josh miller – RI Future

June 15, 2016June 15, 2016

RI mourns Orlando, demands action at Pulse memorial service

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Rhode Island continues to respond to the terrible events that took place at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in beautiful, moving and powerful ways. Last night hundreds gathered at the Roger Williams National Memorial, the site of our state’s very first Pride event 40 years ago, in solidarity, mourning and empowerment.

With long-time LGBTQ activist Kate Monteiro acting as introduction and organizer, a series of speakers that included clergy, advocates, and government officials spoke to the crowd about LGBTQ rights, violence, homophobia, Islamophobia and guns.

Dr. Wendy Manchester Ibrahim, of the RI Council for Muslim Advancement told the crowd that she and the RI Muslim community stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community in Rhode Island in denouncing the terrible actions of the Orlando shooter. The crowd reacted with enthusiasm and support.

Ethan Huckel, board president of TGI Network of RI, urged those in attendance to dismantle the system of oppression that allows such outrages to happen, saying, “The system is not broken. It is a system of oppression and it is working just fine. In this system, politicians use queer people as the bait to rally the hate of voters. In this system, the words “black lives matter” are seen as a threat. In this system, some schools provide education, while others funnel black bodies into prisons. In this system, trans and gender nonconforming bodies are treated like an affront to other people’s safety. In this system, women are left bruised and bleeding behind dumpsters, while the safety of white boys is protected.”

Fernando Gonzale, representing YPI (Youth Pride RI), said that the attack in Orlando compelled him to put aside his shyness and speak to the large crowd. Gonzale, a 17 year old gay Latino, said, “Unfortunately this week stopped being about marriage and rights and it turned into being about being a life and death situation, about survival.”

Both Governor Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza called for a ban on assault rifles. Jennifer Smith Boylan, of Moms Demand Action, talked of the seeming futility of passing common sense gun legislation at the State House, where Speaker Nicholas Mattiello simply allows bills to die. State Senators Donna Nesselbush and Josh Miller left the State House while in session to join the rally, the only two General Assembly members to do so. It became clear that if Rhode wants to do something about gun violence, we’ll need a new legislature.

Below, please video and pictures of all the speakers at the memorial.

April 10, 2016

At the Sanders campaign HQ opening day

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The opening of the Bernie Sanders campaign office in Providence Sunday afternoon was attended by well over 250 people, many more than could fit in the storefront office at 500 Broad St. There was a wide range of people present. Music was provided by a bagpiper in full kilt. unlike the opening of the Hillary Clinton campaign HQ on Thursday night, which featured a number of Democratic elected officials, only State Senators Jim Sheehan and Josh Miller.

See: Sen. Sheehan supports Bernie Sanders

Joe Caiazzo is running the campaign here in Rhode Island, and he feels his candidate has a real shot. Jim Dean, brother of former presidential candidate Howard Dean, was on hand to support Sanders as well. After the opening celebrations, Sanders supporters got to work, clipboards in hand, canvassing for Sanders. This is a campaign that knows it needs an excellent ground game if they’re going to take this state in just over two weeks, so they’re wasting no time.

2016-04-10 Sanders RI HQ 002 — Jim Caiazzo

2016-04-10 Sanders RI HQ 001 — Senator Josh Miller

February 29, 2016

Pete Hoekstra: Profane hatred blossoms on campus

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[Editor: Pete Hoekstra, who found himself un-welcomed at the Rhode Island Island State House last Monday, had an op-ed in today’s Washington Times. We reprint it here with permission.]

[Comments and responses are welcome.]

Accepting Syrian refugees into the United States is an emotional issue. People are suffering and dying in Syria and throughout the broader Middle East. The grotesque nature of the situation is very real. Innocent Christians, Jews, women, homosexuals and children are being killed, sold as sex slaves and brutalized. Nobody in America wants that. Nor, however,… Continue reading “Pete Hoekstra: Profane hatred blossoms on campus”

February 23, 2016February 23, 2016

Anti-Syrian refugee rally overwhelmed by refugee supporters

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Hundreds of people carrying signs of acceptance and support for refugees and immigrants filled the State House today in response to an anti-Syrian refugee rally sponsored by the Boston based and Orwellian named Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) and featuring former Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra. Russell Taub, a Republican candidate seeking US Representative David Cicilline‘s seat, introduced the event. State Representative Mike Chippendale, originally advertised to be part of the event, made one of the smartest moves of his political career by distancing himself as far as possible from this mess.

Things did not go well for the anti-Syrian refugee camp.

As Charles Jacobs of APT spoke, he was several times interrupted by those in attendance. He was called repeatedly on his racist and inflammatory speech. I wrote about Jacobs’ problematic and bigoted past here. Jacobs pressed on through his speech, if for no other reason than to have posted this fake news story about the event here. (Note that the story says nothing about the crowd assembled against Jacobs, that the picture used gives the impression that the crowd was there in support of his message and that the piece gives the impression that the crowd could hear and cared about his message.)

Jacobs became visibly flustered and several times argued with the crowd, turning the event into a call and response. Jacobs claims to represent the interests of American Jews, but the Jewish people who I spoke with at the event all told me that Jacobs is a bigot who does not in any way represent them.

Pete Hoekstra did no better than Jacobs. At one point in his speech, Hoekstra mentioned genocide, prompting a Brown student to ask, “What about the genocide in Palestine?” In response, a photographer with Hoekstra and Jacobs’ group asked, “What Palestine?” eliciting first a shocked silence, then a loud denunciation.

Tired of what she called Hoekstra’s lies, Sterk Zaza, a Syrian immigrant, stood and asked Hoekstra, “Are you better than me?” Hoekstra never answered.

Afterwards, Hoekstra said, in conversation with Omar Bah of the Refugee Dream Center, “I’ve been in politics for 18 years, and I have never been met with a group as hostile and uncivil as what you are. Congratulations.”

The anti-Syrian refugee speakers were continually disrupted throughout their presentations.

