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

Hint: It’s not ours.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Adding a VAT without subtracting the income tax would constrict Americans’ freedom much more than the health-care legislation does. Because the 16th Amendment will not be repealed, adoption of a VAT would proclaim the impossibility of serious spending reductions and hence would be the obituary for the Founders’ vision of limited government…

Read More: The Washington Post

Click here to view the embedded video.

TAX DAY TEA PARTY
Thursday, April 15th
12:00 NOON
99 Main Street
Westerly, RI 02891

Bring a sign, bring a friend and bring a donation for the Jonnycake Center’s Flood Relief Drive.

AM 1230 WBLQ will be broadcasting LIVE!

We will have an open mic and no pre-planned speakers, so if you have something to say… come and say it!

A bus will depart Westerly at 2pm to go to the Providence Tax Day Tea Party from 3 to 6pm. Go to www.riteaparty.net to reserve a seat and find out the details of all the bus stops.

Please visit http://www.westerlyteaparty.com for all the details and the latest news from the Westerly Tea Party.

Source: Westerly Tea Party

Finally, some action on job creation from the Administration!

Top IRS officials have been working with Democrats on Capitol Hill to determine how the agency will enforce President Obama’s new health care law. Republican lawmakers estimate the legislation will require the hiring of many thousands of new tax enforcement agents.

While it’s still not known exactly how many will be hired, here’s what’s clear: Under the new law, the IRS is required to fine taxpayers thousands of dollars if they do not purchase health insurance. In order for the government to enforce compliance, tax authorities will need information, for the first time, about people’s health care. Collecting that data will require more IRS personnel.

Consider what has happened in Massachusetts, which passed a similar health care bill in 2006. To enforce the individual mandate, the state’s Department of Revenue asks filers what kind of insurance they have, as well as details like whether their “sincerely held religious beliefs” are moving them to petition for an exemption from the requirement…

Read More: The Daily Caller

The Honorable Donald L. Carcieri
Governor, State of Rhode Island
State of the State Address – January 26, 2010

Mr. Speaker, Madam President, members of the General Assembly, my fellow General Officers, members of the Judiciary, distinguished guests, and my fellow Rhode Islanders. Before I begin tonight, if you’d indulge me, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the source of my inspiration, my strength, my motivation, and my comfort – and that’s my wife, First Lady Sue Carcieri, our four children and their spouses, and our fourteen grandchildren. Many of them are here tonight. Thank you for all your love and support.

Let us begin tonight by being mindful of the catastrophic earthquake that has ravaged Haiti. We are all in shock and disbelief, and our hearts break as we see the nightly images of the horrific devastation and loss of life. Those of us who have visited Haiti are keenly aware of the extreme poverty and hardship that so many Haitians endure on a daily basis. I know that Rhode Island is home to several thousand Haitians and that many other Rhode Islanders, both young and old, travel there to be of service to the people of Haiti. In fact, just a few days ago, members of the 143rd R.I. Air National Guard flew two of our transport planes to be deployed to assist Haiti. Tonight, we express our prayers and condolences to all those people who have been so profoundly affected. Please join me for a moment of silence in honor of those who have lost their lives so tragically in Haiti.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen. As I stand before you tonight, our state is facing the most severe economic turmoil of the last 30 years, perhaps longer. This challenge cannot be overstated. We have over 73,000 Rhode Islanders out of work, with little sign that employment will improve significantly anytime soon. We all have neighbors who’ve seen their work hours reduced and their income diminished. They’re scrambling to pay their bills, while they watch their home values decline dramatically. They are substantially reducing their spending just to make ends meet.

Every business, both large and small, is reducing costs as they adjust to lower demand for their products and services.

They’re fighting for survival and trying desperately to keep as many of their workers employed as possible. Lay-offs are a last resort for a business because qualified, trained, and high-performing employees are what make a business successful.

In this climate, at this time, they expect their government at every level, federal, state and local — a government they pay for with their hard earned tax dollars—to reduce and control spending as well. As elected leaders, it is our job to deliver on that expectation—and I intend to do so!

We are not alone in facing these challenges. Virtually every state in the country is facing the same crisis.

