Governor brings back Stefan Pryor to fix problems he couldn't fix the last two times he served in government

Will the third time be the charm? Ask Einstein.

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Gov. Dan McKee has tapped a familiar face to return to his former job leading state economic development efforts.

McKee unveiled Stefan Pryor as his pick for Rhode Island Commerce Secretary Thursday afternoon. If confirmed by the Rhode Island Senate, the nomination will return Pryor to the same post he held for eight years, from 2015 to 2022. 

“Stefan Pryor has the experience and the right skill set to steer Rhode Island’s economic development efforts,” McKee said in a statement. “He has forged strong relationships with business over the years, knows Rhode Island’s strengths and potential, and is skilled at liaising between the public and private sectors.” 

After a failed run for Rhode Island General Treasurer in 2022, Pryor went on to lead the state housing department. He served as housing secretary from February 2023 to July 2024, before leaving for the private sector.

The once-prominent state cabinet head known for helping lure big-name companies to Rhode Island with public subsidies, and later, to shore up the nascent and struggling housing department, disappeared from the public eye after stepping away from state government. He most recently worked as a partner for Palm Venture Studios, a Connecticut-based impact investment firm.

However, speculation over his return to Commerce began to swirl after former Commerce Secretary Liz Tanner announced in June she would be leaving to take a position with a new nonprofit tied to the 2026 World Cup. The need to fill the role intensified after temporary replacement, Jim Bennett, took a leave of absence for health reasons weeks into his new duties, as first reported by the Boston Globe Rhode Island. Bennett, who also serves as Commerce president and CEO, did not attend the agency’s most recent meeting on Tuesday. 

Privatizing Amtrak Would Be a Disaster

For Charlestown, it's the only way for the zombie Old Saybrook-Kenyon Bypass to rise again

Adam Barrington for Common Dreams

At a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing earlier this month, former car salesman, wage thief, and current Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno said the U.S. government should stop funding Amtrak, and argued in favor of handing it over to the private sector. Moreno and his ilk—including former White House dog, Elon Musk—perpetuate an old and tired right-wing tradition that is at best confused and at worst conniving: bashing all that serves the public good and venerating all that transfers wealth to private moneyed interests.

One might be tempted to give Moreno, Musk, and other practitioners of the ancient religion of market worship the benefit of the doubt; perhaps they really believe what they say. Maybe they truly think concentrating wealth and institutional control in the hands of a few corporate masters is what’s best for everyone. If that is the case, they are both far too bewildered, their minds far too infantile, to be in any positions of power and influence.

On the other hand, if Moreno and Musk are not in fact confused, then they must be aware that what they say is completely false. Privatization of public institutions has an observable record of raising prices for customers, diminishing service quality, and degrading working conditions. They know privatization is not good for the public, but it is good for private moneyed interests, like Moreno’s wealthy campaign contributors and billionaires like Musk, and that is what matters most to them.

For all the talk about Amtrak’s inefficiency, the record tells a different tale. Even with inadequate federal funding, Amtrak has made significant accomplishments. For example, though rail travel decreased during the Covid-19 pandemic, Amtrak set all-time records for ridership and revenue in FY24. In fact, Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) ridership was 12% higher in FY24 than it was in FY19, before the pandemic struck, and the NEC’s FY24 operating cost recovery, at 123%, far exceeded the 100% statutory goal.

Speaking of efficiency—just how “efficient” is the private sector, anyway? Hack economists tell us that efficiency means getting the same or better results at a lower cost. A corporation gutting their workforce and skimping on maintenance to obtain higher profits is, by this logic, acting efficiently. The efficiency of a private business, therefore, depends on how much profit it can squeeze out of fewer workers, with cheaper materials, in worse conditions, and at greater risk to surrounding communities.

Trump’s Big Bill Is Filled With Hundreds of Billions in corporate welfare

Children will starve but fat cats will get fatter

By Brett Heinz 

Here's $45 million down the toilet

Donald Trump and his allies in Congress claim their “one big beautiful bill” will cut government waste. Former White House official Elon Musk disagrees, slamming the bill as a “disgusting abomination” containing a “MOUNTAIN” (in all caps) of waste.

Musk is no expert on waste — his DOGE cuts did untold damage to the federal government while failing to actually reduce any waste. But Musk and other critics like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) are correct that this bill is chock-full of wasteful spending.

The topline items are tax cuts for the wealthy and historically large health care cuts for everyone else. Those are bad enough. But tucked away inside of the bill, there’s also a massive amount of wasteful spending and corporate subsidies.

Lobbyists are working overtime to fill the bill with giveaways to their clients, adding hundreds of billions in waste that will significantly increase the national debt over the next 10 years. Many of the bill’s corporate subsidies are disguised as tax cuts, a common tactic Congress uses to hide how much money it spends.

