Given Governor Carcieri's steady emphasis on illegal immigrants, it's interesting, isn't it, that it took a chance event to reveal the extent to which undocumented workers were helping to clean state offices?

Tucked into Kathy Gregg's coverage today is the question of whether politics was also at work:

DOCUMENTS PROVIDED by the judiciary list Anthony DeSimone Jr. as the contact for TriState Enterprises at 1270 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence, and Vincent D’Elia as the contact for Falcon Maintenance at 160 Winsor Ave., Johnston.

DeSimone’s father practiced law with the late Joseph Bevilacqua, a former chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. His brother is state Rep. John DeSimone, the Providence Democrat who tried to unseat House Speaker William J. Murphy in 2004-05 with the backing of House Republicans.

While denying that Carcieri instructed the House Republicans how to vote, the governor’s then-spokesman Jeff Neal acknowledged the governor urged them to “support whichever candidate is willing to work” with him. On that basis, Neal said: “Governor Carcieri supports the House Republican decision to endorse Representative DeSimone. From all accounts, Representative DeSimone is willing to work with House Republicans on Governor Carcieri’s reform agenda.”

Asked last night if the Republicans’ one-time political allegiance with DeSimone had any bearing on TriState’s successes in the state contract arena, there was no immediate response from the governor’s office.

As of yet, however, there has been no detailed explanation — or documents provided — that explain how TriState and Falcon won contract after contract, when they were first hired by the state to provide cleaning crews, who else bid, and why contracts were yanked away from Falcon and given to TriState in recent years, even when it was not the lowest-price bidder.

In the year that ended June 30, the court system paid TriState a total of $493,325 and Falcon $261,643. The state paid TriState an additional $732,891 and Falcon $579,456 under the non-court cleaning contracts, according to DOA director Williams.

7/19/2008 11:37:00 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

After some delay, here's what Governor Carcieri has to say:

The Department of Administration has initiated an internal review of the two companies involved in the recent ICE action, Falcon and Tri-State, to ensure compliance with state and federal employment and immigration laws and contract service levels.  The Department is taking all necessary steps to ensure the cleaning and maintenance operations are not disrupted at the buildings contracted to the two companies.

"This is exactly why I issued my Executive Order on Illegal Immigration and supported the passage of the E-Verify legislation," commented the Governor.  "This type of illegal activity by unscrupulous employers will not be tolerated by my Administration, and we will take all necessary action to ensure that all state contractors abide by state and federal law, as well as the spirit of the Executive Order. The Executive Order is a step in the right direction.  This most recent action by ICE clearly indicates the need for a stronger, more comprehensive approach to illegal immigration in our state and our country."

The Governor has asked the Department of Administration to review the Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Rhode Island and the Department of Homeland Security regarding the ability to broaden the scope of E-Verify to include verification of the employment eligibility of current state employees and employees of state contractors who may have access to sensitive or secure materials. 

7/17/2008 3:42:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

 

The gov's office released this optimistic statement earlier this week:

Governor’s Renewable Energy Plan Gains Momentum

Funding Approved for SAMP

Governor Donald L. Carcieri today announced that the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund Board of Trustees approved funding for the development of a Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) covering Rhode Island’s offshore waters, executed by a joint partnership between the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and the University of Rhode Island (URI). URI will provide data to the CRMC, who will execute the regulatory framework of the SAMP.

“The SAMP will expedite the permitting of an offshore wind farm capable of supplying 15% of Rhode Island’s electric energy usage, fulfilling my goal to reduce the State’s dependence on fossil fuels and foreign sources of oil and natural gas,” declared Governor Carcieri.

Yet this story, which tops today's Boston Globe Web site, seems a lot more significant:

Governor Deval Patrick signed a landmark energy bill yesterday that does away with long-standing obstacles to building renewable power projects in Massachusetts and making homes and businesses more energy efficient.

The Green Communities Act was hailed by environmentalists as among the most innovative efforts in the nation to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and to encourage use of clean technologies that don't contribute to global warming.

The law will probably result in utilities' designing customized plans for homeowners and businesses to cut energy costs and providing rebates to pay for measures such as installing insulating windows and more efficient boilers. Homeowners and businesses will be able to rent solar panels from utilities to avoid expensive up-front costs, and the law makes it easier for homeowners who have installed wind turbines or solar panels to sell surplus energy.

