VIDEO: Rhody Righties go nuts over "Be Nice"

Right-wingers are complaining about this video from the Rhode Island Foundation. Big surprise.
By Will Collette 

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9kIPpaAwJs

This video was produced by the privately funded Rhode Island Foundation as part of a campaign to focus Rhode Islanders' attention on how to handle the challenges that face us.

This video uses actual tweets by Rhode Islanders complaining about this or that - yeah, we Rhode Islanders do that a lot - read by kids who then deliver a pretty clear message: instead of just complaining, do something.

GoLocalProv, a conservative-leaning website, devoted a full article to airing out the gripes by our Rhode Island right-wing intelligentsia against this anti-griping video.

They quote Mike Stenhouse, CEO of the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity (and Free Clamcakes):

RI Taxpayers – the old RI Statewide Coalition – goes out of business

Conservative activist group RI Taxpayers ceases operation

By Steve Ahlquist in Rhode Island’s Future with added notes from Will Collette

In an email to members, RI Taxpayers, one of the key conservative organizations in the state, announced that they are ceasing operations due to the death of their founder Harry Staley and budget shortfalls.

NOTE: RI Taxpayers started out as the RI Shoreline Coalition and was based in Shelter Harbor. It was founded to defend the privileges of wealthy non-resident property owners. It later added open hostility to the Narragansett Indian Tribe. 

For years, they were headquartered here in Charlestown.

It changed its name to the RI Statewide Coalition and, while retaining a special interest in non-residents’ “rights” and animus toward the Tribe, it began pushing for election of right-wing candidates, attacked state expenditures, hated unions in general and public employees in particular and fought against any and all taxes.  – Will Collette

Justin Katz, writing on the conservative Ocean State Current, lamented the passing of RI Taxpayers but said, “While it’s discouraging to watch one of the key players on our side fall off the board, time may prove that resources and talent can be salvaged and won’t be lost.”

The memo, copied below, was signed by President Larry Girouard and Chairman Larry Fitzmorris.

RISC-y reporting

Rhode Island’s leading conservative political action group reports that it spends almost NO MONEY on political action

By Will Collette

Recently, I reported on the major leadership changes in the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC) and their plan to move out of their long-time headquarters in Charlestown to new quarters in the metro area (they’ve moved to West Warwick).

RISC is Rhode Island’s most prominent right-wing political organization. They’re always getting mentioned in the news when they criticize unions, public workers, Democrats, spending, taxes, etc.

They were originally founded to fight against the Narragansett Indian Tribe and to promote voting rights for out of state people who own shoreline estates. Over the years, they diversified their issue portfolio to its present, generalized attack on Rhode Island working people. They now list among their coalition partners the Tea Party, Operation Clean Government and a motley collection of local anti-tax groups.

Their relationship with the Charlestown Citizens Alliance is unacknowledged, but they share the same DNA.

RISC is also a big promoter of open, honest and transparency in government – although as you read on, you’ll see that these principles only apply to other, but not to themselves. You can see where the CCA picked up its values, and as you read on, their practices.

Gina Raimondo to be honored by ultra-rightwing think tank

Our DINO Treasurer to receive award for pension cuts

Raimondo fires up the crowd at an anti-state worker rally

By Will Collette

I liked Gina Raimondo a lot when she was a candidate. She seemed to be prepared to take decisive, but humane, action to protect public worker retirement benefits by bringing a realistic approach to the job of State Treasurer.

But it seems like she is operating in a different reality. When she was sworn into office, she seemed to step through some sort of inter-dimensional space-time warp that turned her from being a progressive Democrat into a person about to be honored by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research with their annual “Urban Innovator” award. 

More news updates

More on Chariho car crash, RI census numbers and President Obama's "tax on Christmas"
By Will Collette

Chariho student still critical, and, was there a second car? A.J. Algier has an excellent story in today's Westerly Sun (she has done some outstanding coverage of this story) on the Charlestown car crash that injured four Chariho students and put now former Chariho School Committee member Terri Serra in serious trouble.