For instance, hidden on page 916 of the bill is a subsidy for the indoor tanning industry that will cost $365 million. A few pages later, a new benefit gives the entertainment industry $153 million to buy recording equipment. Even deeper in the bill, a new tax break for firearm silencers will cost $1.4 billion.

Unnecessary provisions that further complicate the tax code are everywhere: a $58 billion subsidy for auto loans, a $20 billion subsidy for private schools, and a $5 billion extension for flawed “opportunity zones” that only benefit real estate investors. These are just the tip of the iceberg.

CCA favorite, former Charlestown Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz leaves the second job he’s held since leaving Charlestown in 2023

After only two years, Stankiewicz leaves Pawtucket Finance Director position

By Will Collette

He manned the ramparts at Town Hall,
fending off all non-CCA interlopers

Remember Stanky? For 10 years, Mark Stankiewicz did the ruling Charlestown Citizens Alliance's bidding. He insured a place for himself in the CCA Hall of Fame by being a Town Administrator who actually told me that he “works for the CCA” and not the citizens of Charlestown.

Ex Town Administrator Stankiewicz served the CCA by covering up shady land deals, denying access to public records and rationalizing financial screw-ups such as the CCA’s infamous “$3 million Oopsie” where $3 million in Charlestown funds were, to use Stanky’s term “misallocated” for two years. The CCA is STILL talking about what a great job he did.

Under Stankiewicz, Charlestown racked up the state’s highest per capita administrative costs - $566 per capita. Compare that to Cumberland, the lowest at $106 or to our neighbors in South Kingstown ($175), Richmond ($199), Hopkinton ($234) or Westerly ($270). But to the CCA, he was worth every penny.

He left Charlestown February 2023 after the 2022 election that saw voters overturn the CCA's decade of control over the Town Council.

CCA spokes-troll Bonnita Van Slyke claimed Charlestown Residents United (CRU), winners of the 2022 and 2024 town elections, ousted Stankiewicz and denied there were ever any problems. The CCA Steering Committee stridently asserted: “Do not be fooled! This is a FORCED, not a voluntary, resignation. Mark has served the town masterfully for ten years and has no desire to leave.”

But the fools turned out to be the CCA because Stankiewicz had already lined up a new job to become Town Administrator in Berkley Massachusetts even before the first vote in November 2022 was counted. Clearly, the CCA was clueless about his secret plan and looked pretty stupid.

Stankiewicz played the game out to its end, squeezing more money out of the citizens of Charlestown by timing his departure to coincide with his February 13, 2023 first day at his new job.

He only lasted six weeks in Berkley. In his resignation letter, Stanky told the town "It's because I got a fine job offer, and after careful consideration, I am taking it. I was approached with this job offer. Another municipal position. I wasn't searching for another job. I wasn't looking. If not for this job offer, I'd still be here."

That “fine job offer” was a gig as Pawtucket Finance Director.

Confidential sources in Pawtucket city government told me Stanky’s 2023 appointment was made by Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien over the objections of top city officials. Shortly after taking the job, Stankiewicz told subordinates that he "isn't a finance guy" clearly indicating that he didn’t think he was qualified for the job he was holding. His record in Charlestown certainly supports that admission.

Stankiewicz brought Irina Gorman, Charlestown’s ex-treasurer who was directly involved in the $3 million “oopsie,” with him and she became Pawtucket Treasurer.

Upped the Mayor’s salary by almost double

One of Stankiewicz’s first major projects was to engineer a huge pay increase for his patron, Mayor Grebien – raising the Mayor’s base salary from $80,000 to $150,000. No doubt Grabien appreciated the value of such an unquestioning soldier as Stanky.

Mistakes led to big money trouble for Pawtucket Schools

An on-going problem that was apparently due to Stankiewicz’s inattention was last year’s revelations that money had run out to continue construction of two new schools. Pawtucket voters had approved $570 million in borrowing.

Here’s how the Providence Journal described what happened:

The situation became obvious in mid-March when city Finance Director Mark Stankiewicz alerted public schools Superintendent Patricia Royal in a memo that money for key payments was running out. Stankiewicz warned in the memo that without additional funds for ongoing projects, come April 15, "we will no longer be able to make substantial contractor payments in order to reserve sufficient funds for normal operating expenses, including payroll."

Stankiewicz said records show that of the $220 million approved, just $30 million in bonds were issued last May. In the meantime, roughly $50 million has been spent on the school projects. From the state, $40 million has been paid out for the projects, and Stankiewicz said in his mid-March memo that there's no money left, and there were no requests for further funding from the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corporation, the "quasi-public" agency that helps health care and educational institutions access financing for construction and renovation projects.