The counter protest and the pro-Syrian refugee event held afterwards were organized in part by the RI State Council of Churches, the Dorcas Institute, the Refugee Dream Center, members and families in the Syrian community, Quaker Friends, CAIR-MA, the Standing on the Side of Love committees of several Unitarian Universalist churches, and perhaps 200 students from various organizations at Brown University.

After the failed and frankly embarrassing anti-refugee event was over, Hoekstra and Jacobs left the State House and the pro-Syrian rally began. John Jacobs from the the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MA) introduced the speakers. First up was State Senator Josh Miller.

Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman spoke next. Rabbi Voss-Altman said that he stood before the crowd as “a proud descendant of Jewish refugees who came here,” to America.

Omar Bah of the Refugee Dream Center came to America after being hunted, imprisoned and tortured in his home country. “What America stands for is love, is openness and its welcoming spirit…”

Businessman Youssef Bahralom is a gemologist and “very proud to be a Syriana and an American at the same time…”

RI State Representative Aaron Regunberg talked of being descended from a Jewish grandfather who escaped the Nazis. He was saddened to learn that the United States did not open its borders to Jewish refugees out of ignorance and bigotry. “It’s up to all of us here to make sure this time around,” said Regunberg, “the story has a different ending. This time, instead of succumbing to our basest instincts, Rhode Island stands up for its most fundamental values.”

Reverend Donald Anderson of the RI Council of Churches, said, “Unfortunately there are those among us who would turn their backs on our tradition of welcoming all faith traditions. But we must not let those who would prey upon fear and prejudice to snuff out the flame of religious freedom that makes our state and country so special.”

Sterk Zaza said she went to school in Syria, and contrary to the words of Charles Jacobs, “I was not taught to hate Jews. I was not taught to hate Christians. I have walked the streets of streets of Syraia and I have shaken the hands of Jews, of Christians, of Shia, of Sunni… and the man who was standing here, telling all these lies, couldn’t even answer me and tell me why he was any different than I am.”

Here’s the full anti-refugee rally:

February 11, 2016

Tax and regulate recreational marijuana bills introduced

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State Representative Scott Slater will introduce legislation next week that would end marijuana prohibition in Rhode Island and replace it with a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. Senator Josh Miller will enter similar legislation in the Senate. The Senate bill already almost half the Senate as co-signers and Slater has said that in conversation with leadership, Speaker Mattiello has indicated that he is open to the idea.

“Our current policy of marijuana prohibition has created an underground marijuana market that is entirely out of our control,” Slater said. “Most of the problems associated with marijuana stem from its illegal status. Rather than continuing to ignore these problems, let’s adopt a sensible regulatory system that addresses them.”

Slater also said, referencing Governor Gina Raimondo’s proposed tax on medical marijuana, “If Rhode Island wants marijuana to be a source of revenue, it should regulate and tax the hundreds of millions of dollars in adult marijuana sales currently taking place in the underground market. It should not impose onerous fees on seriously ill people who use marijuana for medical purposes, as our governor recently proposed.”

Senator Miller, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, issued a statement saying, “We should regulate and tax marijuana in Rhode Island and treat it similarly to how we treat alcohol. In a legal market, products would be tested, labeled, and packaged appropriately, and consumers are protected from the black market where they can be exposed to other more harmful illegal substances. Our legislation would put the illegal marijuana dealers out of business while generating tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue that we can invest in our communities.”

Professor Andrew Horwitz, a criminal defense lawyer and co-chair of Regulate Rhode Island spoke about the importance of decriminalizing marijuana, noting that continued criminalization,”devastates communities of color.”

“Most Rhode Island voters support ending marijuana prohibition and regulating marijuana like alcohol, and the level of support grows every year,” Horwitz said. “We hope this year that legislators will demonstrate leadership on this issue and replace our destructive and wasteful policy of marijuana prohibition with a system that makes more sense.”

Horwitz also spoke briefly about Governor Raimondo’s plan to tax medical marijuana, calling the move, “fundamentally cruel” and an “extraordinarily misguided approach.”

The Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow one mature marijuana plant in an enclosed, locked space. It would create a tightly regulated system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, processing facilities, and testing facilities and direct the Department of Business Regulation to create rules regulating security, labeling, and health and safety requirements. It would also establish wholesale excise taxes at the point of transfer from the cultivation facility to a retail store, as well as a special sales tax on retail sales to consumers.

Fifty-seven percent of Rhode Island voters support changing state law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, according to a survey conducted in April by Public Policy Polling. Only 35% were opposed.

November 19, 2015November 19, 2015

City Council committee passes tax break for hotel at choreographed meeting

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Some of the business suits worn in the Providence City Council Finance Committee meeting last night were worth more than a hotel worker’s monthly salary.

The power and pressure being brought to bear, to make sure that The Procaccianti Group (TPG) got their multi-million dollar Tax Stabilization Agreement (TSA) was enough to bend reality, as a five member committee was whittled down to three members and the final vote unanimous in favor of TPG.

City Hall was electric with meetings being conducted behind closed doors. What happened in the Finance Committee room was theater, the real deals were all made out of sight. The Finance Committee meeting seemed meticulously planned so that when it started, it would fall like a string of dominoes in favor of moneyed interests and to the detriment of hotel workers.

At issue was a 13-year TSA for the Fogarty Building site downtown, where TPG wants to build a new nine-story hotel. The building trade unions want the hotel, it will provide a couple years worth of good jobs. The hotel workers want the hotel and the jobs it will provide as well, but they wanted an amendment to the TSA “calling for workers to earn 1 1/2 times the federal poverty rate, or more than $14 an hour.”

Good wages for hotel workers are important. TPG is notorious for paying poorly, and the company requires their workers to do much more than workers at competing downtown hotels. Then there’s the steady stream of injuries to workers in TPG hotels. Unionization efforts at the Renaissance Hotel have dragged on for years and only recently did the hotel win a vote to unionize. Without the amendment, a new hotel full of underpaid, overworked and at-risk workers will be coming on-line even as Renaissance workers finally realize a fair contract.

