In a July 19 , Chuck Rosenberg, the acting administrator of the DEA, wrote, “On November 30, 2011, your predecessors, The Honorable Lincoln D. Chafee and The Honorable Christine O. Gregoire, petitioned the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to initiate rulemaking proceedings under the rescheduling provisions of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA),” . “Specifically, your predecessors petitioned the DEA to have marijuana and “related items” removed from Schedule I of the CSA and rescheduled as medical cannabis in Schedule II.”

The DEA, it should be noted, disagreed, writing to Raimondo, “Based on the HHS evaluation and all other relevant data, the DEA has concluded that there is no substantial evidence that marijuana should be removed from Schedule I.” It cited three main reasons: “Marijuana has a high potential for abuse. Marijuana has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. Marijuana lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision.” An editorial in today’s New York Times proves false each of those three reasons. The DEA was also responding to a request from the governor of Washington and a citizen of New Mexico.

While governor of Rhode Island, Chafee signed legislation to decriminalize less than an ounce of marijuana. But he declined to push Rhode Island to become the first state on the East Coast to tax and regulate marijuana. As a presidential candidate earlier this year, there was some reason to believe Chafee was considering campaigning as a pro-pot candidate after he said his position on full federal legalization would “evolve during the campaign.”

Governor Raimondo has taken a similar tack on taxing and legalizing marijuana as Chafee did during his tenure. “I could see Rhode Island eventually getting there, but I’m not going to rush,” she said in March. On medical marijuana, she pushed legislation that added a per-plant tax to patients who don’t grow their own.

According to a spokeswoman for Raimondo, the governor doesn’t plan to pursue the matter with the DEA any further. “This petition was submitted during the prior administration, so the governor does not plan to respond to the letter,” said Marie Aberger, who did not respond to a question asking if Raimondo thinks marijuana should be considered a Schedule 1 drug.

Rhode Island has the highest per capita marijuana users in the nation and a recent poll found 55 percent of Rhode Islanders favor legalization. A different poll found 53 percent of Americans favor legalization.

Chafee said domestic issues – “What’s happening in our inner cities, and with our middle class and the disparity of wealth,” he said – would be his first priority as president, when asked this question after his prepared speech. He said tax policy and public education are the best ways to address income inequality.

But his speech focused heavily on international affairs. He spoke strongly against George Bush and the neoconservatives who sold the country on a false premise for going to war in Iraq. Chafee railed against drone strikes and called to bring Edward Snowden home. He spoke favorably about the Trans Pacific Partnership, an issue that progressives vociferously oppose, as does the Rhode Island congressional delegation.

“For me waging peace includes negotiating fair trade agreements that set standards for labor practices, environmental protections, preventing currency manipulation and protection of intellectual property among others,” Chafee said. “The Trans Pacific Partnership has the potential to set fair guidelines for the robust commerce taking place in the Pacific Rim.”

Asked if he is a progressive, the former Rhode Island governor didn’t answer.

WPRI has video of the entire speech, including the Q&A after his prepared remarks (which is the most interesting part). Below that, is the full text of his speech.

Thank you for inviting me.  Mixing foreign policy and politics is an invitation I couldn’t pass up! It’s a pleasure to be here at George Mason University – which is named for one of the many great contributors to the best form of government on earth.

As prescribed by our Constitution, which George Mason helped write, we will be electing a new President in 2016. I enjoy challenges and certainly we have many facing America.

Today I am formally entering the race for the Democratic nomination for President.

If we as leaders show good judgment and make good decisions, we can fix much of what is ailing us.

We must deliberately and carefully extricate ourselves from expensive wars.  Just think about how better this money could be spent.

For instance, our transportation network is deteriorating and becoming dangerous. We should be increasing our investment and priority in public schools and colleges. This is especially important in some of our cities where there is a gnawing sense of hopelessness, racial injustice and economic disparity.

We can and should do better for Native Americans, new Americans and disadvantaged Americans.

Let’s keep pushing to get health care coverage to more of the uninsured.  We can address climate change and extreme weather while protecting American jobs.

I believe that these priorities: education, infrastructure, health care, environmental stewardship, and a strong middle class are Americans’ priorities.

I am also running for President because we need to be very smart in these volatile times overseas.

I’d like to talk about how we found ourselves in the destructive and expensive chaos in the Middle East and North Africa and then offer my views on seeking a peaceful resolution.

There were twenty-three Senators who voted against the Iraq war in October 2002.  Eighteen of us are still alive and I’m sure everyone of us had their own reasons for voting “NO”.   I’d like to share my primary three.