This looks remarkably like how Stanky handled Charlestown’s $3 million “Oopsie.” 

While it’s a good thing that Stankiewicz brought this issue to the School Superintendent’s attention, the crucial mistakes that led to this financial crisis happened on his watch during the ten months after he became Finance Director.

Here’s how the Pawtucket City Council President described it:

[City Council President Terrence] Mercer said it was his sense the problem is "a whole host of things that don't seem to be getting done," including crucially important reimbursement requests that need to be sent to the state's education department if the city is to get more money for its projects.

Part of the issue, Mercer suspects, is some recent turnover in the finance department, which caused the city to lose institutional knowledge.

Council President Mercer is talking about Stankiewicz. As Finance Director, it was his job to not only make sure city bills got paid but also that city collected the reimbursements that it was due. He does not get any points for finally warning the School Superintendent that the money had run out when he should have attended to it from Day One.

It's deja vu all over again and a much bigger screw-up than the CCA's $3 million oopsie.

This will cost every Rhode Island household at least $302

Stankiewicz has also been a major player in the controversial minor league soccer stadium being built in Pawtucket. It’s first home game was just held ending in a zero-zero tie. 

The stadium is receiving a massive amount of corporate welfare from city and state funds. Rhode Island taxpayers are on the hook for $132 million in bond payments. When the bonds are paid off on this nice stadium, neither the state nor the city will have any ownership stake in the venue. According to GoLocal, that will cost the average Rhode Island household $302 each.

The project ended up 50% over budget and years late. The City of Pawtucket’s lead financial advisors resigned after concerns about the long-term financial future of the stadium were unheeded.

In a letter to the City, three executives of Hilltop Securities wrote:

“As you know we have detailed concerns about the proposed stadium transaction and bond offering. As a fiduciary to the City of Pawtucket and its development agency…we must do what we believe is in the City’s and PRA’s best interest…Therefore, please let this serve as Hilltop’s notice to the city and the PRA of our withdrawal as municipal advisor on this bond offering”

The letter was dated August 16, 2023, a couple of months after Stankiewicz took over as Pawtucket Finance Director. Despite this protest resignation, Stankiewicz soldiered on with this project while cancelling numerous other city projects – and neglecting to pay attention to the city schools finances.

So what? Why should Charlestown voters care?

The life and times of Mark Stankiewicz continue to be relevant to Charlestown residents and not just because every Rhode Island household is on the hook for $302 to pay for the Pawtucket soccer stadium.

The CCA’s determined deification of Stankiewicz speaks to the CCA’s lack of judgment on financial and governance matters, something voters need to remember. As recently as last July, the CCA is still defending Stankiewicz and denying that the thoroughly documented financial screw-ups ever happened.

You can bet that if the CCA somehow regains control over the Charlestown Town Council, they’ll be looking to replace our steady, drama-free Town Administrator Jeff Allen with some toady like Stanky. We don’t need to go backwards.

If you are interested in applying for Stankiewicz’s Pawtucket job, the city wants to hire ASAP.

Here is the job posting:

MAGA dictionary, continued

How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China

While also taking billions from US taxpayers

By Joshua Kaplan and Justin Elliott for ProPublica

Kyle Ellingson for ProPublica

Elon Musk’s aerospace giant SpaceX allows investors from China to buy stakes in the company as long as the funds are routed through the Cayman Islands or other offshore secrecy hubs, according to previously unreported court records.

The rare picture of SpaceX’s approach recently emerged in an under-the-radar corporate dispute in Delaware. Both SpaceX’s chief financial officer and Iqbaljit Kahlon, a major investor, were forced to testify in the case.

In December, Kahlon testified that SpaceX prefers to avoid investors from China because it is a defense contractor. There is a major exception though, he said: SpaceX finds it “acceptable” for Chinese investors to buy into the company through offshore vehicles.

“The primary mechanism is that those investors would come through intermediate entities that they would create or others would create,” Kahlon said. “Typically they would set up BVI structures or Cayman structures or Hong Kong structures and various other ones,” he added, using the acronym for the British Virgin Islands. Offshore vehicles are often used to keep investors anonymous.

Experts called SpaceX’s approach unusual, saying they were troubled by the possibility that a defense contractor would take active steps to conceal foreign ownership interests.

Auto Graft - it's only $38 billion

Do we still need to worry about Amtrak building a new high-speed rail line through Charlestown farmland?

Is the Charlestown Choo-choo crisis over?