On one side of the Finance Committee meeting room was Mayor Elorza’s Chief Operating officer, Brett Smiley, RI AFL-CIO leader George Nee, Michael Sabitoni, business manager for the RI Laborers’ District Council, state senator Josh Miller, a pile of lawyers and TPG reps, and prominent members of the Providence business community. Council President Luis Aponte stood nearby and monitored the proceedings.

Hotel workers and Unite Here! organizers, vastly outnumbered and outgunned, sat opposite.

Finance Committee Chair John Igliozzi was the city councilor who once suggested tying TSA’s to better wages way back in June, 2014. When it came time to amend the TSA, however, he was silent. Councilors Kevin Jackson and Sabina Matos were also silent, save to deliver the lines required to vote the TSA to the full City Council for final approval next month.

Missing from the committee meeting was Councilor Terrance Hassett, whose day job is Senior Investigator in the Workers’ Compensation Fraud and Compliance Unit at the Department of Labor and Training. He, like two other members of the finance committee, works for the state. It is well known that Governor Gina Raimondo wants this project to proceed. On background I was told that city council members were afraid of losing their jobs if they interfered with the deal, but nobody wanted to go on record.

(Given this, Providence voters might want to reconsider electing council members with state jobs.)

Hassett was a no show, but Councillor Carmen Castillo, a hotel worker herself, was there. She put her purse and coat down into her chair, then left the room to talk off stage with someone. While she was out of the room the Finance Committee meeting started and attendance was called. She was marked absent.

As the meeting got underway Castillo entered the room, recovered her purse and coat, and left without explanation.

There were three members left of the five member committee, enough for a quorum. As hotel workers looked on, the TSA was passed out of committee without the amendment they had requested. Millions of dollars in tax breaks were given to TPG.

There were smiles and handshakes all around as one half of the room erupted in enthusiastic conversation. Finance chair Igliozzi pounded his gavel for order, there was still the city’s contract with Local 1033 to be decided, so $40,000 worth of fine business suits moved outside and into the hallways, and eventually outside into the street.

The hotel workers gathered in a corner on the third floor so that a translator could explain to some of the Spanish speaking members what had happened.

But they understood.

This was government as business and business as usual.

November 18, 2015November 19, 2015

State senators to hold rally to support Syrian refugees

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Senators John Miller and Gayle Goldin are hosting a State House rally on Thursday at 1:30 “to demonstrate support and compassion for refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria,” according to a State House press release.

Miller said the rally tomorrow is to dispel any misconceptions that Senator Elaine Morgan’s comments are representative of the Senate as a whole. Morgan sent an email that brought national attention to Rhode Island because it said Muslim refugees should be kept in a camp, and, she wrote, “The Muslim religion and philosophy is to murder, rape, and decapitate anyone who is a non Muslim.” She later said she meant to include the word fanatical in this description.

“I’m embarrassed if people think that is a feeling that is prevalent in the Senate and this is an opportunity to show that there are other strong opinions,” Miller said. “I’ve heard from other senators who want to separate themselves from the comments made by Senator Morgan.”

Miller “absolutely” supports Rhode Island taking in Syrian refugees. “Not only is it the essence of Americanism it’s also the essence of Rhode Island.”

So far, the three state legislators to speak out for accepting Syrian refugees are all Jewish – sens. Miller and Goldin and Rep. Aaron Regunberg. Regunberg wrote a high profile letter to Gov. Gina Raimondo after reps. Bobby Nardolillo and Doreen Costa said they thought Rhode Island should not welcome refugees fleeing war and oppression in the Middle East because it poses a domestic security threat.

“I think the context for a lot of people is whatever their heritage is,” said Miller. “Our recent history shows how horribly wrong it can go when you start to identify the few.”

The senators will be joined by former Gambian refugee-turned-Rhode Island Omar Bah, whom Steve Ahlquist profiled in 2014. They will also be joined by Father Bernard Healey, a Catholic priest and State House lobbyist for the church, Rabbi Sarah Mack, a progressive rabbi from Providence and Iman Farid Ansari, a local leader of the Islamic faith, among others.

October 9, 2015October 29, 2015

FERC listens as no one speaks in favor of National Grids’ LNG facility

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No one spoke in favor of the project, but more than 100 people packed the room and 33 people spoke against National Grid‘s plan to build a $100 million methane gas liquefaction facility in Fields Point in South Providence before representatives of FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), the agency tasked with the job of approving or disapproving the project.

One after another speakers from the affected community, environmental activists, concerned Rhode Islanders and elected members of the General Assembly spoke passionately about negative environmental impacts and the explicit environmental racism implicit of National Grid’s plan.

The liquefaction facility is to be located adjacent to one of Rhode Island’s poorest communities, which already suffers from higher rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments. This community has become a sacrifice zone, a place where dangerous chemicals are stored. A representative from FERC admitted that some additional methane leaks are to be expected as a result of this plan, and methane is one of the most dangerous gases contributing to global warming and global catastrophe.

Peter Nightingale, a member of Fossil Free Rhode Island, has been involved in several FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) actions and who was arrested for his peaceful protest at Senator Sheldon Whitehouse‘s Providence office, pulled no punches when he told FERC, “To you who are here silently doing your jobs for this project I have but one thing to say: You are complicit in crimes against humanity and against Mother Earth.”

Monae McNeil, from the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island (EJLRI), a group central to the community’s resistance to this project, said, that this project “puts low-income communities at risk, if something were to happen.” The site of the project is not protected by the hurricane barrier. There was an earthquake near this location in August. A disaster at this facility would affect as many as 140 thousand Rhode Islanders.

Jan Luby pointed out that no storage facilities like this are being proposed for Barrington, Lincoln or East Greenwich. Instead, these projects are proposed for low-income communities where resistance is expected to be minimal.