Last month, as we did, forty-three states saw their unemployment rates rise – many to new highs. Clearly, the national economic recovery is still very fragile, and the message from Massachusetts last Tuesday is clear: Americans want Congress, the President and all their elected officials, to concentrate on the things that are most important to them – get the economy on track, put people back to work, and protect us from terrorists.

The key to weathering this storm is to face the challenges squarely, make the difficult choices to get through it, while at the same time building the proper foundation and bridges to the 21st century economy.

It’s obvious tonight, the two immediate challenges we face in our state are financial and economic.

First: how do we produce a balanced budget with less revenue, and second, how do we put more people to work as soon as possible? Both are enormous challenges!

The first however, we can control entirely ourselves – right here within this Chamber. For the second, we need some help from the national economy —- but we have to do our part too.

A week from today, I will submit my budget for fiscal year 2011. It will be balanced —- without raising taxes!!!

But it will require significant changes at both the state and local level. Make no mistake about it; we are going to have to find more structural ways to reduce spending at the municipal level! We cannot sustain the present level of spending; we simply do not have the revenues.

The budget will also contain a major focus on jobs, with a package that includes: small business tax relief; a tax credit for job creation; and programs for enhancing access to capital. These will all be discussed in more detail in the coming weeks.

For inspiration and guidance on building the foundation for and the bridges to the new 21st century economy, it’s helpful to reach back to the shared values and aspirations that were the founding sentiment of our great state. Rhode Island was chartered to promote and protect “liberty of conscience”, and its historical values included individualism, autonomy, self-reliance, and dissent. It’s no accident that the Independent Man sits atop this building as a symbol of these ideals.

This sense of purpose, and these core values, guide our current ambitions and goals, and will set the agenda for my last year in office.

First, the economy! More so than most, our economy is built upon small, independent businesses, over 35,000 of them. These are individuals pursuing “liberty of conscience” through their entrepreneurial dreams. For our economy to recover, we must nurture and unleash that independent drive and allow it to succeed. As an urgent priority, our new Executive Director of the Economic Development Corporation, Keith Stokes, and a new Board of Directors will be doing just that.

To thrive in the long term, however, we need to reclaim our birthright as a hotbed for business revolution.

From the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century to the bioscience and green energy revolutions today, Rhode Island has always been a place for incubating new ideas and approaches. Just as it did over a century ago—-when R.I. had the highest per capita wealth of any state—our economy once again will rise on the tide of an entrepreneurial revolution.

At the turn of the last century, this magnificent building was constructed by our ancestors as a symbol of pride in the state they had built. All those textile mills that populated the banks of the Blackstone and Pawcatuck rivers were built by small business entrepreneurs, many of whom went on to build big businesses and employ tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders.

To enable that to happen again, we need to recreate the same fertile conditions that encouraged businesses to flourish. The most important and positive actions state and local government can take now are: regulatory reform and tax reform. My Regulatory Review Task Force has given me their final report, and, in the coming weeks, I will unveil a series of specific new proposals to streamline, simplify, and shorten the regulatory process.

While it is difficult to see the sun through the dense economic clouds, there is much underway. One of the more visible bridges we have been building to the 21st century economy is the new I-Way.

Not only has it already dramatically improved the traffic flow between I-95 and I-195, but the demolition of the old highway – which has begun – will unlock over 20 acres of prime land here in the capital city. The opening of this site will accelerate the development of a new life-sciences economy in R.I. It will link together and harness the research capacity of our higher education institutions, with the complementary research and clinical capacity at our major medical centers.

We are home to educational and medical centers of national and international prominence that will be unleashed in new and exciting ways. These will provide high-paying jobs and opportunities for many Rhode Islanders.

A keystone to this strategy is Brown University’s new Warren Alpert Medical School on Richmond Street. The old “jewelry district” is being reborn as a burgeoning life sciences center. This type of public-private partnership is the model for economic success.

And, just as our mighty rivers powered the Industrial Revolution that brought so many jobs and prosperity in the last century – our mighty ocean will power the Energy Revolution of this century. Rhode Island is leading the nation in the development of offshore wind power.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has said that the East Coast of the U.S. is the “Saudi Arabia of wind”.

