On the master lever, I am a hypocrite
On Monday morning, I argued that abolition of the single party option (SPO, better known as the so-called “master lever”) should fail, even though it’s good policy to abolish it. In it, I argue the opposite for what I’d argued about five months before: that regardless of the benefit abolition would accrue for proponents, it [...]
What’s really wrong with the master lever
Bob Plain has spent a lot of time in a back and forth with Ken Block about the issue of eliminating the straight-party option (a.k.a. master lever), even bringing in Speaker Gordon Fox to defend its place on the ballot. I’d like to move the debate away from questions of political motivation and toward some [...]
Master lever politics: Fox responds to Block
Here’s my unedited interview with House Speaker Gordon Fox, who expressed no small amount of frustration with Ken Block for the way in which he has handled his campaign to make straight party voting more difficult in Rhode Island. Important update: I’m told this is the first time Fox has publicly taken a position on [...]
Why Ken Block Wants To Kill The Master Lever
Ken Block seems to be on a mission to distract Rhode Island from issues that actually matter to our economy. This week it’s the master lever again. Last week it was temporary disability insurance. The week before that it was food stamp fraud. What these issues all have in common, besides being among Block’s favorite [...]
2 Takes On Disability: Ken Block, ‘This American Life’
When the House Committee on Small Business takes up today it will hear from gubernatorial candidate-turned-foodstamp-fraud investigator Ken Block who will likely say something like, “Ultimately, our TDI program should resemble most other state’s plans in terms of cost and utilization.” as he tweeted last night. But a must-listen “This American Life” episode this weekend [...]
Ken Block: Why Progressive RI Should Agree With Me
While I might not agree with where Ken Block invests his energy and determination, I certainly have a lot of respect for his energy and determination. Even after I compared him to PT Barnum and likened his SNAP fraud investigation to Anthony Gemma’s voter fraud investigation, he still took the time to write an essay [...]
Ken Block Is PT Barnum, Rhode Island The Suckers
Ken Block is the new PT Barnum of Rhode Island. He’s dominating local politics like it’s his own private three ring circus. Too bad he’s treating Rhode Islanders like suckers in the process. Block got an amazing amount of positive press for his report on fraud and abuse in the state SNAP program. Technically, this [...]
Outrage Porn 2: Ken Block Takes On SNAP Fraud
A SNAP expert examined the food assistance fraud report that software engineer and small government advocate Ken Block completed and said the results indicate Rhode Island is “doing a stellar job” mitigating misuse. Progressive Providence Rep. Maria Cimini, who coordinates the SNAP outreach program at URI, said the national fraud rate for the program known [...]
What’s In A Name: RISC Meets Moderate Party
There’s something refreshingly honest about Ken Block and RISC coming together to form the RI Taxpayers organization. They are both now coming clean and admitting in monicker who it is they are actually advocating for. Say what you will about Ken Block’s policy proposals – and there some I like and many I don’t – [...]
Quiet Conservatives by Banning Master Lever
Moderate Party chairman and possible gubernatorial candidate Ken Block is out with a new website, masterlever.org, which petitions the Governor and the General Assembly to eliminate the ability to vote solely based on party line (a.k.a., the “master lever”). As a case study for why it should be banned, Mr. Block offers up the 9000+ [...]
With Legislature, You Get What You Pay For
So in the 2011-2012 General Assembly class, roughly 1 in 4 legislators were lawyers. Now, that’s a considerable over-representation. Thus it’s not surprising to me that the legislature typically starts its session about the time court gets out. Lawyers are also adept at writing laws, typically in legalese (despite there being more efficient and understandable [...]
Don’t Rule Moderates Out
In a year where there were only four candidates across the state marked as belonging to the Moderate Party on the ballot (most people never saw them and the fifth and sole successful Moderate Party candidate ran in a nonpartisan race), 9249 voters used the so-called “master lever” to vote for the Moderate Party. With [...]
Libertarian Fairy Dust: AKA Its Only Class War When Workers Fight Back
Two interesting things of note. First, this gragh from the AFL-CIO: Then this story from the NYTIMES by Steven Greenhouse: Labor’s Decline and Wage Inequality By STEVEN GREENHOUSE The decline in organized labor’s power and membership has played a larger role in fostering increased wage inequality in the United States than is generally thought, according [...]
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