Greg Gerritt spoke on behalf of the Green Party of RI and Prosperity For RI. FERC, he said, “has never turned down one of these projects” demonstrating that the agency is not serious about climate change.

Kate Schati doesn’t live on the South Side, but she cares what happens there, because “it affects the people who live in Providence with me… I don’t want them to be at risk of a breach or a leak or an explosion or even the normal operation of a plant…”

Ben Boyd: “…we need to be investing in clean, renewable, sustainable energy sources…”

One of the most impassioned testimonies of the evenings came from Stephen Dahl, of Kingston, RI. “Weep, weep, weep, weep,” he began, quoting William Blake on the Industrial Revolution. This was more performance piece as testimony, and was powerful.

Marti Rosenberg lives within the affected community. “This project shows us that the impact of fracking is much closer than we think.” Methane is used by communities near the South Side, but the South Side itself not so much. Instead, this community bears the brunt of the negative impacts of methane gas, and none of the benefits.

Peter Sugrue questioned National Grid’s motives for project. “We will clearly see a rate increase for this $100 million project,” yet all National Grid is promising is a smoothing of price volatility. How does this benefit Rhode Islanders, is that even to be honestly expected and is it worth the cost?

Paul Klinkman

Liberty Goodwin

Karen Palmer

Nick Katkevich of FANG, which has lead several actions against fracked gas infrastructure in Burrillville and Providence, promised resistance to this project in the event that FERC approves it.

Gina Rodriguez-Drix is a resident of Washington Park, a mother of two and a birth worker, is “deeply concerned about the disproportionate effects” this project will have on women and children of color in her neighborhood and other affected communities.

Julian Rodriguez-Drix is tired. “I’ve got a family with two kids, a full time job, and now it’s up to us to us, spending our free time poring through pages and pages of bureaucratic nonsense that is trying to find ways to justify a facility that you’ve heard everyone here speak out against.”

Representative Aaron Regunberg

Claudia Gorman

Servio

Lisa Petrie

Yudiglen Sena-Abrau

Jesus Holguin

Ana Quezada

Dania Flores is a board member of EJLRI. She spoke to the community (not to FERC) about how National Grid’s plan impacts the Latino community, about how we have our own solutions, and how we need to deport National Grid.

Paul

Beth Milham

Senator Josh Miller

Senator Juan Pichardo

August Juang

Vanessa Flores-Maldonado

Helen MacDonald

Steve Roberts

Susan Walker

Michelle Lacey

Will Lambek

March 6, 2015March 8, 2015

Legislators say it’s time to tax and regulate marijuana

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Representative Scott Slater introduced a bill (H5777) in the RI House of Representatives yesterday to tax and regulate marijuana. Senator Josh Miller introduced identical legislation in the RI Senate. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, both legislators were optimistic that this might be the year the legislation passes.

Though a pair of cranks attempted to hijack the press conference by insisting that the speakers use the word “cannabis” instead of “marijuana,” Jared Moffat, executive director of Regulate Rhode Island, a coalition of groups in support of marijuana regulation, showed remarkable poise and kept the presentation on track.

Representative Slater said that Colorado, the first state to tax and regulate marijuana, “has one of the fastest going economies in the country.” Money spent on legal marijuana products is money denied to organized crime, says Slater, who asked, “Do we allow criminals to control the market? Or do we want the sales to be regulated and taxed?”

Senator Miller cited justice, public safety and revenue issues as reasons for a growth in support for the idea. Many more groups have joined the call for regulation, and the governor, the Senate president and the speaker of the House have all said that they are open to considering such an idea.

Dan Harrop, the recent Republican candidate for mayor of Providence, was to speak at the press conference, but an auto accident, in which Harrop was unharmed, prevented his attendance. Instead Dr. James Crowley spoke about the current laws regarding marijuana prohibition as being “fundamentally wrong, and a tremendous waste of resources.”

Crowley also spoke of the “first mover advantage.” The first state in New England to tax and regulate marijuana, Crowley maintains, will have early and sustainable marketing advantages that should last even as other states follow suit. Massachusetts activists have already managed to get legislation onto the ballot, and Rhode Island has “a small window of opportunity” if we want to be first, and reap the financial rewards.

Senator Miller says that a majority of Rhode Islanders are in favor of taxing and regulating marijuana, saying, “I think this is the year to do that.”

November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Regulate RI’s marijuana forum packed with information

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“There are more African-American men in prison, jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850,” said Diego Arene-Morley, President of Brown University Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “That’s a statistic that you don’t really ever forget.”

He added, “The federal prison population since 1980 has grown 721% thanks to Reagan’s vision for a war on drugs.”

Arene-Morley was acting as the emcee at a forum on Regulating Marijuana in Rhode Island. It featured two panels of experts and advocates addressing a crowd of over 120 people. With nearly two hours of experts discussing policy and outlining possible courses towards the regulation of sales of marijuana, it was a night jam packed with information.

Representative Scott Slater (D-Prov) spoke about his involvement in passing a law to regulate the recreational use of marijuana as a continuation of the work his father, former Representative Thomas Slater, who was instrumental in passing the laws that allowed for the medical use of marijuana in our state.

Dr. David C. Lewis, MD, founder of Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, gave a short history of drug prohibition laws. He says such laws have always been racist in origin. That’s not to say that there are no dangers in using marijuana. Dr. Lewis maintains that we must balance an understanding of civil liberties with an understanding of the medical information.

Jim Vincent, president of NAACP Providence Branch pointed out that it’s not just communities of color, but all communities that are impacted by these drug laws. Money dedicated to the war on drugs is money not used in our schools or for other public goods. Vincent mentioned the book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (see the suggested reading list below) as being an excellent guide to the cost of such policies on our society.

Elizabeth A. Comery, JD, retired attorney, former Providence police officer and member of LEAP, (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) recalled her days as a police officer in Providence. She joined the force in 1976, and said, “I went on because I really wanted to serve and protect. It may sound naive given what’s happening now but we have to get back to that.”