The first reason is that the long painful chapter of the Viet Nam era was finally ending.  This is my generation and the very last thing I wanted was any return to the horrific bungling of events into which we put our brave fighting men and women.

In fact we had a precious moment in time where a lasting peace was in our grasp. Too many senators forgot too quickly about the tragedy of Viet Nam.

A second reason was that I had learned in the nine months of the Bush/Cheney administration prior to September 11th, not to trust them at their word.  As a candidate, Governor Bush had said many things that were for the campaign only- governing would be a lot different.  For example a campaign staple was, “I am a uniter, not a divider”.  He said very clearly that his foreign policy would be humble, not arrogant.  And he promised to regulate carbon dioxide, a climate change pollutant.  These promises were all broken in the very first days of his presidency.

Sadly, the lies never stopped.  This was an administration not to be trusted.

My third reason for voting against the war was based on a similar revulsion to mendacity.  Many of the cheerleaders for the Iraq war in the Bush administration had been writing about regime change in Iraq and American unilateralism for years. They wrote about it in the 1992 Defense Planning Guide, in the 1996 Report to Prime Minister Netanyahu, in the 1997 Project for a New American Century and in the 1998 letter to President Clinton.

A little over a month before the vote on the war I read an article in the Guardian by Brian Whitaker.  Listen to this:

“In a televised speech last week, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt predicted devastating consequences for the Middle East if Iraq is attacked.

“We fear a state of disorder and chaos may prevail in the region”, he said.  Mr. Mubarak is an old-fashioned kind of Arab leader and, in the brave new post-September-11 world, he doesn’t quite get the point.

What on earth did he expect the Pentagon’s hawks to do when they heard his words of warning?  Throw up their hands in dismay? – “Gee, thanks, Hosni.  We never thought of that.  Better call the whole thing off right away.”

They are probably still splitting their sides with laughter in the Pentagon.  But Mr. Mubarak and the hawks do agree on one thing: War with Iraq could spell disaster for several regimes in the Middle East.

Mr. Mubarak believes that would be bad.  The hawks, though, believe it would be good. For the hawks, disorder and chaos sweeping through the region would not be an unfortunate side-effect of war with Iraq, but a sign that everything is going according to plan.”

It’s bad enough that the so-called neocons, most of whom had never experienced the horror of war, were so gung ho.  But worse yet, was that they didn’t have the guts to argue their points straight up to the American people.  They knew there were no weapons of mass destruction but wanted their war badly enough to purposely deceive us.

After reading the Guardian article, I asked for a briefing from the CIA. I said, “I have to vote on this war resolution in a few weeks, show me everything you have on Weapons of Mass Destruction”.  The answer, after an hour-long presentation out at CIA headquarters in Langley was: not much.  “Flawed intelligence” is completely inaccurate. There was NO intelligence.  Believe me I saw “everything they had”.

It’s heartbreaking that more of my colleagues failed to do their homework.  And incredibly, the neocon proponents of the war who sold us on the false premise of weapons of mass destruction are still key advisors to a number of presidential candidates today.

Without a doubt we now have prodigious repair work in the Middle East and North Africa.  We have to change our thinking.  We have to find a way to wage peace.  Let’s have a re-write of the neocon’s Project for a New American Century.  It is essentially the opposite of everything proposed in the original.  We will be honest and tell the truth. We will be a good international partner and respect international agreements.

The 70th anniversary of the United Nations is June 26th.  The preamble to the UN charter says, “to unite our strength to maintain peace and security”.  We can do that. “Unite our strength to maintain peace and security.  Let’s reinvigorate the United Nations and make the next 70 years even better.

As part of our efforts to wage peace in this New American Century let’s be bold. Some of our bravest and most patriotic Americans are our professional diplomats stationed all over the world.

This isn’t an easy career and they deserve the very best in support and respect.  As President I would institute a ban on ambassadorships for sale. That means no more of these posts going to big political donors.  I want the best-trained people doing this important work.  And it is critical that the integrity of the office of Secretary of State never be questioned.

I want America to be a leader and inspiration for civilized behavior in this new century.  We will abide by the Geneva Conventions, which means we will not torture prisoners.  Our sacred Constitution requires a warrant before unreasonable searches, which includes our phone records.  Let ‘s enforce that and while we’re at it allow Edward Snowden to come home.

