OCG BLOG

Operation Clean Government plans peaceful demonstration to raise awareness of court decision that threatens to kill effective ethics oversight in Rhode Island

At 9:30 am on May 13th, the R.I. Supreme Court will hear the RI Ethics Commission appeal of an October 2008 Superior Court decision that dismissed ethics charges against ex-Senate [...]

Tom Sgouros, author of the RI Policy Reporter emails, has this to say to the organizers of the RI Tax Day Tea Party:  “The real issue is this: Taxes are simple. Government is complicated. If you don’t have an answer to the question of what is to be cut, perhaps you’d do us all [...]

Were you surprised, as were many, that the RI Tea Party would attract over 2000 energetic people who want to be recognized? What a great event for the taxpayers of Rhode Island. Now the question is where do we go from here to keep these people motivated until the next election. We have made our [...]

Readers of my blogs will jump to the conclusion that i blame government union workers for all RI’s financial problems.  Not true.  I blame the union bosses and thier allies in government–legislators at the state level and city managers, mayors, and town council members  at the local level.  Union workers, properly managed, will work just [...]

Of all the events scheduled for April 25th,2009 the Operation Clean Government R.I. Fiscal Forum is probably one of the most timely and significant.  R.I. is in the midst of a crushing financial crisis as evidenced by its very high unemployment and huge budget deficits.  For years the economic experts and business leaders have been [...]

A Providence Journal editorial, “Courage, please, on COLAs,” ask the General Assembly to reform the pension plans for public sector workers–teachers and state workers.  The editorial ask state legislators to summon the courage to end the automatic 3 % compounded cost-of-living raises on state pensions and to at least raise the minimum retirement age to [...]

Ed Achorn’s column yesterday reveals a group of R.I. state Senators–Harold Metts, Jua Pichardo, Maryellen Goodwin, Elizabeth Crowley, and Charles Levesque–want to enact legislation (S-0156) that “would ban employers from denying a job to anyone because of his or her criminal history.”  If a business did not hire a criminal it would have to documnet [...]