Comery knows police officers who are “consumed with guilt and regret” over their actions during the drug war. The police routinely targeted communities of color in their drug raids, and their war on drugs almost never penetrated into white or economically advantaged communities. Meanwhile, the clearance rates on homicides has plunged. In Providence, only 43% of homicides have been cleared since 2000.

Mason Tvert, Director of Communications at Marijuana Policy Project and co-director of the 2012 Amendment 64 campaign in Colorado, was asked about the approach most Rhode Island state legislators seem to be taking towards the issue, which is to “wait and see” what happens in Colorado in the wake of regulation there. Tvert compared those legislators to people who find out that they have cancer and wait to see how a friend’s treatment goes before deciding on a course of action for themselves. In adopting this attitude legislators are dodging the question and destroying lives.

Tvert also talked about the jobs marijuana regulation has brought to Colorado. In addition to 18,000 badged employees licensed by the state, there are uncounted thousands of spillover jobs in terms of construction and attendant industries. Tvert feels that responsible regulation that mandates living wages and health care for employees, among other benefits, could mitigate the effects of “Big Marijuana” in the event of nationwide regulation and federal acceptance.

Michelle McKenzie, MPH, public health researcher and advocate for people in recovery from substance dependence, who was part of the second panel, said, “Our society has tasked the criminal justice system with a task it just cannot do. We desperately need drug policy reform.”

Pat Oglesby, JD, MBA, former Chief Tax Counsel, US Senate Finance Committee would prefer that the regulation of marijuana be done under a state monopoly, but he was assured by Senator Josh Miller that such an idea is politically impossible at the Rhode Island State House. Oglesby thinks the taxation of marijuana should be on volume, not cost, as this reduces the chance of losing revenue as market competition drives down the price of marijuana in the future.

As to the possibility of passing marijuana regulation legislation in the near term, Senator Josh Miller is hopeful. Though by Senator Miller’s estimation the majority of State Senators privately believe that regulation is the best answer, most will not publicly endorse the idea for political reasons. Miller only got 13 Senators to publicly support the measure last year.

Miller isn’t all that interested in the financial implications in ending the war on marijuana. “There’s a culture of violence around drug use,” says Miller, “I’m interested in saving lives.” Regulation means that a person purchasing marijuana will be dealing with licensed businessmen, not criminals. Criminals bring access to weapons and harder drugs.

“The gateway,” says Miller, “is the drug dealer, not the drug.”

Dr. Lewis joked that this being Brown University, he couldn’t let the audience go without giving them a reading assignment. He recommended the following:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart

Why we need to end the War on Drugs a TED Talk by Ethan Nadelmann

Not to be outdone, Beth Comery added a bit of required reading as well:

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Civil Forfeiture (HBO)

April 24, 2014April 25, 2014

Ticket fairness: Fix it or fail it

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On the surface, the Ticket Fairness Act, pending in the General Assembly, looks like a consumer protection act that hurts the scalpers. In reality, it is exactly the opposite. As written, the law allows venues and ticket agents to transfer to themselves any quantity of tickets to resell at inflated prices.

As with many things in Rhode Island politics, it’s not so much what the bill says as what it doesn’t say. By comparing the RI bill—which is nearly identical to legislation pushed in other states by the dominant ticketing agent, Ticketmaster—to New York state’s law, considered the gold standard for actual consumer protections, we can see how our legislators are foisting upon us yet another thinly-veiled ripoff.

Hot scalper-on-scalper action!

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

~ Hunter Thompson

Dr. Gonzo only says this because it’s 100% true. This is a story where there are no “good guys”.

The genesis of this legislation is that Ticketmaster and their cronies (Live Nation and Ticket Exchange) are watching other, equally evil entities (StubHub) make giant amounts of money to which they feel entitled. It’s not that they actually want to protect the general public from getting ripped off. It’s that they want to be the ones that do it.

The amount of money in this shallow trench is stupefying, easily enough to motivate the most heinous behavior. That two gangs would fight over controlling it should surprise nobody.

A ticket to a hot concert at the Dunk can sell for 10 or 20 times the face value. If you can get your hand on 1,000 tickets for $50 and resell them for $500, that’s $450,000 in pure profit for basically doing nothing. That’s roughly half a million bucks for one night’s ripoff.

The RI bill does, in fact, make it much harder for StubHub to get their hands on large blocks of tickets. At the same time, it virtually guarantees that either the venue or the ticket agent will sell themselves large blocks of tickets to scalp at outrageous prices.

Are Johnny and Jenny Music Fan protected in any way? Absolutely not.

How a true entertainment capital handles this

In RI, we have maybe three or four venues that attract shows worth the attention of big-time scalpers. In New York City, that’s one block on Broadway. No other place in the US has more invested in a thriving entertainment sector than New York. Not Branson, MO; not Nashville; not Memphis; not even Las Vegas.

New York state has a comprehensive law to regulate ticket sales and resales that truly protects the general public. This law—Article 25—contains provisions that the RI bill lacks. By adding these provisions to the RI bill, the GA could actually do something good for the people of RI.

Specifically, Section 25.30 regulates not ticket resellers but the original sellers, called “operators” in their law and “issuers” in the RI bill. 25.30.3 states:

No operator or operator’s agent shall sell or convey tickets to any secondary ticket reseller owned or controlled by the operator or operator’s agent.

24 words; problem solved. We find no such provision in the RI bill, but any legislator could introduce such an amendment.

You know what? Bunk that. It shouldn’t be any legislator; it should be Senator Josh Miller, who somehow is a co-sponsor in the senate. Your Frymaster is actually quite disappointed in the feisty Cranstonian that he could be bamboozled to such an extent.

As a savvy business professional, working specifically in the Downcity nightlife sector, one has to wonder how this multi-venue owner could not see through these shenanigans. And it’s much better for all of us if the question is “how” and not “why”.

