While $900,000 in federal transportation dollars might not seem like a lot and few may care how easy or hard it is for the affluent to get to their vacation locale, the difference in these two editorials is worth noting for when the Projo eventually weighs in on an issue that matters to you … how much can we trust their opinion if the tiny little Block Island Times was able to out-think the editorial board of the mighty Providence Journal when it comes to a no-brainer for local business like this issue.
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In trying to defend taking a political donation from, of all organizations, Citizens United – famous for the SCOTUS decision but also known for its hit job movie on Hillary Clinton, Brendan Doherty’s campaign says Sheldon Whitehouse’s DISCLOSE Act “clearly is designed to provide an advantage to one side of the political spectrum.
Wait, what? Really? It is? I’d like to know how, Brendan … Are you trafficking in the lie that unions are exempt from it? Or do you just believe that Republicans benefit more than Democrats when it comes to secret money and shadow messengers in the political process? And if it’s the latter – which is true, by the way, Republicans do benefit more than Democrats from secret money and shadow messengers in politics – why would that affect your support of it? I suppose because Brendan Doherty is already siding with Republicans over Rhode Islanders.
Meet Sam Lovett and Charlie Tsonos … two Democrats vying for one East Providence seat in the state House of Representatives.
Gina Raimondo defends herself and her pension-gutting efforts against Bob Walsh’s boasting that the law is on the side of the retirees whose benefits she slashed … unlike Walsh, Raimondo didn’t offer a prediction, but she did indicate what might be the state’s defense: the pension fund was 48 percent funded and the economy here was bad. Okay, but a judge might not care that you didn’t want to raise taxes on Rhode Island’s richest residents…
We’re super happy that Gov Chafee will meet with the Narragansett Indian Tribe, but super bummed that a simple meeting with the gov is the benchmark for victory for native Rhode Islanders. It’s really sad and unfair that, if there is a full-fledged casino in Rhode Island, it won’t be theirs…
And speaking of latent racism … a Romney adviser says President Obama fully appreciate Americas Anglo-Saxon heritage.
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What’s crazier than a state with 11% unemployment? How about a state with 11% unemployment laying off 57 frontline workers at the Department of Labor and Training, cutting the services the unemployed depend on every day?
Yeah, that’s crazier. Yet that’s exactly what the state is doing, with mass layoffs scheduled to take effect July 28.
If you think this is crazy, too, please join unemployed Rhode Islanders, DLT employees, and other advocates this Wednesday, July 25th at 4 p.m. for an informational picket and press event. Stand with us in front of the Department of Labor and Training (1511 Pontiac Ave., Cranston) to tell our leaders to stop making life even harder for Rhode Islanders struggling with unemployment.
The DLT is already struggling to keep up with the flood of claims and demand for job placement training, and with over 60,000 unemployed Rhode Islanders and the second highest unemployment rate in the country, a deep cut in services will devastate those most hurt by the economic downturn. So please join us Wednesday to ask one simple question:”11%…layoffs…really?”
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