Extra judicial assassinations by drone strikes are not working.  Many blame them for the upheaval in Yemen.  And Pakistan is far too important a player for us to antagonize with these nefarious activities.  They are not worth the collateral damage and toxic hatred they spread – let’s stop them.

For me waging peace includes negotiating fair trade agreements that set standards for labor practices, environmental protections, preventing currency manipulation and protection of intellectual property among others.  The Trans Pacific Partnership has the potential to set fair guidelines for the robust commerce taking place in the Pacific Rim.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, many of the former Soviet Republics – especially Ukraine – have been caught in a tug of war between Europe and Russia. I believe stronger efforts should be made to encourage Russian integration into the family of advanced industrial nations with the objective of reducing tensions between Russia and its neighbors.

To wage peace in our own hemisphere, I would repair relations with Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.  As part of that rapprochement, let’s unite with all our experience to rethink the war on drugs.  Obviously eradication, substitution and interdiction aren’t working.  Let’s have an active, open minded approach to the drug trafficking that can corrupt everything from the courts to the banks, to law enforcement in our hemisphere.  Appropriately the United Nations is planning a special General Assembly meeting next year on this subject.

In this New American Century, let’s join the many countries who have banned capital punishment.  Congratulations Nebraska for your leadership here! Earlier I said,  “Let’s be bold”.    Here’s a bold embrace of internationalism: let’s join the rest of the world and go metric.  I happened to live in Canada as they completed the process.  Believe me it is easy.  It doesn’t take long before 34 degrees is hot. Only Myanmar, Liberia and the United States aren’t metric and it will help our economy!

In this New American Century it is very important to continue to have a ready and strong military.  The eagle in our Great Seal holds both arrows and an olive branch.  Let’s lead responsibly with a commitment to our unwavering defense and our peaceful purposes.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best: “I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.”  He asked, “where do we go from here – chaos or community?”

Our challenges are many and formidable.  Let’s wage peace in this New American Century.

Thank you!

It’s fair to say I didn’t think to ask about that potential career move. The news was first reported by RIPR’s Scott MacKay. It came in an email with the subject line, “This is real.”

As governor, Chafee was pretty unpopular with the people of Rhode Island, his approval rating was around 25 percent as his tenure wound down. And he was even less popular with the local chattering class, which has by and large been eviscerating him on Twitter since the news broke.

Chafee doesn’t care what us pundits think of him. I don’t even think he cares how ultimately unpopular he was among his constituents. I think he cares that he did right by Rhode Island during his tenure as governor. And I’d even go so far as to say he may even believe it is on those merits for which he should be judged worthy of higher office.

That may well be politically naive. But it’s also a pretty impressive way to live, especially if your life is running for office. Isn’t this ultimately the first thing we want from any elected official, that they act according to their conscience rather than the prevailing political winds?

Most agree that this is a great personal strength of Chafee’s. He did what he thought was right regardless of political fallout or his own political ambitions. I think we all want to live this way, though few of us want to deal with the fallout.

Maybe the fallout didn’t do Chaffee any favors, either. His carefree approach to public opinion probably won’t win him many votes. And it probably even diminished his ability to govern. In some ways he had this sort of reverse bully pulpit, where anything he said became toxic.

Still, nobody does substance over style better than Linc Chafee. And I think politics desperately needs more substance and less style. The political scientist in me doesn’t think he has a snowball’s chance in hell of being the next president of the United States. But the sailor in me still wishes America had more captains like Linc Chafee.

Chafee isn’t running for reelection, and doesn’t seem to regret the decision. In election years, “the boat stays ‘on the hard’ as they say,” he told me as he took me for a cruise aboard his 33-foot J100. While we sailed he said repeatedly that he’s staying focused on his final months as governor, but he mentioned maybe hiring a headhunter once he’s out of office, and said he isn’t opposed to doing something overseas. I told him he should help bring the America’s Cup back to Newport. He’s got not only the money and the name recognition, but few love the water as much as Linc Chafee.

Chafee lives in the beach community of Potowomut and his home is right next to a CRMC public right-of-way and popular neighborhood beach on Greenwich Bay, where he can often be seen paddleboarding in the early mornings. He keeps his sailboat – a bigger version of one of the most popular racing sailboats ever built, the J24 – in Dutch Harbor, the mooring field on the west side of Jamestown that can be seen when looking south from the bridge. The cove is flanked by colonial era farms and pastures, a beach or two, several salt marshes and Dutch Island. I once asked Chafee to go surfing with me, but because we agree that Dutch Harbor is just about the most beautiful place in New England, we decided to go sailing instead.

