social justice – RI Future

November 25, 2015November 26, 2015

Transparency is a social justice issue

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I repeat: transparency is a social justice issue.

But don’t take it from me, the Guy Who Never Stops Yelling About His (Ongoing) FOIA Lawsuit. I’ll let Selma director Ava DuVernay explain:

Without video's release, there'd be no criminal charges made. Without video's very existence, there'd be no attention paid. #LaquanMcDonald

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) November 25, 2015

And Massachusetts state senator Jamie Eldridge:

#LaquanMcDonald murder charge due to #FOIA request by reporter, shows public records reform is civil rts issue, too https://t.co/cFsrM9czSE

— Jamie Eldridge (@JamieEldridgeMA) November 25, 2015

And D.C.-area reporter Surae Chinn:

Because of @muckrakery and team's yr long #FOIA fight we're seeing what happened 2 #LaquanMcDonald shot #16x https://t.co/hQastrY5hu @wusa9

— suraechinn (@suraechinn) November 25, 2015

The video they’re talking about shows Chicago Police officers killing a black Chicago teenager, Laquan McDonald, on October 20, 2014. For a long time, the video was not released. Now it is. And a police officer has been charged with murder, 400 days after the shooting occurred.

Now, it’s true, the facts of case might be more complex than these three tweets indicate. We’ll certainly get a lot more info when Officer Jason Van Dyke goes to trial. But it’s hard to argue with DuVernay/Eldridge/Chinn’s basic equation: transparency = attention = accountability.

In this case, enormous credit goes to Brandon Smith, a Chicago-based freelance journalist with the excellent Twitter handle, @muckrakery, and the even better website tagline, “showing powerful people the consequences of their actions since 2007.” It was a lawsuit from Smith that triggered the release of this video, and he should be credited every time this video is mentioned. (An example of how not to share the video: this CNN/ABC-affiliate story that says only “After a journalist filed a freedom of information request, a judge ruled that police had to release the video by November 25.”)

We live in tumultuous times. And, sometimes, transparency will lead to more tumult. There may very well be protests in Chicago as a result of this video’s release. But this is not a reason for local and national governments to draw the blinds and lock their doors. Transparency is the lifeblood of democracy.

“We the people” can only “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity“ if we know what’s being done in our name, and with our money. This means examining our country’s mostly-secret drone program . This means learning how a former lawmaker snuck through a loophole in Rhode Island’s revolving door law. This means seeing the evidence from a trial that sent a Chicago doctor to prison for four consecutive life terms.

The video of Laquan McDonald’s untimely death is a reminder of all of this.

To learn more about the state of transparency in Rhode Island, take a look at ACCESS/RI and MuckRock’s disturbing 2014 report, “Access Limited: An Audit of Compliance with the Rhode Island Public Records Laws.” Or read about a recent instance when released documents jump-started the accountability process. Or follow some crazy local freelance journalist who, with the help of the RI ACLU and two Providence-based pro-bono attorneys (Neal McNamara and Jessica Jewell from Nixon Peabody), is suing the federal government right here in our backyard.

July 15, 2015

Raimondo signs Community-Police Relationship Act into law

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The room didn’t seem quite large enough for all the supporters that came out to watch Governor Gina Raimondo sign the Comprehensive Community-Police Relationship Act into law on Tuesday. The Act, a collaboration between legislators, law enforcement, and community members, seeks to analyze data that officers collect, as well as further protect juveniles and pedestrians.

“I speak as a governor and as a mother of two small children,” Raimondo said, “and I think we’ve all been troubled by the recent headlines all around this country about law enforcement.”

The governor added that this is a significant step in addressing a much larger problem, but said that she believes this will help keep communities safer, and make law enforcement more effective.

“Although this is an important piece of legislation, and one that is going to deliver real results, you all know this one bill isn’t enough. We must be actively engaged in our communities, and be committed to keeping our families and communities safe,” she said.

