nfl refs – RI Future

downtown from providence river — Downtown Providence from the Providence River. (Photo by Bob Plain)

Rep. Jon Brien thinks he can retain his House seat without winning the election. His path to victory: eliminating the man who beat him in a primary. Brien thinks the federal Hatch Act might prohibit fire fighter Stephen Casey from serving in the state legislature because the Woonsocket Fire Department got a $300,000 grant from the U.S. government.

Like RIPEC’s report itself, the Providence Journal’s editorial on it is light on specifics and heavy on platitudes. It strikes me as patently false when politicians, activists or the news media assert that Rhode Island doesn’t have a governmental position to serve the business sector of the state’s economy. You don’t have to like the EDC, but intellectual honesty requires its existence at least be acknowledged!

The New Leaders Project, a local political action committee that endorses State House candidates, is confounding some for its unconventional endorsements. The PAC says it advocates a “pro-jobs” agenda but what does that really mean? Well, its president, East Greenwich School Committee member Jack Sommers, was fined by the Department of Labor Training in 2010 for not paying an employee nearly $2,000 in wages. Pro jobs but anti pay check, I guess…

One year after closing five schools, Providence education officials are anticipating student enrollment to “surge” by some 2,000 students, says the ProJo. The so-called ed reform movement seems to work far better at shrinking public education than it does at serving it.

So here’s pretty much all you need to know about what America values in its workforce: NFL refs should get pensions, but public school teachers on the other hand, not so much…

You know things are getting bad in Rhode Island when the state is suing its orphans. Miss Hannigan would be proud.

Seems like the debate over a mega-port at Quonset is heating up again. For those who don’t remember, the idea for a deep water port at Quonset pitted quality of life in North Kingstown against economic development for Rhode Island.

No one wants the Cranston father-daughter dance controversy to continue … except of course local Republicans and national conservative groups who are using the situation as an opportunity to beat up on the ACLU.

Here’s what the mayor of Phoenix said after trying to live on food stamps for one week: “I’m tired and it’s hard to focus.”

Back in 1967, it was Republicans accusing Democrats of being “brainwashed” by the “military industrial complex.”

It’s no secret that Rhode Island needs a new strategy for economic development but RIPEC’s new report offers little in the way of real solutions to this conundrum. Instead, the business-backed lobby and advocacy group used the opportunity as a power grab for its laissez-faire agenda. We’ll post more on this later, but for now consider that RIPEC wants the DEM to be put under the charge of a proposed Secretary of Commerce. There is no way the state’s environmental efforts should be put under the charge of its business development efforts.

Had the report been a more legitimate effort to address the issue at hand perhaps Gov. Chafee would have made more time for it.

By the way, the local media should do a better job of explaining who RIPEC is and what their motivations are when reporting on this issue.

Ian Donnis makes a good point about marriage equality and the recent primary: while the big name candidates may not have won, they sent a strong message that will likely resonate with incumbents. We made the same point the day after the primary.

It seems like the League of Women Voters is getting squeezed out of the campaign debates by some local TV stations.

Speaking of which, today in 1960 Kennedy and Nixon squared off in their historic televised debate that is said to have forever changed politics in America.

Conservatives may hate the idea of banning plastic bags in Barrington, but they’d do well to study the effects such a move had in Westport, Mass. like EcoRI.org did. They report, “Four years later, residents, business owners and school officials say emphatically they wouldn’t bring back the plastic.”

Don’t forget: if you need to register to vote you can do so today in Burnside Park.

This is rich: Union-Busting GOP Governor Scott Walker Demands Return Of Unionized NFL Referees

New polls show Obama pulling ahead in swing state strongholds Florida and Ohio.

Here’s a list of the nine richest people in politics, as pulled from the recent Forbes 400 list.

Tag: nfl refs

Progress Report: Brien Brings Hatch Act in Woonsocket, New Leaders Project’s ‘Pro Jobs’ Agenda; State Sues Orphan

Progress Report: RIPEC Report Misses Mark; Marriage Equality’s Subtle Win; TV Debate Controversy; NFL Refs