Right-wing meltdown

Rhode Island political groups on the far-right-wing fringe seem to be undergoing a kind of traumatic breakdown.

Some signs of that breakdown from just the past month:

• “Think tank” Ocean State Policy Research Institute goes out of business
• Rhode Island Tea Party fractures into pieces
• Leading right-wing blog, Anchor Rising, faces money problems, cuts back
• RI Statewide Coalition CEO Harriet Lloyd hallucinates
• Tea Party darling, Rep. Doreen Costa (R-No Kingstown), found to be liar, again
• Trial balloon “Steve Laffey for President” crashes and burns
• Right-wing scribe Stephen Beale (writer of Laffey piece) loses gig

CSI: Shelter Harbor - Things that go bump in the night

RISC: Show me a school teacher and I'll show you
a bomb-throwing anarchist

There is a remarkable story in today’s Westerly Sun – in the free access part of their website (hooray!) – by Chris Keegan, one of the Sun’s best writers.

Chris reported on police reports released this week that raise the question: what's up with RISC Director Harriet Lloyd?

Last March, Lloyd called the Westerly Police, the State Police and the local fire company to report that somebody had set off a bomb outside her Shelter Harbor home. Of course, it must be the nefarious work of her evil nemesis, the NEARI teachers’ union.

Except, as Chris details, there are some serious questions about whether it actually happened, even though Lloyd seems to be convinced it did.

After PC tip, ProJo sticks another fork into OSPRI "Piglet"

This has been a really bad day for the Ocean State Policy Research Institute (OSPRI). First, GoLocalProv ran a scoop that OSPRI is going out of business. Then, the Providence Journal's Politifacts slapped their dreaded "Pants on Fire" label on OSPRI's new "Piglets" report on supposedly wasteful government spending in Rhode Island.

Politifacts' slam on OSPRI today resulted from a tip-off from Progressive Charlestown.

OSPRI corkscrews into the ground

GoLocalProv.com had the scoop this morning that the Ocean State Policy Research Group has, as GoLocal put it, "imploded" and will shut down entirely by next month.

OSPRI director (and former RI Statewide Coalition board member) William Felkner has already left.

This ultra-right wing "think" tank has made its mark by issuing two consecutive "research" reports that earned a "False" rating from the Providence Journal's Polifacts fact-checking team.

CSI Charlestown: DNA tests show CCA and RISC from the same gene pool

$59.99 from Amazon.com

There was a flurry of angry comments over a  Progressive Charlestown article I wrote that showed board interlocks between the RI Statewide Coalition (RISC) and the bogus research center the Ocean State Policy Research Institute (OSPRI).

A lot of those comments seemed to come from CCA supporters. That sparked my curiosity about why such a vehement reaction, especially since it had so little to do with the real topic of my articles – that OSPRI had put out a report that was 100% on the facts about what OSPRI considered to be wasteful government spending in Charlestown. I would have loved to hear them explain how cleaning up toxic contamination at the old Kenyon dump site is an example of wasteful spending.

Anyway, I decided to see if CCA had any genetic ties to either RISC or OSPRI and ran the appropriate DNA tests.

Here are the results:

RISC claims it has no ties to OSPRI

Harry Staley, chair of the RI Statewide Coalition (RISC), left a strongly worded comment on my article about false information in the latest report by the Ocean State Policy Research Institute (OSPRI).

Rather than go back and forth in the comment section, I felt Mr. Staley’s remarks – and my reply to them - deserved more prominent space.

Here’s what Mr. Staley wrote:

OSPRI caught lying – Again!

The Providence Journal's Politifacts calls OSPRI out for lying in one of their high-profile reports. This is the second time this year that OSPRI has been caught lying.

And this time, they also lied about Charlestown!

Royal Wedding and Short Takes

Another Update: a federal appeals court decision allowed the NFL owners to reestablish their "lock-out" of the players on last night. By 2-1, the 8th Circuit Appeals Court granted the NFL owners a "stay" against the effects of earlier lower court rulings against the owners and for the players. The owners filed the appeal with the 8th Circuit because of its reputation for being anti-union. Still, the justices vote was split. Though the lock-out seems to be back, players and managers across the league are confused about its impact on the draft and training camps.