Senator Miller, please fix this bill or withdraw your support and act to defeat it.

Addendum: E-tickets

Others on the left make an equally strong argument that the “any ticketing means” provision of the RI bill only serves to let venues and agents control resale by regular ticket buyers. This is true, but not the focus of this post. Interested readers can find the fix for this particular nastiness in NY 25.30 (c) that specifies that ticket buyers must be able to control resale of their tickets without interference by the venue or agent.

March 26, 2014

Some perspective on Josh Miller’s “Go F- yourself” moment

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In 2004, Vice President Dick Cheney told Senator Patrick Leahy to “Go fuck yourself” in response to Leahy’s criticisms over Cheney’s Halliburton war profiteering. Later the same week, Cheney said he didn’t regret cursing at the Senator on the Senate floor, and even as recently as 2010 said of telling off Leahy, “That’s sort of the best thing I ever did.”

I think Cheney set a pretty low bar for “best thing ever,” but sadly, given his record, he might be right. But I digress.

Yesterday Dan Bidondi (to be played by Michael Chiklis in the movie version of this story) posted a video on Info Wars where Rhode Island State Senator Josh Miller (and a local photographer) told him to “Go fuck yourself.”

Bidondi reacted with mock outrage, editing the video in such a way as to leave out the part where he is harassing people in the State House with idiotic questions. Bidondi’s behavior and conduct were deplorable that day, and when I called him on his behavior (using words much more polite than “Go fuck yourself”) he told me that he was a member of the press and was exercising his right to free speech. He proudly displayed his Info Wars press credentials.

Bidondi is a member of the press, and he has the First Amendment right to free speech. So does Senator Miller, of course, but Miller is also a better person than Bidondi (or Dick Cheney, for that matter) because after due consideration, Miller apologized for his behavior, saying, “Regardless of the emotions and atmosphere of the moment, it does not justify the language I used that day. Out of respect for the decorum of the State House and the constituents I represent, I offer my apologies.”

No such apology seems forthcoming from Bidondi.

Info Wars and Bidondi represent the very worst of the right wing Internet. Comments on Bidondi’s Josh Miller post number in the hundreds and are filled with anti-semitism, thinly veiled death threats and racism. Reading them is stomach churning.

BR549 said, “I thought this clown looked Jewish, ……. and sure enough, after a bit of digging, there it was. So we have yet another arrogant Jewish leftard progressive in office, who has to lie through his teeth on his FaceBook page to try to convince everyone that Dan BiDondi is a basher of elderly veterans.”

Earl Scheib said, tactfully, “He needs to be Trotsky’d” by which I assume he means “hit in the head with an icepick.”

Joel Bensonetti observed that, “Josh Miller looks a lot like Pol Pot, only white.”

These are some of the tamer examples.

Anyone who has dealt with Dan “false flag” Bidondi knows that he is not a honest player in the public debate, that he intentionally mocks and goads the people he stalks for impromptu interviews, that he espouses any inane conspiracy theory that pops into his head, and that he actively courts exactly the amount of respect he deserves.

Senator Miller may have lost his cool but he apologized to his constituents and the citizens of Rhode Island, not to Bidondi and not to that hotbed of racism, misogyny and anti-semitism called Info Wars.

I think that’s appropriate.

March 19, 2014

Watch the highlights: Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence at State House

Gun Control 01 Jerry Belair, president of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence asked the following question, “Rhode Island law limits the number of rounds to five when hunting deer. Rhode Island law limits the number of rounds to three when hunting ducks. If we can limit the number of rounds in a firearm to protect dear and ducks, how can we not limit the number of rounds to protect our children and citizens?”

Referring to the crowd that filled the main rotunda under the dome of the Rhode Island State House to advocate for sensible gun control, State Senator Josh Miller said, “This is what a majority looks like… A majority is a wide coalition…” that voted “in Exeter over two to one in favor of people who favor gun legislation.”

Shortly after her election to the Rhode Island House, Representative Linda Finn was contacted by Carl Cunningham Sr., who told her the story of his son, Carl Jr., who was killed the year before. “Carl was shot by a jealous ex-boyfriend of a friend he was visiting,” says Finn, “He wasn’t the intended target, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“By a two to one margin, Rhode Islanders want to ban assault weapons. We have a very small percentage of gun owners in this state, less than 13%. It’s time for us to act, it’s time to do what the majority of Rhode Islanders want us to do, which is to ban assault weapons ban high magazine capacity and get our domestic violence laws in line with Federal laws.”

Nan Heroux calls herself an “accidental activist” motivated by a need to help protect “her grandchildren and yours” as a member of Moms Demand Action.

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February 18, 2014

Why legislators think we should tax and regulate marijuana

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Senator Josh Miller, of Cranston, and Rep. Edith Ajello, of the East Side of Providence, double bi-lined this op/ed on why Rhode Island should become the third state in the nation to legalize marijuana.

Check it their op/ed below the video. And here’s Rep. Ajello from three years ago explaining how tax and regulate would work:

A Sensible Marijuana Policy for Rhode Island
By Rep. Edith H. Ajello and Sen. Joshua Miller

Marijuana policy reform is a hot topic these days in Rhode Island and across the country. Over the last three years, we’ve been discussing the issue with constituents, colleagues, opinion leaders and activists on both sides of the issue. Our conversations have led us to two points of agreement:

Our current marijuana policy has failed. For instance, studies indicate an increase in youth marijuana use and that it is easy for them to get it.

Most Rhode Islanders are ready for change.

A survey conducted last month by Public Policy Polling reinforced our conclusions, finding that a solid majority of Rhode Island voters support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, allowing adults over the age of 21 to use it. These results are right in line with several national polls that indicate a rapidly growing majority of Americans agree it is time to make marijuana legal.