Representative Joseph Almeida (D- District 12), the main sponsor for the House version of the bill, said that it is a product of working for, and with, the people.

“You have two choices when you get elected,” he said. “You can be a politician and tell people what they want to hear, or you can be a legislator and tell them the truth. And that’s what we’re doing here.”

Senator Harold Metts (D- District 6), who was the Senate sponsor, spoke on how the bill will allow Rhode Island communities to heal with one another, and promote togetherness between communities and police officers.

“We were challenged to take our heads out of the desert sands of denial, and drink from the wells of equality, justice, and brotherhood,” he said. “Instead of having separation, and having the parties be polarized, they decided to work together. Instead of separation, we had collaboration.”

Rep. Joseph Almeida sharing his thoughts on the act

The act requires that law enforcement officers include in the ethnicity of the driver stopped, the reason, whether or not there was a search, and whether or not there was contraband taken from the vehicle in their traffic stop reports. It also prohibits officers from subjecting juveniles or pedestrians to a search without probable cause, and requires them to notify a driver why they are being stopped.

Colonel Steven O’Donnell, the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, said that the practices laid out in the Act are already happening.

“Almost all the information in that bill is something that State Police already do by policy. We’ve been doing it for years, so it didn’t take much to sit down with the community, and most of them we know very, very well,” he said. O’Donnell also gave credit to the House and Senate for being open minded about the subject of policing, particularly Senator Metts, who took part in the State Police Training Academy several years ago.

“Better training, better understanding, and better communication is really why that bill passed,” he said. “Everybody sitting down, some people losing some of their egos on both ends of the table, and coming to an agreement.”

Over the next 48 months, data will be collected from every traffic stop to determine whether or not there are racial disparities in Rhode Island’s policing system. Governor Raimondo said this data would be used to make informed decisions concerning the system.

“I think it’s clear there’s more that has to be done in Rhode Island and all around the country. You can’t look at what happened in Ferguson and South Carolina and think we’re doing enough, so what this bill says is that we’re committed to making changes based on facts, and making sure that our streets are as safe as possible, and that we’re protecting everybody’s civil rights in the process,” she said.

May 12, 2015May 13, 2015

Medicaid on the Move

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The 7th Annual Budget Policy Conference, a fundraiser for the Economic Progress Institute (EPI), had a timely theme: “Medicaid on the Move.”

Since Governor Gina Raimondo announced a Medicaid crisis in February and the creation of a working group of “27 members from across health care, business, state government and community and nonprofit organizations” to deal with the crisis, the idea of “Reinventing Medicaid” has become a central part of the state’s 2016 budget process.

Medicaid is a state and federally supported system of health care that targets the most vulnerable and least represented people in our community, i.e. children, low income adults, the elderly and those with mental or physical handicaps. So special attention must be paid to the process of “reinventing” the system and therefore an appropriate target for a progressive economic institute such as EPI to address.

Governor Raimondo gave the opening address to the breakfast crowd, mostly made up of medical policy wonks and EPI supporters. She used the opportunity to press for a $10.10 minimum wage and for an increase in the earned income tax credit from 10 to 15 percent, possibly her two most progressive ideas in her 2016 budget proposal.

Moving onto Medicaid, Raimondo insisted that her goal in pulling together the working group is “not about kicking people off Medicaid” but “getting people cared for in the lowest cost environment.”

Raimondo acknowledged that the EPI and many of those in the audience are more concerned with social justice and economic justice than they are with short term budget fixes when she said, near the end of her speech, “Your stubborn idealism is a good thing for Rhode Island, so don’t lose it.”

Linda Katz, policy director and co-founder of the EPI, spent 14 minutes introducing the audience to the basic facts about Medicaid. In the video below I’ve combined the slides from her presentation with the talk she gave.

Katz is a member of the Reinventing Medicaid working group. The first weeks of work by the working group, Katz suggested, was preliminary. Now, as the working group prepares to move ahead and plan the implementation of the ideas presented, Katz says that she’s “looking forward to part two, where we take a deeper dive into Medicaid.”