Wind farms have been rapidly developing across the Plains states; however, their continued development is hindered by the high transmission costs to send the power to distant population centers. The beauty of having offshore wind farms on the East Coast is that’s where the population is!!

Importantly, Deepwater Wind has recently completed a power purchase agreement with National Grid, which we are hopeful will be approved by the Public Utilities Commission.

Simultaneously, a team of scientists from URI is working with the Coastal Resources Management Council to complete a Special Area Management Plan – an ocean “zoning” map – the first in the country. This plan will be the guidepost for siting offshore wind farms.

With PUC approval in March, we will be on track to issue a permit this summer for the Block Island project — Phase 1 of the overall wind farm plan. Once the entire project is underway, an estimated 800 new jobs will be created at Quonset Point, and equally important, we will have established R.I. as the center of East Coast offshore wind farms. Over time, this project could lead to thousands of additional jobs, as turbine, blade, and other component manufacturers locate facilities at Quonset Point to supply this new, growing industry.

Later this year, we will also open another bridge to support our economy – the Intermodel station at Green Airport. This project will not only enhance the airport and the surrounding community, but it will expand commuter rail service in our state. It’s on budget and on schedule.

As important as these bridges are, our state’s greatest asset is its natural beauty and quality of life. I am proud that we have greatly improved the waters of our rivers and Narragansett Bay, have cleaned-up our beaches, and have set aside over 12,000 acres of our farms and woodlands for the enjoyment of us all. Those are real preservation steps.

The second area of intense focus which is critical to our state’s success is education and workforce development. Because our state values “liberty of conscience and free ideas”, it is no surprise that higher education has prospered in Rhode Island. We have more top universities per capita than just about anywhere in the country, and they are one of our state’s greatest assets.

In fact, the colleges and universities in our state employ almost 16,000 people — one of our largest employment sectors — bring hundreds of millions of dollars in out-of-state tuition and research, and have a total economic impact on our state of several billions of dollars. Higher education is, in fact, an economic engine in its own right!

But more importantly, we are harnessing that capacity to fuel entrepreneurial activity on many fronts. We are already aggressively integrating our colleges and universities into our economic development plan. Through the work of the Science and Technology Advisory Council, the Research Alliance, The Governor’s Workforce Development Board, and the Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown we are connecting the talent and brainpower to our growth plan.

In the state’s public institutions – URI, RIC and CCRI – we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in important new facilities to support that plan. At URI, we opened the new Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, the new Ocean Science Exploration Center – “Inner Space Center – , and broke ground on a new School of Pharmacy. At RIC, we opened a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Center for training math and science teachers, and built a new Performing Arts Center. At CCRI, we opened the new campus on Aquidneck Island, and expanded the Nursing program. All of these are important investments that help to build the “brainpower bridge” to our new economy.

However, to fulfill the true potential of our state, we -are lifting the rest of our educational system – the elementary and secondary schools – to this same level of achievement. Once again, this effort is grounded in our past, in the ideas of our founders. The “Race to the Top” reforms being led by our new Commissioner, Deborah Gist, emphasize individual accountability for students and teachers.

We’ve developed a plan for success, and have been implementing it with our close working relationship with Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Nowhere else in the country have four states collaborated to develop common standards and common assessments.

For the last four years, every student (grades 3 – in Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire has taken exactly the same test in math, reading, and writing. Maine joined this year. I am happy to report that each year our students have improved their proficiency scores in every subject!

Our teachers are responding to the challenges, and of special note, the gap between our urban and suburban schools is narrowing. This is all good news! And if we are successful in our Race to the Top grant, we will have tens of millions of dollars in new resources to increase the momentum we have built to improve our students’ outcomes.

We also need to embrace our heritage of independence and enlightenment by fostering more charter schools. I have been a strong advocate of Charter Schools, and we have added new ones, and expanded existing ones. These are public schools utilizing a different model, and are achieving excellent results. This is another “revolution” that Rhode Island can and should lead. In order to build the 21st century economy successfully, we will produce high school graduates with 21st century skills. And let me say, that for the first time in more than a decade, our state is executing a comprehensive and unified workforce development plan to prepare our citizens for employment. And, our Adult Literacy program has become a national model.