Marijuana prohibition has been a failure of tragic proportions. It has failed to prevent use or abuse. It has been a distraction for law enforcement officials who should be focusing elsewhere. Marijuana prohibition has resulted in criminal records for thousands of otherwise law-abiding adults and limited the ability of too many of our young people to access financial aid for higher education. Insidiously, this prohibition has forced marijuana sales into an underground market where more dangerous products such as heroin and cocaine are also offered. Ironically, prohibition ensures that the state has no control over the product. Criminals fight over the profits and our state and municipalities forego millions of dollars of tax revenue.

It is for these reasons that we support regulating and taxing marijuana as we regulate and tax alcohol, and approaching marijuana as a public health matter rather than a criminal justice problem. We can mandate that marijuana be properly tested and labeled so that consumers know what they are getting. We can restrict sales to minors and ensure that those who sell marijuana are asking for proof of age. We can collect tens of millions of dollars in much-needed tax revenue and foster the creation of new businesses and jobs in an emerging industry.

Importantly, we can redirect our drug prevention and treatment resources toward addressing the abuse of more harmful drugs such as methamphetamine, heroin and prescription narcotics. We can urge teens to stay away from marijuana until their brains are fully developed.

Those who wish to maintain our current prohibition laws often claim marijuana is a “gateway drug” that will inevitably lead to the use of other drugs, but studies suggest otherwise. According to a 1999 study commissioned by the White House and performed by the Institute of Medicine, marijuana “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse.”

Marijuana’s illegal status creates the gateway. By forcing marijuana consumers into the underground market, we dramatically increase the possibility that they will be exposed to more dangerous substances. Separating marijuana from the illicit drug markets while reducing exposure to more addictive and dangerous substances cannot help but reduce any gateway effect associated with marijuana use. Customers buying a bottle of wine for dinner are not, after all, offered heroin.

Regulating marijuana will take the product out of the hands of criminal enterprises and place it behind counters of legitimate businesses that safely and responsibly sell marijuana – and marijuana only – to adults 21 and older.

Under marijuana prohibition, illicit profits are used to fund violent gangs, illegal gun markets, human trafficking, and other violent trades. Regulating marijuana will allow us to redirect marijuana sales revenue away from the violent criminal market and toward a meaningful solution. A large portion of tax revenue derived from wholesale transactions will fund programs preventing and treating the abuse of alcohol and other substances. According to federal government data, nearly 2.5 percent of Rhode Islanders needed treatment for hard drugs in 2012 but did not receive it. The recent spike in drug overdose deaths is a stark reminder of the need for treatment and education.

Most people recognize that marijuana prohibition’s days are numbered. The question is now “when should we end it?” not “should we?” Like most Rhode Islanders, we believe now is the time and regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol is the answer.

February 13, 2014February 13, 2014

Should we tax and regulate marijuana, or let law enforcement seize and keep revenue?

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Marijuana made it into the local news in two very different ways yesterday.

At the State House, two legislators announced they will again push a bill to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Meanwhile, far away from the state capital near the Connecticut border, three young men were arrested for growing and selling pot.

Sen Josh Miller and Rep Edith Ajello spoke about how regulation can help keep cannabis away from kids and create revenue for the state and small businesses.

“Marijuana prohibition has been a long-term failure,” Miller said yesterday. “Forcing marijuana into the underground market ensures authorities have no control of the product. Regulating marijuana would allow the product to be sold safely and responsibly by legitimate businesses in appropriate locations.”

Earlier in the week, Rhode Island and Connecticut police seized more than a half million dollars in cash and product from a group of entrepreneurs who had evidently put together a not-so-small agricultural operation in spite of the law.

“In total, the search warrants resulted in the seizure of 248 marijuana plants, over 46 pounds of processed marijuana and $312,678 in United States Currency,” said a press release from the Rhode Island state police.

Miller and Ajello’s bill would put a $50 excise tax on every ounce of wholesale marijuana sold to a state-sanctioned store (much like liquor stores in Rhode Island). That means Rhode Island missed out on more than $30,000 in revenue from this one bust. The bill would also put a 10 percent tax on the retail sale of marijuana. That’s another $30,000 in revenue the state missed out on, assuming the confiscated cash was from the sale of said marijuana.

“Taxing marijuana sales will generate tens of millions of dollars in much-needed tax revenue for the state, a portion of which will be directed towards programs that treat and prevent alcohol and other substance abuse,” Ajello said at yesterday’s State House press conference.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island state police said more than 10 law enforcement agencies worked since January to arrest three people for growing and selling a plant. No guns and no other drugs or contraband was identified. Police did say Rhode Island medical marijuana cards were being misused, but that may be an indication that the three men are willing to comply with the law if the law were to recognize their very profitable business model.

“Marijuana prohibition is a failed policy, and when a law is broken it needs to be fixed,” said Jared Moffatt, of Regulate Rhode Island, the grassroots group working to take pot off the streets and put it onto the tax rolls. “Regulating marijuana is the solution because it will take control away from illegal dealers, and it will improve the Rhode Island economy by generating tax revenue and creating jobs.”

Even though a recent poll shows a majority of Rhode Islanders support legalizing marijuana, pundits have said politicians are unlikely to act on the tax and regulate bill this year because it is an election year.

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014

Chafee, Ferri, Miller: Three lawmakers talk marijuana legalization

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Marijuana policy experts from afar have suggested Rhode Island could become the third state in the nation, after Colorado and Washington, to tax and regulate cannabis. But local political policy experts have suggested it won’t happen this year because it’s an election year.

I spoke with three State House lawmakers yesterday about the prospect for Rhode Island to legalize marijuana this year: Governor Linc Chafee, Senator Josh Miller and Rep. Frank Ferri

Chafee said he doesn’t think it will happen this year, saying he would like to see what happens in Colorado and Washington and what revenue estimates look like before moving ahead.

Senator Josh Miller, a progressive Democrat from Cranston, didn’t sound overly optimistic. “I’m not sure there’s enough people who understand or take it seriously enough to totally embrace it but I think it will be a serious discussion.” But he did say the revenue projections “will be hard to ignore.”