By Will Collette

Since 2017, Charlestown has gone through periods of mass hysteria driven by Charlestown Planning Commissar Ruth Platner and fearmongering by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA). This hysteria has been over the then implausible and now dead proposal by the Federal Rail Administration (FRA) to build a new set of tracks in southern New England to allow Amtrak’s Acela trains to operate at full speed between New York and Boston.

The part of the FRA plan that so concerned Charlestown was called the “Old Saybrook-Kenyon Bypass and was part of a much larger and sadly overdue modernization of rail lines in the heavily travelled Northeast Corridor.

When the plan surfaced, the CCA swung into action, largely because they had ignored documents sent to the town from the FRA and were embarrassed that they were, as the cliché goes, asleep at the switch. As former CCA and Charlestown Town Council President Tom Gentz put it, “Who’s got time to read this stuff?”

Connecticut and Rhode Island communities mobilized and in short order, the FRA caved in, issuing a 2017 legally binding Record of Decision ruling out the Old Saybrook-Kenyon Bypass while calling for more planning. I believe even they realized the Bypass was a bad idea, plus they knew the project wasn’t going to happen anyway.

Within a month of his 2017 inauguration, Donald Trump proposed cutting Amtrak’s budget by 13%, centered mostly on halting new construction and long-distance subsidies. In 2017, conservative Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and they weren’t keen on Amtrak either.

Without funding or political support, no rail project benefiting the blue states of the Northeast Corridor was going forward. The Old Saybrook-Kenyon Bypass was dead on arrival.

It only goes down hill and, of course, it burns coal
(Chris Morris) 

Don’t get me wrong: I thought the Kenyon Bypass was a bad idea and, in an abundance of caution, some organizing was feasible. But I predicted the only way Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress would move the Northeast Corridor work forward was if Trump (or his kids) ended up owning Amtrak.

Even though the Kenyon Bypass died a quick and predictable death, that didn’t stop Ruth Platner from trying to raise the alarm as if the Bypass plan was going to rise from its grave. On three separate occasions – in 2021, 2022 and 2024 – Platner tried to get Charlestown’s residents to freak out like they did in 2017.

With absolutely no evidence, Ruth proclaimed  "They're Back?" And so it has gone for the past eight years. CLICK HERE for a detailing of Platner’s efforts to fire up the town over the bogus Charlestown Choo-choo crisis.

Fast forward to today

So here we are in 2025. King Donald Trump is back, newly crowned along with a die-hard MAGA Congress willing to do his bidding. The new feature is the emergence of South African Nazi Elon Musk as our de facto President.

So how does this affect Charlestown and the zombie Charlestown Choo-Choo?

Amtrak will be lucky to survive this Trump term without being sold off in whole or in part or being shut down.

AI art by Antonio Mavinga

Trump hates trains. Even though he claims he rode the New York subway in his youth – he called it “The Tunnel to Hell” - he just doesn’t like them. Here’s how he described his train experience in an interview with NY Times reporter Maggie Haberman:

“TRUMP: It’s been a long time. It’s been a long time. It has been. I know the subway system very well. I used to take it to Kew-Forest School, in Forest Hills, when I lived in Queens. And I’d take the subway to school. Seems a long time ago —"

In his first term, he proposed zeroing out federal funding for the New York subway system. His animosity toward trains is heightened by his predecessor Joe Biden’s unbridled love of trains. If Joe likes it, Donald hates it, pure and simple.

As Trains.com put it:

“Trump, meanwhile, has a vindictive streak a mile wide. And he clearly wants to erase anything that has predecessor Joe Biden’s fingerprints on it. Amtrak Joe’s signature achievement was the infrastructure law that sent billions Amtrak’s way for new equipment, route expansion, and Northeast Corridor improvement projects.”

Trump also doesn’t like high speed rail and has been actively trying to pull all $4 billion in federal funding from California’s high-speed rail project. Trump said that California doesn’t need a high-speed rail connection because, Trump claims, you can fly from San Francisco to Los Angeles for only $2. Yes, that’s two dollars.

He said:

“We’re gonna start a big investigation on that because it’s– I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. The worst overruns that there have ever been in the history of our country. And it wasn’t even necessary. I would have said, you don’t buy it. You take an airplane – it costs you $2. It costs you nothing. You take an airplane. But this got started. And if you have to, you drive, you can drive.”

As we know, King Donald has a hard time following the plot, in this case, Amtrak’s goal to give travelers an alternative to driving.

Trump and Musk are determined to either destroy or privatize federally-funded entities they don’t like (and that’s just about all of them), whether it’s the Post Service, NOAA or Amtrak.

A Pittsburgh-Post Gazette editorial summed up what we can expect in the near term:

“In Trump’s second term, with reality television personality Sean Duffy serving as U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Amtrak’s future feels less than secure. Feasibility studies to map new routes connecting Pittsburgh and Chicago via Columbus and Fort Wayne may never happen.”

