What Rhode Island should know about hedge funds, part 1
What’s the purpose of investing in a hedge fund? Because “hedge fund manager” is almost synonymous with “fabulously wealthy” in the popular press, lots of people think hedge funds are all about high risk and high returns. Originally, though, hedge funds were thought to provide high returns simply by being consistent, if dull. The idea [...]
Two Teds On Pension Reform Beat
Their named may be similar but their coverage of Gina Raimondo is not. New Ted (Siedle, of Forbes) wrote a post on Thursday saying Raimondo is recklessly investing Rhode Island’s pension fund. Old Ted (Nesi, of WPRI), to borrow a phrase, fired back on Friday. New Ted has since posted twice to accuse Old Ted [...]
Is Gina Using Taxpayer Money To Campaign?
Much ado has been made about the fact that General Treasurer Gina Raimondo spends a lot of time traveling out of state raising money, gives curious speeches while accepting awards from conservative groups, accepts contributions from SEC violators and maintains friendships with Enron traders. But I have not read much about the fact that she [...]
Was Labor ‘At The Table’ For Pension Legislation?
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 [...]
Gina Raimondo: Wall Street Democrat
We’ve got all sorts of Democrats here in the deep blue Ocean State. We’ve got progressive Democrats, young Democrats, Democrats in name only, we even boasted the lone ALEC Democrat for a spell last year before his constituents through him out of office. Now add to the list: Wall Street Democrat. That’s the new meme [...]
New Treasurer Staffer Looks Like A Campaign Operative
A Smith Hill pol is using the people’s hard-earned money to hire an under-qualified, overpaid staffer. While this might read like the beginning of every single column Ed Achorn writes about the State House, he probably won’t be waxing eloquent on this one. He only spouts off when a union-centric Democrat commits such a transgression. [...]
Blame Gina Raimondo? Not So Fast, Progressives
Regular readers of the blog know that Treasurer Raimondo has become a lightening-rod for criticism of the state’s recent changes to the public employee pension system. As a tactic, I’ll admit it’s a good one, simultaneously riling up the base and drawing media attention to the union and retiree’s position. It’s also the first salvo [...]
ProJo Stories Show Where Gina Values Transparency
There was an interesting juxtaposition of articles relating to pension politics and Raimondomania stripped across the top of A1 of the Providence Journal this morning; one was about the outside money coming into the Ocean State, and the other was about local money leaving. In the first article, about pension reform politics being funded in [...]
Reuters Blog Blasts Raimondo’s Actuarial Acumen
The squeaky clean shine seems to be fading on Raimondomania, in some circles.
The rock star treasurer, hailed for pairing down the retirement benefits of public employees, took a few bruises locally this week for declining to sit down with labor leaders who suing the state over her pension reform efforts. And she’ll take a few more if and when Judge Sarah Taft-Carter asks the two parties to try to work it out among themselves.
Story Isn’t Whether to Sit Down, But Who’s At Table
Sorry, Providence Journal, much as you might not like it, we are no longer debating whether or not the state should be negotiating pension reform with organized labor as your over-hyped headline and otherwise great long-form story on the drama this morning suggests. Remember, after all, on Tuesday when you broke the news that the [...]
Dueling Letters: Chafee to Raimondo and Her Reply
Gov. Linc Chafee first floated to Treasurer Gina Raimondo the idea of negotiating with labor on pension reform just three days after the November election, over a pastrami sandwich, during a working lunch between the two political leaders. A letter from the governor to Raimondo dated November 13 thanks her for joining him for lunch [...]
Gina Raimondo Should Be at Pension Talk Table
I don’t doubt Gina Raimondo’s actuarial acumen. But oftentimes I think her political instincts leave much to be desired. The general treasurer/gubernatorial candidate-in-waiting might be the Democratic darling to the budget-cutting crowd for shepherding pension cuts through the legislature, but there’s a political side to the court challenge too and she has chosen not to [...]
Progress Report: Defining Moment in Cicilline, Doherty; Ugliest Campaigns; What EG Is Debating; Guy Fawkes Day
A defining moment of the David Cicilline v. Brendan Doherty campaign was captured by Phil Marcelo of the Providence Journal this weekend … both candidates were in a South Providence fruit store when a Cicilline “Spanish-speaking emissary,” according to Marcelo, said of Doherty, “He shouldn’t be in this neighborhood. He talks about undocumented immigrants posing [...]
Fundraising vs. Good Govt: Which Matters More?
Note the irony that while one prospective 2014 Democratic candidate for governor was making headlines for raising an almost unfair amount of money from corporate interests from outside of Rhode Island, the other prospective candidate was busy not making headlines for being honored by good government group Common Cause RI with its 2012 Excellence in [...]
Dems Unite Around GOP Smear Campaigns
I’m glad the Rhode Island Democratic party is finally coming together to renounce the incredibly negative campaigning the Republicans have been resorting to. Let’s hope the media picks up on this story. In my biased opinion, it’s the biggest meta-narrative of the local campaign this year, but I think it has a lot of merit [...]
Progress Report: Gordon Fox Gets Kicked; Gina’s Coffers; Comparing Pay Grades; Pirate Party, Lawrence Lessig
Gordon Fox’s reelection battle has become one of the most watched contests in Rhode Island, and Ian Donnis yesterday busted out what I think is the best local campaign journalism of the year summarizing his race against Mark Binder. “Fewer than 9,000 voters will decide one of Rhode Island’s most important elections on November 6,” [...]
Progress Report: Pension Politics; Transparency’s Liberal Bias; ProJo for Sheldon; Meatloaf for Mitt; Microwaves
The Atlantic may think Gina Raimondo is a brave thinker for slashing the retirement security of state workers, but it seems to me the political popularity of pension reform is waning … consider this page A1 quote in today’s Projo on Cranston Mayor Allan Fung’s attempts to cut local pension benefits: “This problem was created [...]
Progress Report: Economic Development Void in RI; GOP Fans Father-Daughter Dance Flames; James Diossa
It seems RI Future and RIPEC agree on at least one thing. “Rhode Island does not have a clear vision of how to expand its economy or a governmental structure that helps create jobs, encourage companies to expand, attract businesses and develop workers’ skills,” reports the Providence Journal about RIPEC’s report on the EDC this [...]
Progress Report: Cicilline Surging Against Doherty; GOP for Father-Daughter Dances; Affordable Housing; 47 Percent
David Cicilline is surging. After comfortably beating Anthony Gemma in the primary it now looks like he’s comfortably ahead of his conservative challenger Brendan Doherty in polls commissioned by the Democrats. While Republicans, Buddy Cianci and other Cicilline detractors might dismiss partisan polls, it still gives the incumbent an advantage and shows momentum. We’ll have [...]
Gina Talks Progressive Politics, But Not With RI
One of the most interesting aspects of the Washington Post op/ed about Gina Raimondo is not that another fiscal conservative has lauded the pension-cutting treasurer for taking benefits away from retirees, it’s that Raimondo invoked progressive politics in her defense of balancing Rhode Island’s pension problems squarely on the backs of public sector retirees. “That [...]
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