The third area of focus for me in this last year will continue to be government! Just like most Rhode Islanders today, our independent-minded founders weren’t too fond of an overly controlling government. Famously, we were the first of the original Thirteen Colonies to declare our independence, but we were the last to ratify the U.S. Constitution. They valued individual autonomy. They were suspicious of the power and cost of government. Imagine how they’d view government today with so much power and too much cost.

We need to restore their outlook in all aspects of civic life. We need to reduce our reliance on government. For those of us who work as public servants, the most important thing we can do is uphold our own individual “liberty of conscience”.

From my seven-year view as an outsider – turned – insider, the biggest blocks to progress are the political blocks. We need less party and union group thinking, and more independent free-thinking, men and women like the one that crowns this Capital.

My team has spent seven years reshaping state government, streamlining it, and making sure that it did not become a greater burden on our citizens. In seven years, we have balanced our budget without raising either the sales or income tax.

In fact, seven years ago R.I. had the 4th highest tax burden in the country. By last year we had dropped to 10th – but we need to be lower. New Hampshire, for example, is 50th. Consequently, its unemployment rate is only 7%.

Today, we are operating state government with the lowest number of employees in years, down over 2,000 since the start of my administration. Every department is providing critical and essential services with fewer resources. This is a tribute to my excellent department directors, their teams and the thousands of dedicated state employees. They have creatively reached outside of government to find ways to leverage limited resources and maintain the services to our citizens.

Let me share with you, in their own words, how some of my Directors view their efforts from out there in the trenches.

Corinne Russo, Director of the Department of Elderly Affairs says: “Even as we’ve reduced staff, we have shared resources, created easier program enrollment, and reached out to partner with community providers. It has been a win/win for everyone.”

From Craig Stenning, Director of the Department of Mental Health, Retardation, and Hospitals: “With an unprecedented increase in social service caseloads, we have been able to reassure our citizens that services will be there when they need them by transforming the delivery system to provide better outcomes. In the end, we will sustain the basic services for our most vulnerable citizens.”

From Patricia Martinez, Director of the Department of Children, Youth and Families: “I am pleased to report that last March we successfully moved the youth at the Training School into new state-of-the-art buildings. We have expanded community-based networks and services and Night-to-Night placements have virtually disappeared.”

From Gary Alexander, Secretary of the Office of Health and Human Services: “We have undertaken bold reform…transforming the way we do business. The Global Medicaid Waiver will allow us to provide people the right services, in the right place, at the right time. We are now free to give your family members more options.”
From Dr. David Gifford, Director of the Department of Health: “Our wellness efforts are changing the dialogue from how to take care of the sick — i.e., a sick care system, to how we keep people healthy, — i.e., a health care system. R.I. was the first state in the nation to be designated as a Well State with so many employers, led by the State of Rhode Island itself, now having wellness programs to keep their employees healthy and to lower costs. Several employees have reported that this program saved their lives by detecting disease early.”

By the way, I would like to commend Dr. Gifford and his team at the Department of Health, supported by hundreds of volunteers, who did such a great job leading our state through the Swine flu epidemic. Our vaccination program has become a national model.

I wish I could take the time tonight to have you hear from all the directors, who along with their teams have accomplished so many things for our citizens. But, since I can’t, let me ask them all, along with my staff, to please stand and be recognized for their tremendous leadership at such a tough time.

Tonight, I’d also like to recognize a special guest, a proud Rhode Islander.
Sergeant First Class Eric Blue was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, earned in Afghanistan with Company A, 19th Special Forces, Rhode Island Army National Guard. Sergeant Blue distinguished himself by his heroic actions during a complex ambush.

Despite being under heavy fire, he heroically maneuvered through the area to find and evacuate a wounded soldier. His actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism. It is to men and women like Sergeant Blue that we all owe the deepest gratitude for defending our freedoms and protecting our country. Please join me in welcoming and thanking Sergeant First Class Eric Blue and his wife, Danielle.