Obviously, the same fate applies to the on-going feasibility study currently being undertaken to come up with options to improve Amtrak connections between New York and Boston, including a future alternative to the Kenyon Bypass.

On March 19, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner resigned under pressure from Musk-Trump to accommodate the administration’s plans for Amtrak’s future. According to President Musk, this is the future as reported by The Hill:

“I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,” Musk said while speaking at the Morgan Stanley conference on March 5, according to Newsweek. “I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example. … We should privatize everything we possibly can.”

Amtrak CEO Gardner may have ended his career by releasing a five-page rebuttal titled “Proposals to Privatize Amtrak.” In that white paper, Amtrak listed its achievements and profitability. It also cited Great Britain's discovery that privatizing rail was not such a great idea:

“Proponents of privatization assert that it would produce better service at a lower cost and reduce or even eliminate the need for public funding…Great Britain’s recent renationalization of its rail service after three disastrous decades of privatization, and past unsuccessful efforts to privatize various Amtrak operations, show otherwise.”

It's also worth remembering that Amtrak came into being in 1971 because America's private rail companies collapsed, starting with the New Haven Railroad's bankruptcy in 1961. However, when logic and facts don’t matter, how can Amtrak resist Elon Musk’s chainsaw?

Since Platner’s first revival of the Charlestown Choo-Choo Crisis, Town Council Deb Carney has diligently stayed in regular contact with the RI Transportation Department to watch out for Charlestown’s interests in Amtrak’s planning process. Nothing has arisen to raise any alarm.

Recently, Council President Carney, Town Administrator Jeff Allen and stakeholder Kim Coulter met with RIDOT to discuss a planned stakeholder meeting on the latest in the New Haven-Providence Amtrak study. Charlestown has been offered a place at the table. 

Deb Carney says no date for this meeting has been set. Given the turmoil, lack of funding and Musk's crusade to dump Amtrak, there's a good chance that meeting will never take place.

So, is it time to call an end to the Crisis? Based on all the above, I’d say yes. Except…

A far-fetched but plausible scenario

Both Donald Trump and Elon Musk are major fanboys of Russian despot Vladimir Putin. Putin’s route to absolute power began when he allowed Russian oligarchs to buy up Russian state assets for kopeks on the ruble after the break-up of the Soviet Union. To use Musk’s words, Russia privatized anything that can reasonably be privatized

These oligarchs made Putin a very rich and powerful man, at the expense of Russian citizens. As Trump and Musk start selling off US assets such as Amtrak, the Postal Service, et al., watch how they use the Russian model to offer fire sale prices to American oligarchs in return for kickbacks.

Privatizing Amtrak will mean some oligarch will get to buy it for cheap. They may have their own ideas about its future, but I’d expect them to maximize profits by modernizing the system. Plus, they will expect that the federal government to foot the bill.

Here’s how Trains.com summed it up:

Put all this together and the inevitable conclusion is that Amtrak as we know it will cease to exist. Long-distance trains will disappear. State-sponsored routes will continue in some form, so long as the states pick up the tab. And the Northeast Corridor will be raffled off to the highest private bidder.

I can easily see Elon Musk as Amtrak’s highest bidder followed by some flamboyant scheme to recreate the system as TrainX. As in all Musk’s venture, he will use other people’s money, no doubt expecting massive amounts of federal funding to turn his TrainX into a space-age system, perhaps using mag-lev technology. 

Note: there already is a TrainX, a private fitness center in California, but I'm sure Musk could convince them to sell their trademark. There is also a start-up maglev train company hoping to operate along the Northeast Corridor called Northeast Maglev.

Mag-Lev (magnetic levitation) is a technology that has been on the cusp of commercial viability for quite some time – high-speed monorails riding on waves of electromagnetic energy. China and Japan are already well on their way to building inter-city mag-lev lines where trains can run at up to 300 miles per hour.

The US is already funding Musk to build exploding SpaceX rockets and Tesla cars and trucks that crash and burn, making Elon Musk one of the biggest recipients of federal corporate welfare. If Musk “buys” Amtrak, he would expect the taxpayers to pay for him to pursue his dreams.

If Musk or some other oligarch buys Amtrak and try out some scheme to boost profits, they’re most likely to do it along the profitable Northeast Corridor. Any improvements they make will involve major construction. For instance, a mag-lev line would involve extensive new construction that would cause major environmental effects.

But Musk and Trump are wiping out environmental regulations that protect land, drinking water, farms, wildlife or human health and decimating the staffs at EPA and Interior that enforce such rules.

