RI Progress Report: State Should Hold Carcieri Accountable

Consider this: 38 Studios could ask for state money to pay back the state money it owes the state. It would do this by selling tax credits to others who owe the state money.

What’s even more amazing is Schilling actually didn’t get as much money as he was expecting. He told his friend and political ally former Gov. Don Carcieri that he needed $75 million and, while the loan was for that much, after an initial round of political blowback, Carcieri only gave Big Schill $50 million, the other $25 million was set aside leaving the ex-ballplayer $25 million short of what he said he needed. So not only did Carcieri screw over the public sector, he screwed over his private sector partner as well.

We sure wish the former governor would man up and make a statement … or even better: the General Assembly ought to hold hearings to ferret out just what went wrong here so the state can ensure nothing evenly remotely like it will ever happen again.

Just a question here: has the Projo editorial board weighed in on the 38 Studios debacle yet?

Another question, this one posed by Ted Nesi: “What do House Republicans have against Rhode Island?”

Journalism is great at covering college graduations, but doesn’t always do a great job at covering the converse. Elizabeth Harrison bucks the trend with a four-part series on Rhode Islanders without a four-year degree.

What a stir Corey Booker caused when he veered from the talking point that venture capitalism is bad for the economy … but what did you expect him to say? After all, the financial industry has all but bankrolled his political career. For the background on why they would do this, watch this video.

The House Finance Committee is expected to vote today on a supplemental property tax for Woonsocket … which is good news since last week the vote was being held up by, of all people, the Woonsocket delegation.