SEE UPDATE, below on the surprises at last night's Planning Commission roast of the Whalerock project.

House of Love. If you plan to watch the Royal Wedding tomorrow, this viral video is a must-see. If you haven't seen this already, you've probably heard about it.

Right on, Mrs. Krantz. Bernice Krantz, a CCA founder and steering committee member  wrote an outstanding letter printed in today's Providence Journal. She skewers birthers, Donald Trump and bigots.

Jobs and Housing Make People Leave, Not Taxes

Oh boy, there are going to be some angry people over at the RI Stateline Coalition (RISC) office. That's over at 3949 Old Post Road here in town. After a year of touting a "study" by OSPRI that claimed to show that Rhode Island's taxes were forcing rich people to move away to Florida and the like, yet another new study shows that this story is simply not true.

The University of Massachusetts study looked at all six New England states together and individually and relied on a detailed analysis of patterns shown in US census data to draw its conclusions. This methodology contrasted sharply with OSPRI's scientific method which was to survey the friends of RISC founder Harry Staley and Hasbro honcho Alan Hassenfeld.

For a summary of the report's findings on Rhode Island, click here.

Lots of stuff to worry about

Circle the Wagons! Over the next several weeks, watch the Charlestown Citizens Alliance and RISC go berserk over a vote by the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee to allow a "Carcieri Fix" bill to go to the Senate floor. This bill would reverse the effect of the Supreme Court's decision in Feb 2009 in Carcieri v. Salazar. Without going into all the nuances, that 8-1 decision effectively blocked the Narragansett Tribe from being able to put land outside the jurisdiction of state and local law. The effect: anything the tribe wants to do in Charlestown has to get past Ruth Platner and her anti-everything commission. The new action in the Senate revives that primordial fear that somehow the Narragansetts will build a Foxwoods-sized casino, nuclear power plant, toxic waste dump or mammoth-sized McDonalds franchise in town. Well, before you start panicking, a Senate committee vote is just that. This Congress can't agree on anything, never mind enact a bill like this. Plus, can we not have a little more respect and trust in our tribal neighbors?

Speaking of South County Nukes, in the wake of Japan's post-earthquake nuclear crisis, a lot more attention is being given to the 2-megawatt nuclear power plant on URI's Bay Campus in Narragansett. Former state rep. Ray Rickman has asked Gov. Chafee to decommission the plant to protect us from a nuclear disaster and to save money.

Class War and Fair Taxes

Blame Ronald Reagan. The Gipper popularized the idea that all taxes are evil and sold us “Supply-Side Economics,” the idea that the more we slash taxes for the rich, the better off we’ll all be. Trickle-Down Economics, called “voodoo economics” by George Bush I, became political gospel. At the state level too, the watchword for any politician who wanted to stay in office was CUT.

After a 30-year tax cutting orgy, taxes in general – especially for the top brackets – are at record lows. Yet, while trickle-down worked great for the rich, it didn’t work very well for anyone else. It didn't pump up the economy but did bankrupt government at every level, leaving us naked and vulnerable when the economy turned bad.

New Census Data Released: Congratulations, Ruth!

Now that the excitement of International Talk Like William Shatner Day is over, we're back to focusing on dull and boring numbers. Not tax numbers, but the new census data for Rhode Island.

It turns out that Rhode Island is NOT losing population, as the RI Statewide Coalition/OSPRI people have been crying. We actually gained a little.

But the small population gain, which by the way, means that we do not lose a House seat, came about in an interesting way. The state's Latino population grew by almost 40,000 people. If not for that increase, Rhode Island's population would have dropped by 35,587 AND we would have gone from having two Representatives to only one At-Large House member like many other low population states.

I wonder how that's playing within right-wing, anti-immigrant circles? They must be apoplectic over the big jump in the state's Hispanic population but on the other hand, we owe our new Latino neighbors a big thank you for saving a seat in Congress (and BTW, an Electoral vote).

