Archive for the 'Liberals and Leftists' Category
Mark Smiley, President of the Republican State Chairman’s Caucus commented yesterday on the financial nightmare in the city of Providence left behind by previous Mayor David Cicilline. Providence is in a fiscal crisis after Cicilline robbed the cities rainy day fund and borrowed millions to balance the budget last year.
“David Cicilline chose not to make the hard choices and reign in the financial storm that was occurring while he was mayor. He chose to rob Providence of its future and to continue the poor practices already in place. Cicilline attempted to balance the budget utilizing stimulus money that he knew wasn’t coming so that his mismanagement of Providence wouldn’t interfere with his run for Congress. ” said Smiley.
According to Mayor Angel Taveras’ Municipal Finances Review Panel, Providence is dealing with a pension that is underfunded by $2.3 billion and additionally the unfunded liability is even more severe in health-care costs for retirees. The city has just $1 million saved to cover an unfunded liability of $1.5 billion, according to the report.
“Now we know why David Cicilline chose to run for Congress rather than seek another term as Mayor of Providence. It was time to run away from the mess he created and leave the city holding the bag. It is clear that Congressman Cicilline cares more about his own career than the citizens he supposedly represents. He has also left the union rank and file in an extremely bad position given Providence will not be able to deliver what it promised.” said Smiley.
Mark Smiley was elected to President of the Republican State Chairmen’s Caucus last month and is also the Chairman of the Warren Republican Town Committee.
Source: Press Release
This is a commercial from the King for Treasurer campaign about Gina Raimondo’s deceptions and distortions about her own business record.
Gina was given $6 million dollars of Rhode Island taxpayers money. She invested nearly all of it in out of state companies (except for one company). She says she created over 1000 jobs, only about 10 are actually in Rhode Island. And, none of the companies she invested our money in have even made a profit.
If we can’t trust her with $6 million dollars, how can we trust her with $7 billion dollars?
Video: King for Treasurer
The following is an open letter from GOP congressional candidate State Rep. John Loughlin to Providence Mayor Cicilline, on the shaky state of Providence’s finances.
On a related note, the Providence Firefighters Union filed suit against the City of Providence earlier today, demanding that the city meet its pension payment obligations.
Dear Mayor Cicilline:
I am writing to you today because it appears the city of Providence is bankrupt or close to it and that you are deliberately hiding this fact from the people of Rhode Island. I am concerned that for political reasons your campaign for Congress is causing you to act in such a way as to conceal the budget problems facing the city of Providence, making them worse in the process.
According to City Auditor James Lombardi, you have refused his requests for financial information for the past six months. As a result, he has had to resort to filing requests under the State Access to Public Records Act (APRA). This is an extraordinary set of circumstances because as you know the good functioning of government depends on transparency and accountability. By not making information available when requested, you are acting in a manner that is antithetical to good government.
What little information the Auditor has obtained causes him grave concern. Specifically, he said that $18 million of the regularly scheduled pension payment of $38 million for the last fiscal year was never paid. He also said the city’s reserve contingency funds account – the so-called “rainy day fund” – went from having a balance of $14.4 million on July 1, 2009 (the start of the last fiscal year) to NEGATIVE $187,736 on June 30, 2010 (the end of the last fiscal year).
Based on this alarming information, I am concerned that the city cannot make its way through the current fiscal year without a tax increase, severe budget cuts, or both. I am calling on you to immediately disclose to the taxpayers of Providence and the people of Rhode Island the full extent of the city’s current financial situation by releasing to the Auditor’s Office and the public at large a balance sheet and a cash flow analysis showing the current state of the city’s finances.
It is time for you to set aside concerns about how the city’s deteriorating fiscal condition will affect your campaign for Congress. You need to set aside concerns about your political career and level with the people of Rhode Island.
Sincerely,
John Loughlin
State Representative John J. Loughlin II
RI House Minority Whip
Candidate for US Congress, RI -01
PO Box 244
Adamsville, RI 02801
The Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC) is calling on the Superintendent of the Bristol-Warren School district to immediately investigate whether inappropriate – -and possibly illegal- -political campaign activity associated with the approaching Primary election was conducted during a portion of the teachers’ official orientation session held Monday, August 30th.
Superintendent Melinda Thies has received an official complaint by Bristol Rep. Doug Gablinske who claims that Pat Crowley of the statewide National Education Association (NEA) delivered political remarks and went so far as to urge teachers in attendance for an official orientation session to vote against Gablinske in the approaching September 14th Primary. Gablinske has been a supporter of reforms to public employees’ pensions and other elements of their contract compensation packages as well as a supporter of the state’s new Education Aid Formula.
“It’s outrageous, it’s inappropriate and RISC is demanding to know if, in fact, there was illegal political campaign activity conducted by the local teachers’ union and statewide NEA during an official teachers’ orientation, on public school grounds, during a professional teachers’ forum,” blasts RISC President Jim Beale. Beale notes that several hundred teachers and other school staff assembled for the orientation are paid for such out-of-classroom orientation days by the school district as part of the duties associated with their professional contract. Continue reading ‘RISC Calls for Probe of Bristol-Warren NEA Activity’
Rhode Islanders,
By now, you may have heard of the “Cloward-Piven Strategy,” a purposeful plot drafted by Marxist Ivy League professors that was designed for one purpose – to collapse and overthrow America’s capitalist system. To eradicate the American Dream.
