Information on OCG’s Forum is as follows:

A free public forum on

The Rhode Island Fiscal Crisis

Sponsored by Operation Clean Government

May 14, 2011, 9:00 to 11:00 AM

Varnum Memorial Armory

6 Main St., East Greenwich, RI, 02818

Keynote Speaker: Steve Laffey

Edward Mazze, Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Former Dean of the College of Business Administration at URI

Gary Sasse, former Executive Director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC)

Stephen Hourahan, Senior Advisor to the Governor

Dan Yorke, WPRO radio talk show host has agreed to moderate the discussion.

Laffey’s production crew for Fixing America will be filming on site. OCG’s program, called $earching for $olution$, will run from 9 to 11 AM. Armory doors will open at 8:30, and there is no charge to attend.

OCG President Margaret Kane describes the forum as an opportunity for key stakeholders to discuss solutions with the taxpayers of Rhode Island. OCG is concerned that we can no longer put off the tough questions without jeopardizing Rhode Island’s future.

Questions OCG hopes will be addressed include: How do we balance the budget? Do we raise taxes, cut spending, or both? Is there any effective way to correct the serious problem of unfunded liabilities in our public employee pension plans? What must we do to create new jobs?

RSVP at info [at] ocgri [dot] org

About Fixing America

Please follow our journey at www.fixingamericamovie.com and on Facebook at Fixing America Movie.

Press Release: Fixing America

“Our goal is to travel the country with a film production crew and speak with regular Americans as well as politicians, policy experts, and prominent business people on a variety of topics such as trade, China, taxes, energy policy, defense, and balancing the budget, and to ultimately share real solutions for fixing America now, while there is still time,” said Mr. Laffey, a former RI elected official, president of a major investment banking firm, and author of Primary Mistake.

Laffey stated, “The political elites from both parties have destroyed our country financially. Since 1971 and the closing of the ‘Gold Window’ by President Nixon, America has not settled its accounts. By using its status as both the world’s reserve currency and the world’s military superpower, America has put off the day of reckoning. The financial shenanigans in the USA have grown, along with the power of the financial and political elite, to a point that it threatens our freedom, our financial future, and just maybe the freedom of the free world. Our goal is to show solutions to these issues and how they should be addressed immediately.”

Please direct media inquires to: Field Producer Colleen Conley at colleen [at] the989project [dot] com

Source: Press Release
“Fixing America”: The Movie
Steve Laffey, Fort Collins, CO

RIRA to GA – Stop Fiscal Irresponsibility – Binding Arbitration – Never Ending Contracts

The Rhode Island Republican Assembly, like just about every other person and organization concerned about the solvency of the State of Rhode Island, adamantly opposes binding arbitration. Monetary issues in public-sector union contracts should not be decided by unelected individuals, who cannot be recalled by the election process if they saddle the taxpayers with budget-busting contracts. It is the responsibility of our elected representatives to make decisions in the public interest for the general welfare. Appointed bureaucrats should not be making decisions that are going to financially affect the taxpayers who then have no ability to reward or punish those decisions at the ballot box.

As the state and local cities and towns all struggle with out-of-control spending, the last thing we need is to permit binding arbitration which would allow our elected representatives to continue to avoid the hard fiscal decisions which must be made.

In a recent Projo article, it was pointed out that “…subjecting monetary issues to the binding-arbitration process would allow for quicker resolutions of contract disputes.” Perhaps so, but faster is not necessarily better. It is always faster to surrender than to fight, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the right decision.

In that same Projo article, Daniel Beardsley, Jr., executive director of the League of Cities and Towns was quoted as saying that allowing binding arbitration “…would put another half-dozen communities on the precipice of bankruptcy.” Agreed, and if bankruptcy were to be avoided, it would put such an increased burden on the taxpayers that more Rhode Islanders would be forced to leave the state in self-defense.

Another aspect of House bill 5700, in addition to the binding arbitration provision, is that contract benefits would automatically continue until a new agreement is reached. This is absurd! The taxpayers cannot afford what we have now, as evidenced by the red ink flowing everywhere. This continuation of salaries and benefits after a contract has expired renders it virtually impossible to ever reduce the pay and benefits of public-sector union workers. There is a business cycle, and labor is one component of the production of goods and services. If the cost of labor is only allowed to go one way – up, regardless of the economic environment, the inevitable consequence will be fewer goods and services. In the current economic environment, many private-sector workers have taken pay cuts, lost their health insurance coverage, or even lost their jobs. If we are all going to “share the sacrifice,” then workers in the public sector are going to have to make downward adjustments in their expectations as well.

The Rhode Island Republican Assembly urges, in the strongest possible terms, that the R.I. House, the representatives of all the people of RI, vote against House bills 5700, 5817, and 5961. Their passage would be a disaster both for the state and for the people.

Conservatively yours,

Raymond T. McKay
President, RIRA

Press Release from the Rhode Island Republican Assembly
Media Contact: president [at] ri-ra [dot] org or (401) 487-2514

Sweeney continued, “Governor Chafee failed to address the structural deficit which is plaguing our great state. Making only $20 million in cuts within a $7.661 billion dollar budget is not going to cut it. I’s a drop in a bucket.”

Rowley added, “Rhode Islanders will pay a net $165 million in additional taxes if Chafee’s budget is passed. In order to illustrate the impact the Governor’s proposal will have, we’re offering this preview of a ‘Weekend at Chafee’s.’”