And for those who think the politics of the election cycle will trump policy (there are very few legislators who actively oppose legalization) Rep. Frank Ferri likened its chances to marriage equality. (Ferri is gay and worked for many years to pass same sex marriage; it passed last year)

Here’s my takeaway: legalizing marijuana will create jobs, raise tax revenue and every lawmaker I spoke with yesterday said that should be the major priority of the General Assembly this year. If there is a non-reefer madness reason not to tax and regulate marijuana – beyond the reefer madness offered by the Providence Journal and the electoral concerns of those in power – I’d like to hear it.

For more on this debate, see this article from Reason (August, 2013): Marijuana’s Bright Future. And this one from the American Prospect (December 2013): Pot’s Uncertain Future.

Also please listen to this RI Future podcast featuring an informed conversation between pro-legalization advocates Jared Moffat and Rebecca McGoldrick with East Greenwich drug counselor Bob Houghtaling, who said he could support legalization if done right.

January 9, 2013January 10, 2013

Help Pass Tax Fairness For Rhode Island Tonight

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rite rally — Sen. Josh Miller and Rep. Maria Cimini, sponsors of a bill that would raise taxes on the richest 2 percent of Rhode Islanders.

Tonight’s your chance to help bring tax fairness to Rhode Island. Ocean State Action is holding a phone bank party its headquarters at 99 Bald Hill Rd. in Cranston from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

“We’ll be mobilizing Rhode Islanders from Woonsocket to Westerly to contact their elected officials in support of tax fairness,” said Kristina Fox, who is leading OSA’s tax equity campaign. “Every phone call counts, and we need your help to reach as many folks as possible.”

Last session, Ocean State Action lobbied hard for the legislature to pass Rep. Maria Cimini and Senator Josh Miller’s tax equity bill. That legislation would have increased taxes on those who earn more than $250,000 annually but also tying that tax rate to the unemployment rate to encourage job growth.

March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

Decriminalizing Pot Would Save State Money

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Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine have already decriminalized possession of less than ounce of marijuana, as have a total of 13 states. But don’t take our neighbors’ words for it, a special Rhode Island senate commission on marijuana prohibition found in 2010 that the move would actually save the state money.

“Even by conservative estimates,” reads the group’s final report. “Rhode Island state agencies and departments involved in criminal justice stand to save money in their respective offices should the Rhode Island General Assembly decide to pass the decriminalization of possession of an ounce or less of marijuana.”

The report is relevant as the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to hear Sen. Josh Miller’s bill that would make possession of less than an ounce of pot punishable by a $150 ticket. Currently, those caught with less than an ounce can be imprisoned for up to a year or fined between $200 and $500, or both.

In 2009, according to the group’s report, 1,145 people were charged with simple possession of marijuana and were represented by the public defender’s office. At an average of $347 per case, the change in law could save Rhode Island some $400,000 a year.

A “majority” of the Rhode Island Senate Commission to Study the Prohibition on Marijuana, made up of medical, legal and political leaders from across the state “agrees that marijuana law reform will not only benefit the state from a budget perspective, but would also avoid costly arrests or incarcerations due to simple possession of marijuana.” Former Central Falls Police Chief Joe Moran and retired State Trooper Joseph Osediacz did not think so.

The state as a whole seems to agree with the majority of the commission. A Public Policy Polling survey found that 65 percent of Rhode Islanders agree that the penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana should be lessened. Last week, when a House committee debated a similar bill 15 people testified in favor of the legislation and only one, Kathy Sullivan of the Barrington Prevention Coalition, testified against it.

Also on the docket is Sen Rhoda Perry’s bill that would legalize and tax marijuana.

March 21, 2012March 21, 2012

Video: Why Flat Tax Hasn’t Worked For Rhode Island

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Rhode Islanders for Tax Equity release a powerful new video today that explains why un-flattening the income tax code and increasing the rate that the richest residents pay would help to solve many of the issues that are currently plaguing the state.

The group, made up of many unions and economic activist groups from around the state, is pushing for passage of the Cimini-Mill bill which would increase income taxes for those who make more than $250,000 a year.

You’ll notice the video says the tax rate was lowered in 2006. And if you’re a regular reader of RI Future, you’ll remember that House speaker Gordon Fox told me recently he wouldn’t consider this bill this session because it is the first year that the new tax rate was in place. In actuality, the tax rate has been getting flatter since 2007 and this is the first year it is completely flat at the top.

Here’s a chart showing unemployment going up as the top tax rate goes down:

RITE has an interesting slogan on its website: “Rebuild RI the RITE Way.” Not too far off from the Projo’s new series of the state of the state’s economy, “Reinvent RI.” Interestingly, both efforts are designed to help Rhode Island get out of the economic mess it is in.

George Nee, president of the AFLO-CIO and a member of the group, added in a press release that such a move would be a boon for Rhode Island’s struggling economy:

“Only the top 2% of income earners in Rhode Island will be affected by this bill. Our hope is that the other 98% will benefit through this increased revenue, which could be used to lower property taxes, help small business owners create jobs, stop college tuition increases, restore funding to programs for the neediest Rhode Islanders, and fix our roads and bridges. This is a bottom up campaign. We are hoping this video helps educate and motivate lower and middle-income Rhode Islanders and helps create a groundswell of support for this bill.”

March 6, 2012March 6, 2012

Rhode Islanders Rally for Tax Equity Bill

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Rhode Islanders for Tax Equity held court in the rotunda of the State House this afternoon, explaining why it’s good for the state’s economy – as well as a moral imperative in tough economic times – to raise taxes on the rich.

The bill would raise the income tax rate for those making more than $250,000 – the richest 2 percent of the state – from 5.99 percent to 9.99 percent, with the caveat that for every one percentage point the unemployment rate drops so too would the tax increase, and the group estimates it could bring in $118 million in new revenue for the ailing state coffers.

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