March 18, 2013 – RI Future

March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

Who Matters: Bond Traders Or Rhode Islanders?

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Local labor unions are protesting all of Gina Raimondo’s public appearances to call attention to their cuts to their retirement security she shepherded through in 2011. But their appearance in front of the Bond Buyers conference this morning was especially poignant because many think Raimondo represents Wall Street first and foremost, and Rhode Island is the only state in the nation that has a law that puts the financial interest of the bond market over the interest of the state.

So I asked Paul Valletta, of the Providence fire fighters union, Mike Downey, of Council 94, and Governor Chafee what they think of this. (I would have asked Raimondo but she only had time for one question from me – she’s welcome to add her thoughts in the comments below, or we could do a follow up interview.)

March 18, 2013March 19, 2013

Was Labor ‘At The Table’ For Pension Legislation?

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Probably a big point of contention as Rhode Island and its public sector retirees try to mediate a compromise on pension reform will be whether or not organized labor was considered when drafting the legislation.

As few hundred Providence fire fighters, police officers and other public sector union members protested outside a conference for Bond Buyers in downtown Providence today to call continued attention to pension cuts that hurt members’ retirement security, there were some different opinions on this matter.

Inside the conference, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo was telling the room full of bond investors that, “In Rhode Island this was never about Democrat versus Republican, union versus management, labor versus management us, vs them.”

It struck me as odd that Raimondo said pension cuts didn’t pit public sector retirees against taxpayers.

Especially since Paul Valletta, of the Providence fire fighters union, said they are protesting every public event Raimondo appears at because they weren’t at the table.

Here’s what Valletta told me outside:

Inside the conference, Gina Raimondo disagreed with this characterization.

So I asked Governor Chafee, who also spoke at the Bond Buyers conference, to break the tie.

I attended many of the public meetings Chafee and Raimondo held with labor leaders physically at the table. Those public meetings were not where the substance of the actual pension cuts were crafted. That likely happened behind closed doors between Raimondo and legislative leaders before the special session in November of 2011.

March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

Rep. Cimini: State Budget Balanced On Backs Of Poor

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Progressive Providence Rep. Maria Cimini, said the General Assembly is balancing the budget on the backs of the poor while the richest Rhode Islanders get a pass as the state struggles through a recession.

“I think it is really crucial that everyone in our state is called upon to sacrifice when we are struggling,” she said. “Over the last few years as we’ve been facing a recession, the General Assembly has done its job by balancing the budget. But we’ve done it through cutting important programs and raising fees which disproportionately impact low income and moderate and middle income Rhode Islanders. I haven’t seen us call upon upper income Rhode Islanders to make the same kind of sacrifice.”

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Conservative pundits and politicians counter Cimini’s point by claiming rich Rhode Islanders will move to a different state if their tax breaks are rolled back. Initially, conservative pundits and politicians – led by former Gov. Don Carcieri – said tax breaks for the rich would stimulate economic growth. In hindsight, the opposite has occurred.

Cimini said the additional revenue could be used to improve urban public education or infrastructure “all things that both citizens and businesses alike say we need as a state.” Popular political/economy blogger Ted Nesi said yesterday on Twitter that the bill would be stronger if the new revenue was earmarked for a specific program. Rhode Islanders for Tax Equity, a grassroots group hat advocates for a less regressive state tax policy said the money should go to struggling cities.

A blockbuster story in Sunday’s Washington Post showed that one in three residents of Woonsocket can’t afford to feed themselves without government assistance and that food stamp dispersal is driving the economy more than private sector innovation or need.

It remains to be seen if the local mainstream media will invest the same type of effort reporting on the Washington Post’s findings about the state’s SNAP program as it did in Ken Block’s. The Post story showed that 33 percent of Woonsocket uses food stamps; Block’s report showed that one half of 1 percent of recipients misuse the program.