Often in the halls of government, we are overly distracted by our differences and disagreements. It is more productive, however, to first identify those things we can agree upon!

Tonight, we can agree that we all love Rhode Island and want to see it prosper.

We can agree that our most immediate need is jobs.

We can agree that businesses, not government, will create jobs and put our citizens back to work.

We can agree that every household in Rhode Island is hurting right now, and parents and grandparents alike are worrying about making ends meet.

We can agree that Rhode Islanders don’t need more burdens from government.

We can agree that the cities and towns are under considerable financial stress.
Where some of us in this Chamber disagree – is whether property tax increases are inevitable.

I know property tax increases can be avoided. For example, if every city and town employee throughout our state — including all school department personnel — were to agree to a salary reduction plan this year and next, just as state workers have done, tens of millions of dollars could be saved.

This legislature has the ability to prevent property tax increases by enacting sweeping authorizations that will allow our local leaders to reduce spending. For example, it is long past time to allow the city and town councils of every municipality to have control over their school budgets.

School expenses represent nearly 70% of municipal budgets. Those elected officials who set the tax rate – and therefore are accountable to the citizens – should and must have the authority to approve all school contracts and expenditures.

Property tax increases are not inevitable — they will not happen if this legislature enacts the changes that will allow cities and towns to control their spending. It is within your power to do this. I, as Governor, do not have the authority to make these changes, but you do.

Further, as I have said repeatedly, our cities and towns must urgently find significant new ways to share police, fire, and school facilities.

We are a small state – 48 x 37 miles -there are counties across America larger than our entire state. We must break down the longstanding, parochial barriers we have become accustomed to, and adopt more efficient models that will be financially sustainable over the longer term.

By example, each member of this legislature must rise above these barriers. It is up to you to step away from purely local interests and embrace a statewide vision that can be sustained by our children and grandchildren.

To do these things, it is time to put our differences aside. It’s time for all of us in this Chamber to come together, and do the people’s business – to make the common sense choices to steer our state through the storm. The time is urgent. It is now!

I know that Rhode Island cannot control the national economy. But there are many things we can control. We can control our spending. We can control the burden of taxation we place on our citizens. I have been working hard to improve the climate in our state for business.

Yes, I realize that businesses—both large and small–need more customers demanding their products and services before they feel confident enough to begin hiring once again. But we need to do everything we can to make it easier for them. In summary, we need more taxpayers, not more taxes!

To seek guidance at this difficult time in our state and nation, I went back to words attributed to President Abraham Lincoln.

Arguably he was our country’s greatest president because he held the United States together—-at great human cost—in the darkest time of our nation—-the Civil War. His insightful understanding of human nature and the principles necessary to ensure a strong nation are embodied in these words. It reads, “You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot help men and women permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”

These principals and values are directly linked to those of our founders, and they’re pretty straightforward! We need more than ever to go back to those shared values and aspirations, and re-affirm them in this State we all love.

Yes, these are very difficult times for our state – and the entire nation but we will endure, we always have! After all, our state motto is HOPE. But, more than ever, we need faith that if we navigate through this turbulence well, — we will emerge stronger and more resilient.

We can lead the way, as those before us did. The choice is ours!

Tonight, I ask all of us in this Chamber, as well as all of you watching, to search your hearts and souls — think of the sacrifices made by our parents and grandparents — think about the legacy we want to leave our children and grandchildren — and summon the courage and determination to do right by them.

May God bless you; may God bless our beautiful State; and may God bless our great nation.

CHAFEE’S NEW WAY FORWARD – GENERAL ASSEMBLY VERSION:

At the Rhode Island House Finance Committee yesterday, Gubernatorial Candidate Chafee made it clear once again he is no champion of the property taxpayer but merely a politician who will grovel for the support of the public sector union bosses. He has officially broken his first promise of his new gubernatorial campaign, which was “to be a champion of the property taxpayer” and “a partner with our mayors and town managers … to repeal many of the costly state mandates on cities and towns.” Instead of siding with mayors and town managers in favor of reducing benefits through pension reform (i.e. a minimum retirement age) and a 25% co-share for health care premiums for public sector employees, he “urged” the House Finance Committee “to leave benefits alone” for public sector union employees (ProJo 1/13/10).