They won’t care if they destroy historic Charlestown farms, vital watersheds, forest land or wildlife habitats. 

For now, these are my theories about what might happen when Musk’s proposal to privatize Amtrak happens. I can only speculate about what a future Amtrak owner will actually do.

So now what?

In this article, I lay out what we know – Trump, Musk and Congress will not approve or fund Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor plans – what is reasonable to expect – Amtrak is likely going to go on the chopping block – and what we can reasonably guess. Unless something changes in Washington politics, Amtrak will be sold or closed. Some oligarch will be able to buy it for cheap.

The Trump Administration will almost certainly offer a new buyer generous financial incentives and clear away any environmental obstacles to whatever plans a new buyer might have for the system. The new buyer will, of course, be expected to give Trump a large back-hander.

But for now, the Northeast Corridor plan is dead.

For the past eight years, parts of northern Charlestown have been at DefCon 1, thanks to alarmist and unsubstantiated rhetoric from Ruth Platner and the CCA. Knowing what we know, we can reduce the alert level to Defcon 4 on the Charlestown Choo-Choo. We should pay attention to what happens to Amtrak but with a lot less anxiety.

In other words, no more Ruth Platner Charlestown Choo-Choo false alarms.

Elon giveth and he taketh it away

Elon Musk comes to visit your house

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE

corp

Musk didn't....

This little piggy

Here are big companies that pay less taxes than they pay their top executives

Trump tax cuts - the gift that keeps on giving to Big Business

Jake Johnson for Common Dreams

A group of congressional Democrats and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday highlighted dozens of profitable U.S. corporations that have paid their executives more than they've paid in federal income taxes in recent years, a problem that the lawmakers attributed in large part to former President Donald Trump's massive tax-cut package that Republicans are working to extend.

"In the first five years following the 2017 giveaway, 35 companies raked in $277 billion in domestic profits and paid their executives $9.5 billion—more than they paid in federal income taxes," the lawmakers noted in letters to each of the companies, pointing to recent research by the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness.

Our Tax Code Rewards Corporate Price Gouging.

If we win on November 5, we can change that

By Rakeen Mabud 

Next year, we’ll have to make one of the most important decisions about the future of our economy. Will we hand more power and wealth to big corporations and the rich — or invest in a healthy and resilient economy that works for all of us?

In 2017, Republican lawmakers passed tax loopholes and cuts that primarily benefited the wealthy and big corporations. President Trump signed these giveaways into law, spiking inequality and setting off a wave of corporate profiteering. 

Next year, parts of that law will begin to expire, which gives us the opportunity to make changes.

For decades, both parties have created an economy where big corporations and the wealthy aren’t pitching in like the rest of us. We’ve been sold a bill of goods known as “trickle down” economics. Trickle down goes like this: Feed the rich the best cut of meat and maybe we’ll get a bit of gristle that falls on the floor — and we’ll thank them for it. 

The rich and most profitable corporations aren’t just contributing less and less to our collective coffers. They’re using their power to enrich themselves further while more of us struggle. Senator Elizabeth Warren recently described this as a “doom loop” for our tax code: the wealthy and corporations get richer from tax giveaways and then use their wealth and power to boost their profits — and then lobby for more tax cuts.

Westerly Hospital, Yale-New Haven system charged with outsourcing jobs to vulture capital company

Patient data sent to overseas tech sweat shops

AFT Connecticut

Yale New Haven Health Systems (YNHHS) has notified 20 certified medical coders who provide vital services for patients at Lawrence + Memorial (L+M) Hospital that their jobs are being eliminated.

Union leaders representing the impacted workforce have learned that the network is contracting with Shearwater Health, a private equity-backed firm with a record of exploiting foreign labor to pad returns. 

The company, which recently hired investment bankers to explore selling off its assets, specializes in displacing American-based health professionals with working people from the Philippines. 1

How do we make sure companies don't rip off taxpayer investment in the semiconductor industry

Make sure companies don’t blow our tax dollars on stock buybacks and sky-high CEO pay.

By Sarah Anderson, Natalia Renta

The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act created a huge opportunity to boost domestic production of the semiconductors that power everything from refrigerators and trains to electronic devices.

The Biden administration has also taken important steps to make sure these investments create jobs that are actually good.

For instance, CHIPS grantees must submit plans to provide affordable, high-quality child care services for their manufacturing and construction workers. And President Biden has ordered all construction firms involved in large public infrastructure projects to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with their workers.

But if you look at corporations in line to pocket CHIPS manufacturing subsidies, you’ll understand why some Democrats are urging the administration to do more to prevent corporate executives from misusing these funds to enrich themselves and wealthy shareholders.

