Its unlikely Binder will knock Fox out of office, but he could help move him back toward the left side of the political spectrum. Or he could do just enough political damage to make it hard for him to retain the Speakers gavel, which might not be a good thing for progressives
Bob Plain, RI Progress ReportFox is more conservative than we’d like in a Speaker and Binder is less experienced than we’d like in a state Representative. Practically speaking, wheen factoring in both of these circumstances, the House of Representatives probably moves to the right if Binder were to upset Fox.
Bob Plain, RI Progress Report
This logic remind me of what a Mt. Hope voter said to me recently:
“I don’t think the government is broken. I think it’s working just fine for those who are in charge.”
As I’ve been knocking on doors throughout my district, the reception I have been getting is warm and congratulatory. People smile and thank me for running, especially against Gordon Fox. Then they say, “Do you think you have a chance?” I answer quite honestly, “If you and all the people you know vote for me, then I will win.”
Where is the Progressive in these issues?
Our legislature is dominated by fear. The Reps and Senators give away their power at the beginning of the session to the “leaders” and then beg for crumbs.
They cower in fear in the halls of the legislature and then crow when the leaders give them a line item in the budget or let one of their proposals rise from the black hole of committee. They whisper and confer and suspend the rules and vote on bills that most of them haven’t read. This is called “hardball politics.”
How’s that working for our state? The other day at the gym, a guy on a treadmill joked that every year the legislature passes lots of election bills because they always seems to benefit the legislators.
What else benefits the legislators? They get campaign contributions from special interests, and then submit bills, vote on bills and push bills through that benefit those special interests.
And it’s all out there in the public record.
Are these really all coincidences? Who benefits from contributions to Gordon Fox’s $200,000+ campaign slush fund? Voters? Taxpayers?
Was this a move to the right or the right move?
Meanwhile, Fox has bought into the Conservative dogma that raising taxes is bad for business and good for government. And he’s given the Casinos a sweetheart deal that means taxpayers will have to loose three times as much at table games as they do at the slots just for the State to break even on what it gets now.
How’s that all going for us?
Is Speaker Fox retaining the gavel really doing the Progressives any benefit? Is having Gordon Fox in the House benefitting the people in District Four?
I think it’s clear that our “representatives” haven’t been working for us. They have been working for each other and for their special interests.
In Gordon Fox’s case, he’s been working hard for his business associates, former Speakers, and for the campaign contributors. For the people in his district? Not so much.
I will be honored if you vote for me, and help knock them out.
]]>The nine member board would be appointed by the governor and would employ a chancellor of education whose responsibilities would be “determined by the board of education,” according to Article 4 of the proposed budget bill. The current commissioners of education “shall be subject to the direction and control of the board of education.”
House Finance Committee Chairman Helio Melo said the idea is to “make the education system in the state more efficient and effective.” Because of Rhode Island’s small size, he said, the two current education boards should be able to merge into one sort-of super committee that would oversee all public education in the state.
Melo and others said the proposal is in the nascient stages.
“Is it a plan to combine the staffs of the two [education] organizations, I don’t know,” said Tim Duffy, the executive director of the Rhode Island Assocation of School Committees. “There’s a lot that still needs to be straightened out.”
According to the bill, the change would take place in 2014.
Rep. Frank Ferri, a progressive Democrat from Warwick, said, “I don’t disagree that we need to see if we can make the system more efficient and responsive, but I’m concerned about the time limit. In Vermont and Florida it took five to seven years to create.
Melo said, “I don’t think it will take years but it will take months. It’s going to beĀ very long process.”
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