Without a doubt, Mr. Chafee does not want his mayoral legacy in Warwick of giving away the store to public sector union members to be tampered with in anyway. He is proud of signing union contracts that allows employees to retire with no minimum retirement age after only 20 years of work. (ProJo 7/29/96). He believes it was his “biggest achievement” as mayor to give public employees big raises while paying no co-share of their health care premium. (ProJo 5/3/94, 10/10/2000) He thinks it is “awesome” to give part time crossing guards “full benefits.” (ProJo 9/3/93) No doubt the public sector unions thought these kinds of these deals were “awesome” too. This is why “local unions were endorsing Lincoln Chafee’s 1998 City Hall reelection bid” and letters were being sent out to “municipal union members on Chafee’s behalf” as a “payoff for the years” Chafee “spent nurturing labor friendships in the state’s second-largest city.” (ProJo 10/10/2000). This is also why, in a prior mayoral campaign, after “Chafee helped the union with a good contract,” the American Federation of Teachers asked other unions to have “the favor be returned” by supporting Chafee. (ProJo 1/6/95).

Rhode Island Republican Party Chair Giovanni Cicione commented: “Mr. Chafee’s old three step plan has not changed one bit – give the public sector unions what they want, get the unions to support your campaign; raise taxes to pay for those sweetheart deals.”

“Mr. Chafee may not have any coherent plans to cut spending, but taxpayers can be certain he will not to cut the generous benefits of public employees – he seems to be going out of his way to protect these outrageous union benefits by raising taxes on groceries and medicine,” concluded Cicione.

Press Release: Rhode Island Republican Party

Within hours of the Mr. Chafee’s campaign announcement earlier this week, the Rhode Island Republican Party made it clear that Chafee’s ‘New Way Forward’ was really just his old three step plan as Mayor:

1. Give the public sector unions what they want;

2. Get the unions to support you; and

3. Raise taxes to pay for those sweetheart deals.

With each passing day, it is becoming clearer that Chafee is ready to raise taxes on anything, including basic necessities, in order to maintain the current generous benefits enjoyed by public sector union employees and win “the endorsement of organized public sector unions” (Warwick Beacon 1/5/10). Said RIGOP Chairman, Giovanni Cicione: “Our seniors and taxpayers don’t need the “Chafee Three Step.”

Mr. Chafee has unequivocally put the generous pensions of “current public employees” off limits to any reform efforts even if it would reduce the cost to taxpayers (ProJo 1/7/10). This makes it clear that Mr. Chafee is more willing to play ball with the public sector labor bosses than even the R.I. House Democratic leadership. Even though the House Democratic leadership has unfortunately put 401k plans for government employees off the table (ProJo 1/4/10), they at least supported some of the Governor’s pension reform efforts which affected current public employees and saved taxpayers millions. (09-H5983Aaa Article 7 House Journal 6/24/09, and 05-H5270Aaa Article 7 House Journal 6/27/05).

“It appears Mr. Chafee thought that these pension reforms went too far since they affected current public employees,” said Cicione. “As a former mayor, Chafee should really have a better handle on the impact of pension handouts and long term municipal budgeting.” “Without reasonable concessions from all state and municipal employees on pensions, cities and towns across the state will face bankruptcy or higher taxes.”

“It appears that Mr. Chafee is not at all serious about reducing government spending,” concluded Cicione. “Simply put, under Chafee’s “New Way Forward”, a 70 year old on a fixed income would have to pay higher taxes on their home, their medicine, and their food in order to subsidize the lifestyle of a 40 year old retired city worker – that’s just wrong.”

News Release: Rhode Island Republican Party

Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress.

The built-in “marriage penalty” in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say “I do.”

The disparity comes about in part because subsidies for purchasing health insurance under the plan from congressional Democrats are pegged to federal poverty guidelines. That has the effect of limiting subsidies for married couples with a combined income, compared to if the individuals are single…

Read More: The Wall Street Journal