Cindy Mann, former Medicaid Director in the Obama Administration, began her talk noting that this July will mark the 50th anniversary of Medicaid. Medicaid, says Mann, “is constantly reinventing itself.”

Over the course of her talk Mann explained exactly who Medicaid serves, and why Rhode Island is in many ways both an outlier and a leader in the way we administer the program. In the video below I’ve combined the slides from her presentation with the talk she gave.

For instance, “Rhode Island has, as a population, more elderly and disabled” than many other states, said Mann. Three percent of our Medicaid enrollees account for 70 percent of our Medicaid spending.

Mann made a special point to mention the medical care of the incarcerated, surely the population our society seems least vested in. When people in our prisons require outpatient care, that is, medical services the prison hospital is unable to meet, Medicaid covers the expense. Mann maintained that the state should make sure that “no one leaves jail without being assessed for health care coverage.”

Former Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts, who Governor Lincoln Chafee tasked with setting up the state’s health care exchange and who Raimondo put in charge of the working group, spoke last.

Roberts said that she and the working group instead worked to reform the system. “We did not remove benefits,” said Roberts. In addition to the recommendations of the working group, Roberts feels that there needs to be a pay increase for certified nursing assistants and home health care workers, who are being squeezed economically.

Roberts also agreed with Katz about the second phase of the working group’s mission. The “next 2 months,” said Roberts, “will be more important than the last 2.” The working group issues its final report in July.

January 15, 2015August 9, 2016

Workers protest ex-boss’s home at dawn; demand $17,000 in unpaid wages

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About 40 people showed up before sunrise at Juan Noboa’s 23 Julian St. residence in the Olneyville section of Providence this morning to demand the payment of over $17,000 in back wages to six employees.

According to organizers, Noboa and his partner, Jose Bren, employed around 15 workers to help open Café Atlantic, a restaurant located at 1366 Chalkstone Ave. between August and September, 2014. Some employees worked up to 70 hours a week, but, according to organizers, “by September 28th, Noboa and Bren closed the restaurant just months after opening and walked away without paying workers their full wages.”

The workers have organized through Fuerza Laboral (Power of Workers) “a community organization that builds worker leadership to fight workplace exploitation.” They have filed complaints with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and have attempted many times to contact the owners with their concerns, but have received no response.

Juan Noboa was a volunteer for Buddy Cianci during his unsuccessful run for mayor last election. During the election Noboa reported Representative Scott Slater to the state police for possible voter fraud after taking video showing Slater, “leaving Kilmartin Plaza, a Providence high-rise for the elderly, with what looked like a ballot.” The police investigated and cleared Slater of any wrongdoing. Slater issued a statement saying that he recognized the man filming him “as someone who had threatened him in the past.”

According to the Providence Journal, Noboa “is a convicted felon and has been arrested 10 times dating back to March 2000.”

This morning’s action follows last month’s protest outside Gourmet Heaven on Westminster St. downtown. “We see a pattern of Providence-based food establishments intentionally cheating workers of their wages,” said Phoebe Gardener, Community Organizer with Fuerza Laboral.

“It makes me so angry that I am doing everything I can to provide for my family and do my job the best I can and Noboa doesn’t care about anything but making money for himself,” said Flor Salazar, former employee of Café Atlantic in a written statement, “Some of us are single mothers and are barely getting by.”

After chanting in Noboa’s driveway and pounding on his door for about fifteen minutes, the Providence police arrived and moved the protesters onto the sidewalk and into the street. Protesters handed out fliers to neighbors accusing Noboa of theft.

Noboa never came to the door or showed his face in the window.

January 7, 2015January 8, 2015

Speaker Mattiello seeks to eradicate the social safety net

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Update, Jan 8: In response to our request House spokesperson Larry Berman sent the following reply:

Speaker Mattiello, “means that if we alleviate poverty, there will be not need for a safety net. He wants to improve the economy and get people working to eradicate poverty.”

