Corvese Amendment Denies Rep. Ferri Equal Rights
The controversial Corvese amendment to the recently enacted civil union law, which legislators will reconsider today, is seen as an affront to the very rights the new law bestows on same sex couples – it allows religious institutions to not recognize the relationship or otherwise adhere to the law. But for Rep. Frank Ferri, a [...]
Tassoni: Second Legislator To Drop Out of ALEC
Citing the “self-serving ideas of corporations and rich, powerful interests,” Sen John Tassoni, a Smithfield Democrat, become the second member of the General Assembly to officially distance himself from the American Legislative Exchange Council, the shadowy far right wing organization known as ALEC that pairs legislators with corporate interests, after news that more than 20 [...]
Chafee Helped Brown, Providence Behind Scenes
It’s a huge day for Providence which, among other bits of good news, announced today that Brown University will pay the city $31 million over the next 11 years. While Mayor Angel Taveras and Brown President Ruth Simmons both deserve much credit for getting the deal done. So does another local leader who rarely wins [...]
Low Income, Homelessness Issues at State House Today
The powerful House Finance Committee will hear a bill today that would restore the $12 million cut from the Neighborhood Opportunities Program last legislative session. According to Housing WorksRI’s website, the NOP program is “a unique, state-funded program designed to provide homes for low-wage working families and individuals with disabilities. The program provides funds to [...]
Carcieri Passes Buck for Stiffing Cities and Towns
With former Gov. Don Carcieri now being blamed for the fiscal mess Rhode Island’s poorest communities find themselves in because of his starve the beast policy towards state aid to cities an towns, the retired Republican took to the friendly airwaves of WPRO recently to defend his decisions. “You said it very well,” he said [...]
The Democrat in Name Only State: Rhode Island
Ask any conservative and they’ll tell you that the state’s problems are inextricably linked to the dominance of Democrats. This is not untrue, but what they aren’t telling you is that many of the Democrats in the General Assembly are more closely aligned with their own ideology than that of the party’s typical platform. Our [...]
Who’s the Knucklehead in Woonsocket Cross Flap?
While reasonable people can disagree about whether a religious symbol belongs on a war memorial on public property, most would agree that politicians should not call their constituents knuckleheads. Woonsocket Mayor Leo Fontaine seems to be the outlier here though. Earlier this week he levied that insult at Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist group [...]
Taxpayers Are Funding Legislators’ ALEC Memberships
Rhode Islanders taxpayers are funding legislators’ memberships in ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, said House spokesman Larry Berman. He said the state paid $800 in January for eight new members (more than 20 percent of the legislature are members) that Rep. Jon Brien, a conservative Democrat from Woonsocket who was recently put on the [...]
Chafee, Brien Explain Need for Municipal Aid Bills
Gov. Chafee and Rep. Jon Brien, chairman of the House Municipal Government Committee, kicked off the House Finance Committee meeting by addressing the need to pass the governor’s municipal aid package. Brien, from Woonsocket, has a particular interest in the bills’ passage as they would greatly benefit his community. In this video, they both explain [...]
Dem. Lawmakers Distance Themselves from ALEC
Democratic legislators distanced themselves from involvement with ALEC, the far right wing group that acts as a stealth lobby organization to state legislators, saying they signed up because Rep. Jon Brien asked them to do so. Many said they didn’t know much about the organization, even though it has been all over the news as [...]
Budgeting for Disaster: How Budgets Are Cut
I was at the hearing at House Finance last night, talking about tax cuts for rich people. The remarkable thing about all the tax cuts we’ve given over the past 16 years is not that we’ve given them, but how we’ve paid for them. As we saw in the last installment, the story of the past [...]
Democrats Send Progressives To Convention
Congratulations to the delegate candidates who won an opportunity to go to the Democratic National Convention in yesterday’s primary. While overall turnout may have been low, it seems as if progressives got out the vote as all but two of our endorsed candidates prevailed. Anne Connor, whom we profiled, received more overall votes than former [...]
VIDEO: Three Perspectives on Income Tax Equity Bill
At a hearing last night, many spoke in favor of Rep. Maria Cimini’s legislation that would raise income taxes on Rhode Island’s richest residents as a way to raise revenue and encourage job creators to lower the state’s unemployment rate, and I chose three to feature because they represent a wide variety of reasons why [...]
More than 20% of General Assembly Involved with ALEC
More than 20 percent of Rhode Island’s General Assembly is affiliated with ALEC, the right-wing group sponsored by corporate America that drafts model legislation for use at state houses across the country, according to a list provided by Rep. Jon Brien, the state chairman and a member of the group’s board of directors. There are [...]
ACLU Sues Over Wrongful Detention of US Citizen
Ada Morales, of North Providence, is a US citizen. But twice she has been detained by law enforcement officials who didn’t realize she she had become naturalized in 1995. In an effort to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen to her a third time – or someone else for the first time – the RI [...]
Tax Equity Bill Before House Finance Commitee
The tax equity legislation will get a public debate at the State House today as Rep. Maria Cimini’s bill that would raise income taxes on Rhode Island’s richest until the unemployment rate drops will be heard by the House Finance Committee tonight after the regular session. “I’m looking forward to making a the case for [...]
Budgeting for Disaster: Taxing History
Is it really too soon to modify our tax code? In the discussions of taxes at the State House, one line you hear a lot this year is that our state’s new income tax code is new and we should give it time to see how it works out. That’s what House Speaker Gordon Fox [...]
Brien, Common Cause Spar over ALEC on Twitter
Rep. Jon Brien is the local co-chair of ALEC, the pro-business political group that drafts model legislation that supporters, often elected members of state legislatures like Brien, propose at the local level. ALEC has come under fire as of late for authoring the Stand your Ground law in Florida that initially protected George Zimmerman from [...]
Occupy PVD To Hold ‘Robin Hood’ Rally at State House
Occupy Providence returns to the State House Tuesday, this time to show solidarity for the Miller-Cimini income tax equity bill that is being heard by the powerful House Finance Committee at around 5 p.m. The rally will begin at 4:45. The bill would raise income taxes on the richest Rhode Islanders, those who earn more [...]
Tassoni: Kennedy Plaza a Mess, RIPTA Chief Should Go
Outgoing Senator John Tassoni, always quick to pick on bullies, has set his sights on RIPTA director Charles Odimgbe, saying recent staff cuts have left Kennedy Plaza in shambles and that Odimgbe should be replaced. Full press release after the photo. Kennedy Plaza in Providence is a mess, said Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., and it’s [...]
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