We talked a lot about the highlights of being governor. Chafee boasted of making the state more tolerant and of leading Rhode Island out of a long recession. He said he feels vindicated that the House budget suggests lowering the corporate tax and implementing combined reporting, “bold” moves he suggested in 2012. Central Falls’ recovery, he said, was his highlight as governor.

When I asked him to define his legacy in one word he said:

Several times we discussed his relationship with the media, he seems to have strong feelings about it. He made a point of saying there’s been a lack of media support for social justice issues.

Chafee’s 61 years old, and has been a city councilor, a mayor, a senator and now the governor. He wouldn’t say he was done with politics, and seemed to like the idea of perhaps running for Warwick school committee some day. He told me he may make an endorsement in the governor’s campaign, but didn’t tell me for whom. Instead of pressing him, I asked what young Linc Chafee was like.

When we got back to his mooring in Dutch Harbor, I asked him if he might be interested in buying the Providence Journal.

I forget how I stumbled on this video of Linc giving a speech at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, but here it is:

It is a long video, but its great if you want a quick take from Chafee’s perspective on the recent history of our two major parties: the role of LBJ in scuttling the longstanding dominance of Democrats in Congress for the sake of the Civil Rights act, along with some interesting takes on the massive Bush tax cuts. This includes Linc being joined by John McCain in voting “nay” thanks to the sunset provisions that are considered by some to be fodder for campaign finance-oriented corruption. Prior to that, at the 6 minute mark, you can hear Linc defend the Occupy Movement. He goes on to talk of the realities of income inequality and other shibboleths you might appreciate. Even though he exaggerates the severity of the 2011-2012 winter, I can’t help but be thankful someone didn’t miss the overall point.

At 37 minutes in, the Governor misses a chance to respond to a question about the Rhode Island Primary Care Trust (perhaps he is not informed enough to hazard an answer.) For socialized medicine proponents, it is interesting to note that the UK’s NHS has been going through some tough times under restructuring by the conservative coalition government, and are abolishing these same entities in a bid for privatization.

Since I don’t expect many people to appreciate my love of Lincoln Chafee, I won’t bother to defend him as a practicing politician. I’m hoping that he finds a nice ambassadorship somewhere, or some other dignified way to step out of the scrum that guys like us, with a bit too much empathy, simply can’t survive.

Senator Juan Pichardo:

I appreciated that the Governor opened his remarks by reflecting on some of the steps taken during his administration to benefit all Rhode Islanders, from his first action in office to rescind the e-verify executive order, to ensuring that all Rhode Island residents pay in-state tuition rates at our public colleges and university.

He also took time to recognize the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, and the alarming wealth disparity that exists, and acknowledged that education is the great equalizer. Governor Chafee has backed up is commitment to education with action, fully funding the education aid formula each year in office, including in the budget proposed today, and increasing support for higher education and the workforce training programs this Senate has strongly promoted.

While he has proposed many significant investments in the future of Rhode Island, I would have also liked to have seen more action to address the issue of housing in Rhode Island. The investments he proposed will help to provide stability for families and children, just as an investment in affordable housing would. That is why I will be proposing a $60 million bond for affordable housing this session.

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Rep. Larry Valencia:

He gave a good speech, in that he looks more comfortable in his own skin.
He got to recount some of his successes, including marriage equality and the DMV fix.

The budget aspects of Governor’s address was a partial relief and a partial disappointment.
First, the disappointment: As a lame duck governor, I thought there would a bold proposal or two. The proposed budget is relatively vanilla: no revenue increases, no large initiatives such as the creation of an infrastructure bank or a major overhaul of the tax code.

He did mention $80 million for bridges (as a bond? I wasn’t clear on that) but our roads need help as well. He talked about $52 million for more historic tax credits, but not how he’s going to pay for that.

I would have liked to have seen at least one progressive revenue idea (perhaps combined reporting – Rep. Teresa Tanzi’s bill) incorporated, if not some version of the tax equity bills that Rep. Maria Cimini, Rep. Scott Guthrie and myself have submitted in the past to reduce income inequality. So with a structural deficit of $100 million to begin with, how does this come together? Will social services be cut to pay for these programs? [And] no codification of the state’s healthcare exchange.

The relief:

Continued funding of the education formula (an additional $38 million). Another $10 million for higher Ed to allow for tuition freezes at URI/RIC/CCRI. Additional $1.8M for workforce development.