Speaker Nicholas Mattiello established himself as a cartoon super villain at the 7th annual Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty Vigil when he told an assembled crowd of faith leaders and poverty advocates that when it comes to ending poverty, job creation and appropriate funding of the social safety net are important, but, “the focus has to be on eradicating the safety net and not bolstering the safety net.”

It’s obvious that the Speaker is no longer pretending to be a Democrat. You can hear the entirety of Mattiello’s short speech below.

February 5, 2012February 5, 2012

Lucky Duckies

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One of the more reprehensible things that conservatives have come out with of late is the idea of the ‘lucky duckies.’

This is what the Wall St Journal’s op-ed page called those of our society who are ‘fortunate’ enough to make such a low salary that they don’t have to pay fed income taxes.

This is truly verging (has crossed into?) Newspeak. You know, 1984–war is peace, freedom is slavery etc…)

In most people’s minds, getting stuck in a job that makes you $20k a year is the opposite of ‘fortunate’. And if those WSJ writers think these folks are so lucky, all they have to do is quit their cushy office job and stand on their feet 8 hours a day flipping burgers.

Lucky duckies, indeed.

[ Pre-emptive strike: the idea is that these people have no ‘skin in the game’, so they don’t care about tax rates because it’s so hard to make ends meet on $250k per year, yadda yadda. Utter nonsense. Give me the $250k, I’ll pay the 39% tax rate from the Clinton years, and still be waaaaaaayyyyy ahead of where I am now. And so would most of you reading this. ]

So far, this has been standard class warfare stuff as waged by the 1%. True, people in the bottom half don’t make enough to pay fed taxes. Think about that: almost half the country, by conservatives own reckoning, don’t make enough to pay fed taxes. Is the problem that their a) tax rate is too low; or, b) that their salary is too low?

If you’re a conservative, the answer cannot be (a), because tax rates are NEVER low enough.

And yet, that’s what they’re saying. That tax rates on the bottom half of the country have to go UP. While tax rates on the top 1% have to go DOWN. Talk about internally inconsistent.

Or, it would be if they actually cared about being logical. Or consistent. They don’t. They only care about waging class warfare against everyone who’s not part of the 1%.

What truly takes this distortion to another level, and makes it reprehensible is the way it looks at a tiny sliver of the situation, cherry-picks what suits their cause, then ignores the rest.

The fact is, this lower 47% that pays no fed income tax, pays plenty of other taxes. Payroll tax, which is hugely regressive since it’s capped at around $100k (may be higher; it moves with inflation), sales taxes (also hugely regressive) excise taxes, state taxes, local taxes, and so on.

What happens when we factor all of these in?

Here’s the result:

This is a chart done by the Corporation for Enterprise Development. It shows what the total, overall tax rate is for all income quintiles by state. It shows how much of their income the poorest 20% pays, vs how much of their income the top 1% pays in each state, then shows the ratio between the two.

The median state is Mississippi. The poorest 20% pay about 10.8% of their total income in taxes. The top 1%, OTOH, only pay 5.5% of their income.

In other words, the effective tax rate of the bottom 20% is about twice as high as the tax rate for the top%–despite paying no fed taxes.

And how does RI stack up? We’re worse.

Here, the bottom 20% pays about 11.9%, while the top 1% pays 5.5%.

In other words, the bottom 20% pays a rate that is more than twice the rate paid by the top 1%.

And Mass is two spots worse, CT is one spot better, so spare me the “Oh, I could just move to Mass and save all this money” lie. And founder of a certain ‘alternative’ party, I’m looking at you.

What does this mean? The top end earners are not overtaxed. They have a great gig going. And if we elect someone named either Willard or Newt, it will only get better for them, and much, much worse for the rest of us.

Lucky duckies, indeed.