Press Release: Rhode Island Young Republicans

Talan noted that today, most children (not by choice) have to ride a school bus to a school far from home. This is despite the fact that almost all of these children live walking distance to the closest elementary or middle school. The city spends $16 million a year on this game of musical-chairs forced busing. Talan estimated that the city could immediately save at least $8 million to $10 million a year, by sending children to their closest neighborhood school. Talan called on the Mayor to immediately form a committee to determine class assignments for this coming school year, based on where students live.

Talan noted that too many students on the south side already waste up to 3 hours a day, riding a bus to schools far from home. He expressed concern that closing 3 schools on the south side will result in even more children being forced to ride a bus, against their will, and will cost even more money.

Talan concluded, “When I was a child growing up in Providence, I usually walked to school. When Mayor Taveras was growing up, he usually walked to a nearby school. Today’s children should have the same opportunity, while saving a ton of money for the city at the same time.”

Contact: Dave Talan (h) 941-3662 (c) 862-7519

WASHINGTON — When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”

And that power, they say, is even more sweeping than the federal power to regulate interstate commerce.

Administration officials say the tax argument is a linchpin of their legal case in defense of the health care overhaul and its individual mandate, now being challenged in court by more than 20 states and several private organizations…

Read More: The New York Times

EPTA Seeks Auditor General Review of Impact of Teachers’ Contract on School Deficit and Taxpayers before Council Approval of New Pact

The East Providence Taxpayers Association (EPTA) today wrote to Acting Auditor General Dennis Hoyle expressing its concerns that ratification of the newly proposed teachers’ contract by City Council would result in additional unlawful school department deficit spending unless a viable deficit elimination plan approved by the Auditor General is adopted first. The East Providence City Council is set to consider approval of the new teachers’ contract at its meeting Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM at City Hall.

The School Department announced in April that it had an anticipated school budget deficit of $2.5 million in the current fiscal year. State law requires the School Department to develop a corrective action plan to eliminate the deficit and to transmit the plan to the City Council within five days of the discovery of an anticipated budget gap. The plan must also be approved by the Auditor General. The School Department has not yet produced a deficit corrective action plan approved by the Auditor General.

The EPTA letter asked the Auditor General to communicate to the City Council before the close of business Tuesday his views about the advisability of the Council ratifying the teachers’ contract before a corrective action plan for eliminating the current year’s school budget deficit was approved. The letter also asked the Auditor General to communicate to both the City Council and the School Committee his opinion about whether or not the East Providence School Department is currently in compliance with the state laws requiring development and approval of a deficit elimination plan. The EPTA also asked the City Council in a separate letter to defer approval of the contract until a deficit plan was approved.

EPTA spokesperson Bill Murphy said, “We do not believe it is advisable for the City Council to ratify the proposed teachers’ contract until there is a deficit elimination plan in place that has been carefully reviewed and approved by the Auditor General. This is all the more true given that the contract does not include cost-savings proposals like a temporary 3% reduction in pay, and replacement of seven (7) paid sick days with unpaid ones that School Committee legal counsel had previously stated in an April 21st letter to the teachers’ union were required by law to eliminate the budget deficit in the current fiscal year. In addition, the proposed contract contains increases in longevity and base pay as well as sick day buy backs. The agreement also does not include the provision for reopening negotiation of salary and health insurance costs in the last year of the contract that had been included in an earlier April 27th proposal. The School Department has said it is working on plans to eliminate the deficit by achieving savings in other areas, and we hope this will be possible.”

Murphy continued, “The bottom line, though, is that we simply cannot afford the risk of signing a contract that could lead to further deficit spending at a time when the city and its taxpayers can least afford it. We can’t risk a mistake that will lead to more deficit spending that could jeopardize the future financial stability of the city or our ability to borrow at the most competitive interest rates possible. The best insurance against these risks is for the Council to wait to approve the teachers’ contract until the Auditor General has approved a deficit elimination plan for this year that takes the financial impact of the new contract into account.”

Murphy finished his statement by noting, “It is vitally important that this situation be handled carefully in order to ensure the ultimate ratification of the new teachers’ contract without the unlawful accumulation of additional debt. This contract is a watershed accomplishment in that it includes agreement between the School Committee and the teachers’ union on education reforms including a longer school year and school day, common planning time and improved professional development for teachers, and the institution of a performance-based compensation system while at the same time eliminating many of the unreasonable and excessively costly pay and benefits provisions of the old contract. We are confident that careful attention to the deficit spending problem will enable us to win passage of a teachers’ contract that moves our School Department forward while at the same time ensures that we are complying with the laws against deficit spending.”

Press Release: East Providence Taxpayers Association

Republican Legislators and Prospective Republican Legislative Candidates to Stand in Support of Chairman Cicione on Budget

Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Giovanni Cicione will address the media tomorrow, June 10, 2010 to discuss the Rhode Island State budget enacted this week by the General Assembly. Cicione will challenge the General Assembly to show the courage to enact a balanced budget, as opposed to the current plan to anticipate a windfall of cash from the federal government to balance the State’s books. Cicione will also call on Democrat Leaders in the Assembly to free cities and towns from the unfunded mandates that make it nearly impossible to balance their own budgets without raising taxes. Participants will also get a glimpse of some of the candidates who will stand up and challenge Democrat control over the General Assembly in the next election.

WHEN: Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: RI State House, South Side (facing Downtown Providence)

Source: Rhode Island Republican Party

Democrats can’t be trusted on financial reform because of their handling of other issues.

congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama lack credibility on financial reform because of what Boehner called failed promises about the economy, healthcare reform, and bringing down the deficit.

“We’re seeing a growing credibility gap here in Washington,” Boehner said. “Democrats are saying one thing and doing something else.”…

Read More: The Hill