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Kristina Fox, Young Democrats of Rhode Island:

Lots of statements in Governor Chafee’s speech made me glad that we have a Democratic Governor: praising the repeal of E-Verify and the passage of marriage equality, stating clearly that climate change is happening and is caused by humans, proclaiming the need to invest in infrastructure and the arts, and touting our state healthcare exchange. I mean, you don’t hear Republican governors proclaiming that they’re “proud to be a state worker”! I’m especially happy to hear our Governor’s commitment to well funded public education both K-12 and higher ed. It goes without saying that being able to access a quality public education impacts young folks tremendously.

RI has a long road ahead before we’re back to good. As Governor Chafee said, we need more good jobs, we need more economic opportunity, and we need to work on these issues together. We can’t leave anyone behind. It’s now up to the General Assembly to take the inspiring words of tonight and turn them into solutions for tomorrow. I know that the Young Democrats will be helping out as much as we can. We also believe that our government plays a key role in helping all Rhode Islanders succeed!

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Jim Ryczek, Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless:

We are pleased that the Governor allocated $750,000 for rental vouchers for Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness in his proposed FY 2015 budget. This will ensure that those who are currently being housed, due to last year’s funding by the General Assembly, will continue to maintain their housing. It is estimated that approximately 125 Rhode Islanders will move from homelessness to stable housing because of the leadership by the General Assembly in last year’s legislative session. It is encouraging that the Governor is proposing to continue that funding.

This is a positive step in the right direction to ensure full implementation of Opening Doors RI, the State’s Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. We look forward to working with members of the General Assembly to move the state’s investment closer to the $3.4 million called for in the State’s plan.

Opening Doors RI outlines a plan that significantly transforms the provision of services to Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness. Consistent with Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, the Plan seeks to sharply decrease the numbers of people experiencing homelessness and the length of time people spend homeless.

There have been positive changes in the way we respond to homelessness in our state, as we indicated in the Opening Doors RI Report Card we released in October. Specifically, strides have been made in the areas that involve process, and the coordination of strategies to better serve Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness.

Systems reform alone, however, cannot end homelessness. Through empirical research and evidence we know that full funding of the Plan will help the State improve its economy, realize long-term cost savings, and improve the lives of thousands of Rhode Islanders who are currently experiencing homelessness. Our state is positioned to make huge strides in addressing homelessness but at the end of the day financial investments are needed to achieve the goals in the Plan and we look forward to working with the General Assembly in the coming months on this effort.

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Peter Hanney, Save The Bay:

Save The Bay thanks Governor Chafee for including this $75MM request in his 2014 budget. It is a big request designed to meet the state’s real need for investment in wastewater infrastructure, stormwater management, and flood prevention.  Save The Bay is especially pleased to see $20MM in funding for the RI Clean Water Finance Agency to invest in wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and $31.5MM linked to an array programs designed to restore natural buffers along our rivers coasts, expand floodplains, conserve valuable habitat and support public enjoyment of Rhode Island’s natural resources by investing in parks and recreational facilities like Rocky Point.

We thank the Governor and look forward to working with leaders and members of the General Assembly to secure passage. Save The Bay asks for the public’s support for the Bond early by letting legislators know that investing in clean water and healthy communities is important to Rhode Island.

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Gus Uht, Rhode Island Progressive Democrats:

Gov. Chafee’s last budget proposal was an upbeat affair, containing many initiatives for improvements. While there are a number of good points about this budget (see disclaimer below), I am concerned that most additional support for the disadvantaged, if any, may come from ‘trickle-down’ mechanisms.

One good initiative is skills-training, to address RI’s “skills-gap”. FYI: there are a large number of job openings in RI, but few of the unemployed have the right qualifications (skills) to fill them, hence “skills-training.”

Exactly why companies can no longer provide on-the-job-training on their own dime is a mystery. Yes, it costs, but there’s a big payback. Maybe this is just today’s norm of short-term economic thinking. Also, if someone else will pay for it (the state), why not? Looks like a handout to industry, but it does have a large silver-lining.

What is not clear is where the budget cuts are coming from to fund the initiatives. According to Projo there are a multitude of them spread throughout the budget.

To be seen; it will take all of us a while to plow through the proposed budget, available here. (Warning: it is not exactly light-reading; the ‘Summary’ is 244 pages long.) As far as I could tell, the budget was only posted on the web during/right after the Governor’s speech.

Here’s to a good, a REALLY good, legislative session! (Hope springs eternal.)