Our new report from the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund looks at the first 11 corporations to sign preliminary CHIPS agreements with the Department of Commerce — including giants like Intel, Samsung, BAE Systems, and others. 

These companies are in line for subsidies totaling nearly $30 billion. And when it comes to stock buybacks and CEO pay, it’s clear they need guardrails.

Slyke of hand, again

Van Slyke defends Budget Chair who helped mess up town finances

By Will Collette

Sartor is outta here

On July 8, the Charlestown Town Council appointed two applicants to fill the two vacancies on the Budget Commission; returning Commission member, Gregory Plunkett and Michael Marcylenas, who holds a bachelors degree in Actuarial Mathematics.

This has mightily angered long-time Budget Chair Richard Sartor’s patrons, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA PAC). Their leading scribe Bonnita Van Slyke penned another one of her fact-challenged missives praising Sartor to the heavens and condemning the CCA’s archenemies, Charlestown Residents United (CRU), which holds a 4 to 1 majority on the Council.

When Van Slyke was still on the Council (she’s hoping to make a comeback), I wrote a series of “Slyke of Hand” articles taking apart Van Slyke’s numerous false or ridiculous claims, mostly about town finances. Here we go again.

She wrote the broadside reprinted below. The parts in blue are the exact words attributed to her (I don’t know if she actually wrote it). The parts in bold red are my fact-checking and rebuttal. Here we go.

Silencing A Voice Of Experience On The Charlestown Budget Commission

Bonnie Van Slyke 

On July 8, the current Charlestown Town Council majority got rid of a highly qualified and experienced member of the Budget Commission, Dick Sartor. Mr. Sartor had applied to be reappointed, and he was not. This sacking of Mr. Sartor was carried out by a Town Council majority that says institutional knowledge, and qualifications, are of utmost importance in government.

Sartor’s institutional knowledge and experience is that of screwing up. That does’t entitle him to another term. Read on for specifics.

Mr. Sartor was, until July 8, the chair of the Commission. He had served admirably on the Commission for almost 20 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in public administration. He has over 40 years of experience in town and city management, and he served as Charlestown’s Town Administrator in the early 2000s. He is skilled in budgetary preparation, planning, and evaluation of fiscal proposals.

The Budget Commission advises the Town Council on budgetary matters. The reason the Council’s action is so completely mind boggling is that our town has seen its Town Administrator of 10 years forced out by this Council majority, has had two Town Treasurers leave, and is now on its third auditing firm—all since November 2022.

Van Slyke (CCA photo)

WHOA! What an incredible pack of lies. Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz was NOT forced out. In fact, he had lined up a new job months BEFORE the 2022 election, but milked months of extra salary from the taxpayers.

Stanky began his new job as Berkley, MA’s town manager on his last day in Charlestown in February 2023. He lasted six weeks.

Van Slyke knows all this but repeats the CCA lie because the truth makes them look like chumps.

Then, over objections from top financial officials in Pawtucket, Stanky got a patronage job as Finance Director from Mayor Donald Grebien even though he admitted he was “no finance guy.” His Charlestown experience certainly showed that.

In Pawtucket, Stankiewicz has helped Mayor Griebien get a close to 50% pay hike and a massive corporate welfare scheme for a planned $137 million soccer stadium heavily subsidized by taxpayers all while Pawtucket’s schools are having trouble paying their bills. Stanky is still a political stooge but on a much larger scale.

And Bonnie misses him.

Incidentally, Stanky took Irina Gorman, one of those failed Town Treasurers mentioned in Bonnie’s letter, with him to fill the same job in Pawtucket. Further on, I deal with the auditors.

Mark Stankiewicz was a terrible town administrator. How terrible? CLICK HERE. Among his worst offenses was covering up the Sartor and CCA “$3 million oopsie” as well as the CCA’s shady land deals.

He kept his job because he did exactly what the CCA told him to do, even if it was unethical or illegal.

Were it not for Dick Sartor’s experience and skill at the helm of the Budget Commission, the town would not have been able to develop the 2024–2025 budget on time this past June. There was no draft budget; there was no audit of the previous year’s finances; and there was little to no institutional knowledge in the Finance Department.

The problems Van Slyke complains about were caused by Sartor and the CCA and the mess they left behind. The CCA, Budget Commission, Charlestown’s long-time auditor and Stankiewicz failed to spot a “$3 million oopsie” – a misallocation of funds that remained unnoticed on the books for almost two years.

Instead of acknowledging the “oopsie,” Sartor and the CCA looked for ways to try to cover it up and explain it away. The scapegoated auditor quit.

The CCA hired another auditing firm, Marcum LLP, just before the new majority took office. Marcum’s audit confirmed the serious problems that had escaped Sartor’s and Stankiewicz’s attention.