This sinister plot instructed leftist agitators to purposely expand the entitlement mindset by overwhelming government welfare rolls with impossible obligations. The result would be a “profound financial and political crisis” that would unleash “powerful forces…for major economic reform at the national level.” Largely adopted by the Democrat Party upon its proposal in 1966, the Cloward-Piven Strategy became one of the most overt attempts by the Left to drastically change the landscape of American Life.
Rhode Islanders may be less aware, however, that this portion of the Left’s radical heritage was spawned right here in the Ocean State. And the “strategy for forcing political change through orchestrated crisis” still operates with precision within the RI Democrat Party. Elected Democrats – buttressed by groups such as the Poverty Institute, the George Wiley Center, union organizers, and other progressive organizations – have been actively shepherding Rhode Island toward statewide bankruptcy for years. And it has all been by design.
You can now read all about the Cloward-Piven Strategy, and the Ocean State radicals behind its implementation, by clicking on Excerpt of the Week on TravisRowley.com.
News Release: Travis Rowley, Author of “The Rhode Island Republican”
From the illustrious Pat Crowley at left-wing RI Future blog:
The Republican ethical swamp got a little muddier last Friday in a little noticed story. Joe Larisa, the man behind the Central Falls receivership debacle and the civil war in East Providence lost his appeals of an ethics finding. He’s got some ground to make up if he wants to join Don Carcieri in the ethically challenged category, but with November only a few months away hopefully there WON’T be time. Maybe Will Rici can help him out.
At least if you’re going to drag me into this, spell my name right… RICCI.
“Little Noticed” — By? It was published in the newspaper, wasn’t it?
“Republican” — Joseph Larisa has not been a registered Republican since 2006.
“Central Falls Receivership” — The only “debacle” is how that small city has been run into the ground by a thoroughly corrupt Democratic political machine. The receivership was requested by an all Democrat city council who weren’t willing to make the tough decisions necessary to right their ship on their own; unlike in East Providence, where tough decisions needed to be made, and were made for the good of the city.
“Civil War in East Providence” — Unlike the U.S. Civil War of 1861-1865, “the union” in this case, has yet to win a single (court) battle.
As for the issue of Mayor Larisa’s pro bono (that means at no charge, for the Latin impaired) representation of a member of the Board of Canvassers before the city council — during a time while he was a private citizen — he is convinced he was in the right and that the law, as currently being interpreted, is invalid. Time will tell if that is the case, since the law cited in the complaint against him does not address the issue of pro bono representation.
Larisa will be appealing this latest ruling to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. It’s clearly not about the money; the fine was only $500. He’s already spent thousands of his own money to defend his principled position. He could have paid the fine and made it go away quietly (like a number of Pat’s Democratic friends). It’s purely a matter of principle for him. I expect this to last well into his next term as Mayor.
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I’ll match my facts against Sen. Tassoni anytime, anywhere.
In the 7/21/2011 Observer (http://breezepapers.com/2011/07/20/observer/tassoni-says-gop-boss-hirons-should-get-his-facts-straight) the senator takes some liberties with the truth concerning statements made earlier by John Dionne and myself. Below is my response to the Observer.
Sen.Tassoni says Mr Dionne and I need to get our facts straight. I am up for that challenge.
Mr Dionne said the senator’s sponsorship and support of Binding Arbitration was based on his past relationship with labor unions. The senator’s answer was that he’s no longer employed by a union. Correct. But that does not change the fact that he was in the past as Mr Dionne stated. Not to mention his newspaper’s (http://www.commongroundnews.net) advertisements are at least half for unions, affiliated organizations or businesses owned by fellow democrat politicians. While the senator is no longer a public union employee, he is clearly in good standing with the public sector union political action committees. In the 2nd quarter of this non-election year he received over $2500 in public sector PAC donations. (http://www.ricampaignfinance.com/RIPublic/Filings.aspx)
Moving on to the Binding Arbitration Bill (S0794 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us//BillText11/SenateText11/S0794A.pdf )and the Senate votes on it on June 29th. (The Senate Journal http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/journals11/senatejournals11/SJournal6-28.pdf). Sen.Tassoni sponsored the bill. If it is a conflict to vote for a bill, how can it not be to sponsor it?
There were 7 votes related to the bill. 5 amendments, a motion to move the final vote to June 30th and the actual vote on the bill. Sen.Tassoni recorded no vote on the first 6 votes and finally abstained on the 7th. Final total 6 walks, 1 abstention.
Is binding arbitration bad for Smithfield and North Smithfield? I am not an expert so I’ll defer to the elected municipal officials. Of the 21 elected municipal officials (Smithfield 5 council, 5 school committee; N. Smithfield 5 council, 5 school committee, 1 administrator), 15 are listed in opposition at the RI Coalition Against Binding Arbitration website (www.ricaba.org). The rest have not answered, yet. The opposed includes the 3 members of the democratic majority on the Smithfield School Committee.
Clearly the municipal officials in the 22nd senate district think this idea is a bad one. From the national media it appears states are not enacting this idea right now. Most are running away from it.
Yes, sometimes our General Assembly members should recuse themselves. Sen.Tassoni has sponsored hundreds of bills in his time in the RI Senate. He generally makes the top 5 in the number of senate bill filled every year. Researching how many time he has recused himself since his election is not an easy task. However, I would bet the number can be counted on 2 hands.
Recusing oneself from an issue should include not submitting bills on the subject, not voting on the subject and not advocating for the subject. About a third of the senator’s letter was singing the praises of the binding arbitration bill he submitted. Score 1 out of 3 on recusing.
Phil Hirons, Jr.
Chair, Smithfield Republican Town Committee
Vice President, RIRA