[Disclaimer: the top bond issue proposed is to raze and rebuild most of the College of Engineering at URI. I’m on the faculty of the College. (Believe me, the College plant needs rebuilding.)]

Smiley, along with Jorge Elorza, is one of two progressive Democrats vying to be the next mayor of Providence. He spoke about his policy differences with Mayor Taveras, how he would address the city budget, the Superman building and schools and much more.

As few hundred Providence fire fighters, police officers and other public sector union members protested outside a conference for Bond Buyers in downtown Providence today to call continued attention to pension cuts that hurt members’ retirement security, there were some different opinions on this matter.

Inside the conference, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo was telling the room full of bond investors that, “In Rhode Island this was never about Democrat versus Republican, union versus management, labor versus management us, vs them.”

It struck me as odd that Raimondo said pension cuts didn’t pit public sector retirees against taxpayers.

Especially since Paul Valletta, of the Providence fire fighters union, said they are protesting every public event Raimondo appears at because they weren’t at the table.

Here’s what Valletta told me outside:

Inside the conference, Gina Raimondo disagreed with this characterization.

So I asked Governor Chafee, who also spoke at the Bond Buyers conference, to break the tie.

I attended many of the public meetings Chafee and Raimondo held with labor leaders physically at the table. Those public meetings were not where the substance of the actual pension cuts were crafted. That likely happened behind closed doors between Raimondo and legislative leaders before the special session in November of 2011.

People constantly tell me how unpopular it is to agree with our governor. Well, I couldn’t agree more and I couldn’t care less!

He may not always offer me a good quote, but Rhode Island has done pretty well under his tenure given the circumstances he inherited. I’ll take that. He seems almost allergic to political calculations, but he almost always makes decisions based on reason and a sense of morality. I’ll take that too.

I’m not necessarily prone to like any politicians – even the ones I find myself philosophically aligned with – but I like Linc.

This morning he impressed me with the way he answered a question about why the Ocean State always fares so poorly when pro-business entities rank states on their business friendliness.

“I take issue with that,” Chafee told Liz Burke of WPRO. “…Rhode Island is the best place to do business. When you factor everything in, the quality of life we have here … you just here it from so many people, this is where they want to live this is where they want to raise their families.”

It’s true! If it’s quality of life that matters to you, Rhode Island is the place to be.

It’s as beautiful here as anywhere, and pound for pound we have easily the most gorgeous coastline in the country, next to only Hawaii. And our cuisine – with all our top notch restaurants and nearby local farms – can’t be matched by any other state. And it’s not just the fancy restaurants that are great in the Ocean State … I’ll bet 95% of the Rhode Islanders reading this are within a football field of better pizza than anywhere in the entire midwest*!

Here in reality, few people locate their businesses based entirely on the cost of doing it, and just as few do so based entirely on the lifestyle it provides. Most, of course, do so based on a mix of both. When you look at both – or, in other words, the full picture – Rhode Island is actually a really good place to locate your business.

Rhode Island’s got an inferiority complex when it comes to its ability to compete – which, of course, becomes our biggest obstacle to competing. Think how infrequently we read good things about Rhode Island from the Providence Journal editorial page – probably the most common place for a prospective business owner to glean the lay of the land from. This isn’t because it’s all bad here, it’s because we have a very conservative editorial board covering a pretty liberal state.

I think a lot of the reasons we’ve got an inferiority complex about our state’s ability to compete is we are still using the metrics set by Don Carcieri and Al Verrecchia. We’d do better to gauge it on the metrics of Linc Chafee and Allan Tear.

*excludes Chicago-style pizza

Remember, after all, on Tuesday when you broke the news that the governor is, in fact, talking with union leaders about this very topic?

As a point of fact, the executive branch is already at the table. The question at this point is whether or not treasury wants a seat there too.

My guess is Raimondo will eventually join the talks. In fact, Chafee ought to request her presence at the next meeting between he, and labor leaders Bob Walsh and George Nee.

I’m sure all three of these players believe she’d be a valuable voice in those discussions. And, more importantly, our elected leaders shouldn’t shy away from engaging with their adversaries. Remember, talking doesn’t equal acquiescing. Or, sitting down and holding your ground are not mutually exclusive.

As much as EngageRI might not want her to give labor any credence, she ought to listen to the more politically viable advice coming from the likes of Mayors Angel Taveras and Allen Fung, who both told WPRO this morning they would sit down too.

In the meantime,the one thing you can take to the bank is that the local mainstream media will tie itself in knots trying to defend Gina and disparage Linc.