Sheldon Whitehouse - Senate's #1 liberal

In the National Journal's annual poll, our own Senator Sheldon Whitehouse ranked #1 most liberal (though he's in a 9-way tie with other notables like Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Chuck Shumer of NY) for the second year in a row.

That's pretty good news as he runs for reelection in 2012 because another poll, this time by Gallup, shows Rhode Island is the 3rd most liberal state in the Union, following the District of Columbia and Vermont. And DC isn't a state. It's no surprise that Mississippi, Idaho and Alabama scored 1st , 2nd and 3rd most conservative, respectively.

While there has been lots of buzz that Whitehouse will be challenged by former Guv Don Carcieri (unless he's already changed his voting address to Florida) or John Robitaille. Both would lose by double digits according to poll numbers released yesterday.


But another potential Republican challenger has emerged - Hasbro's Alan G. Hassenfeld. He was quoted in yesterday's ProJo political blog as considering a run.

Though, maybe Hassenfeld might also be considering running from Florida. Last month, Hassenfeld acted as the front guy for the now discredited OSPRI report that Rhode Island's taxes are making the rich bail out for Florida.

Well, if Kerry King can run for State Treasurer from a Florida address, why can't Alan Hassenfeld. After all, there are different rules for the rich.

SIDE NOTE: In Rhode Island, where everyone is connected to everyone, Kerry King serves on the board of the RI Statewide Coalition along with fellow Floridian CCA President Kallie Jurgens,

Author: Will Collette

UPDATE: OSPRI report on the rich and taxes deemed FALSE

Last month, the Ocean State Policy Research Institute (OSPRI) issued a bombshell report claiming that rich Rhode Islanders were leaving in droves, mostly for Florida, and it was RI's taxes, especially the estate tax, to blame. I talked about that report in the first posting in this blog.

Polifacts analyzed OSPRI's report and what little supporting evidence that was cited in the report and determined that the report was FALSE. That's a polite way of saying it was a lie.

Sound and Fury at the State House

Despite our budget woes, intolerable unemployment, runaway fuel oil costs and deteriorating infrastructure, it's great to see our lawmakers in Providence have their priorities straight.

The right-wing of the General Assembly spent much of this week flailing away at two of their favorite bogeymen - gay marriage and illegal immigration. Can you imagine how hysterical they would be if they discovered there were illegal immigrants who wanted the right to same sex marriage?
totally bogus statistic that illegal immigration costs Rhode Island $400 million a year. Even Rep. Donna Walsh's opponent jumped on the bandwagon and spouted that figure.

I'm surprised that Bill Felkner of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute didn't use that fictional statistic in his own equally fictional account of how Rhode Island policies are scaring the rich into moving away to Florida. In fact, the rich ARE NOT moving away, but as they used to say about Ronald Reagan, "don't let the facts get in the way of a good story."

Speaking of Ronald Reagan, House Republicans are thrilled that their resolution to memorialized a fictionalized version of Ronald Reagan on his 100th centennial passed unanimously, 61-0. Rep. Doreen Costa (R-Tea Bag) scores again!

Rep. Daniel Gordon (R-Portsmouth) also struck a blow for the Tea Party agenda with his bill to allow Rhode Islanders to "opt out" of federal Health Care Reform. Gordon cited a favorite right-wing shibboleth, the Tenth Amendment, as the basis for his resolution.

In fairness, I should also note the noble efforts of two South County Democrats who also have their priorities straight. Take Rep. Donald Lally (D-Narragansett) who introduced a bill to make Halloween the last Saturday of October, regardless of the actual date. He said he introduced the bill on behalf of a constituent and, even though it didn't think the bill was a great idea, would put it up for a hearing anyway. I'm sure that constituent, whoever that is, is really happy with Lally over that.

And Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy (D-Hopkinton) introduced legislation to create a special Red Sox affinity license plate. This bill does have some merit, as the revenues from the sale of the plates would go for cancer research at the Dana Farber Institute.