That was helpful, but Marcum's over=billing practices were unacceptable. The CRU majority fired them. Shortly after that, the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined Marcum LLP $10,000,000 because, the SEC charged, "Marcum prioritized increased revenue over audit quality.".

In producing this year’s budget, probably his last, Sartor also allegedly committed an unforced error by leading a discussion of raises for the town’s unionized workers.

This violates the terms of their contract – you ONLY discuss terms and conditions within the collective bargaining process. Teamster Local 251 notified the town it will file charges of Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) with the NLRB. (Agenda Package at page 207). With all of Sartor’s vast knowledge and experience, that’s a rookie mistake.

With Mr. Sartor at the helm of the Budget Commission, Charlestown was the first town in the state to develop a written Fund Balance Policy, which was based on an independent evaluation of the risks the town faces.

Sartor pushed Charlestown to maintain a fund balance (surplus) far in excess of what financial experts consider prudent even for the most generous “rainy day” fund.

Sartor said he wanted to give the town the option to pay cash for major capital projects (roads, bridges, buildings, etc.) instead of issuing low-interest municipal bonds.

Now unless you studied financial management under William Shakespeare (“neither a borrower or lender be” – Polonius in Hamlet), that’s a stupid policy.

Regular people take out mortgages and car loans for household capital costs and don't pay cash. So do normal municipalities. But Sartor’s modus operandi called for a needlessly large surplus that increases taxes.

In good part because of Mr. Sartor’s service, Charlestown is one of the most solvent towns in the state, has been able to achieve a tax rate that is among the lowest in Rhode Island, and has, at the same time, provided excellent government services to taxpayers.

For the 1000^th time, the CCA harps on the tax RATE while ignoring the other key factor in determining what you pay in taxes. That’s the property ASSESSMENT.

Tax rate X property assessment = what you pay in taxes.

Charlestown’s tax rate actually went up under the CCA. It stayed relatively low because it was propped up by rising house prices. Average residents still saw steady increases in taxes, but hey, says the CCA, “how ‘bout that tax rate?”

After voters booted the CCA in 2022, the tax rate fell to $5.74 and is expected to go up by only four cents under the new budget. Now, if the CCA was still in power, they’d take credit for the drop and would ignore the role rocketing assessments played in causing the drop.

Sartor’s only role was to trumpet the CCA’s false narrative that only the tax rate matters. If that’s the case, the CRU’s 2023 tax rate at $5.74 beat the CCA’s peak rate of $10.21 by almost half.

The loss of Mr. Sartor’s knowledge, experience, and institutional knowledge is unfortunate. One can only wonder why the Town Council majority would remove Mr. Sartor’s practiced eye from oversight of the town’s budget.

"Practiced eye?" "Oversight?" how do you spell "oopsie?" Richard Sartor vehemently opposed a proposal by Town Council President Deb Carney to commission an outside forensic audit triggered by the “$3 million oopsie.” Instead, Sartor and Stanky did the review themselves and, of course, found themselves blameless.

One last item that is part of Sartor’s legacy. Under him and the CCA majority, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) ranked Charlestown as having the highest administrative costs in the state. Details HERE.

If Sartor was an honorable man, he would have taken his fair share of blame for Charlestown’s financial chaos and $3 million oopsie and resigned. Instead, tapes of Budget Commission meetings show Sartor was much more concerned about protecting his image, minimizing the problems in public perception and assigning blame to others.

Nearly-$14B budget plan breezes through Rhode Island House on 69-5 vote Friday

New budget even draws a few GOP votes

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Finalizing the state’s annual spending plan is often a contentious, drawn-out process.

Not this year. A $13.96 billion fiscal 2025 budget breezed through the Rhode Island House of Representatives Friday night.

The 69-5 vote came after a mere 3 1/2 hours of discussion that included high praise for funding of critical and often contested issues like state pensions for retirees, K-12 education and health care provider rates. 

“Through this budget, we are emphasizing education at every level and supporting children,” House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said in a statement Friday night. 

“This budget is the result of a truly collaborative process between my colleagues here in the House, the dedicated members of the House Finance Committee, our partners in the Senate and Governor McKee and his team to carefully create a plan that meets Rhode Island’s needs for education, students and children first, while addressing our challenges, such as housing and health care.”

The $13.96 billion spending plan falls just shy of the $14 billion high water mark that characterized fiscal 2024’s approved spending plan, but is $271 million more than what Gov. Dan McKee proposed in January. 

Four of the nine Republican members, including House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale, also voted for the revised spending plan. Chippendale credited Shekarchi and the leadership team for giving deference, and a listening ear, to his party’s priorities.