Supporters said the new law could save hundreds of millions of dollars through energy efficiency, helping to hold down consumers' electric bills as energy prices are skyrocketing.

Back in RI, it remains a struggle to move forward, as I write in this week's Phoenix.

Back in March, Allco Renewable Energy of New York announced plans to build a solar farm in Johnston Coventry — the first large-scale renewable project in Rhode Island — raising the prospect of much-needed jobs and investment. As described, it would be the largest such venture east of the Mississippi, and the location, a former Superfund site, would generate at least $200,000 annually for the town.

Last Friday, though, Governor Donald L. Carcieri vetoed the related legislation, objecting to a three percent bonus — “unnecessary and unearned,” he calls it — that National Grid would receive for buying renewable energy. In his veto message, the governor also noted that the bill does not require projects funded by Ocean State ratepayers to be located in Rhode Island.

Carcieri also called a guaranteed set-aside for solar energy projects “perhaps the most troubling provision of this legislation . . . The requirement to mandate 5MW [megawatts] of solar energy could cost ratepayers tens of millions of dollars more than other sources of renewable energy, not even accounting for the three percent bonus to the local distribution company. The General Assembly should not impose such an onerous burden on the hundreds of thousands of Rhode Island ratepayers by including this provision in this piece of legislation.

Proponents of the bill — who were taken by surprise by the veto, considering how Andrew Dzykewicz, the governor’s energy adviser, had testified in favor of the measure — see the situation very differently.

Bill Fischer, a spokesman for Allco Renewable Energy, calls subsidies a necessary part of moving forward state-based efforts for renewable energy, and Rhode Island stands to be left behind, he says, in the region. Fischer points to efforts in Connecticut, where that state is offering $70 million in solar rebates over the next two years, and in Massachusetts, when Governor Deval Patrick recently announced the opening of a solar manufacturing plant in Westboro that is expected to create 375 jobs.

“This was well thought-out legislation that would have created renewable energy projects in Rhode Island and, more importantly, the beginnings of a green job sector,” Fischer says. “Developers do not want to go into states that are hostile toward renewable development or states that don’t have sufficient laws on their books embracing development. Carcieri’s veto set Rhode Island back.”

7/3/2008 3:48:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

From the gov's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri will be taping a brief interview on Monday, July 7, 2008 with Bill O'Reilly of Fox network's O'Reilly Factor, for broadcast later that evening. The topic of the conversation will be the Governor's Executive Order on illegal immigration, which was issued on March 27, 2008.  The interview is expected to air at 8:00 p.m. EST and 11:00 p.m. EST Monday night.

7/3/2008 2:27:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

 

Popping back into public view with an op-ed in today's ProJo, Steve Laffey resumes the mantra for his forthcoming 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

While there are some good things in the budget, that it is balanced on over $100 million in savings from Medicaid and personnel that are unlikely to be attained means that elected officials continue to manage the decline of this great state. With a poor economy and a frighteningly high unemployment rate, Rhode Island has yet to turn the fiscal corner with this budget.

To turn the corner we need to reinvent Rhode Island. We need real structural change to lift us from the bottom rung of states and transform Rhode Island into a place where our kids can stay and prosper, and where new businesses can locate and thrive. If our state legislators had the courage to solve just one of our major structural problems this year we would be on our way to being a state that could start to compete.

Let me give you an example: solving our state pension disaster. The problem: Rhode Island ranks 49th out of 50 states in funding its state pensions. We have an unfunded liability of over $4.3 billion and are scheduled to spend $397 million this year alone on state pension benefits. One out of every eight dollars we are taxed is going to the pension system!

Now, the legislature could fix this problem. Under state law, without any negotiations with the unions, it can change the pension system. In 2005 there were much-heralded “reforms” to the system. However, the changes only affected younger workers. Thus, a large majority of the workers were not affected at all. These “reforms” only got the legislators through the 2006 election cycle.

7/1/2008 3:08:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |  

Ari Savitzky, major domo of Fair Vote RI, will be offering a talk tomorrow, entitled "Electoral College Dropout."

Wednesday, June 25th
7pm
@Blue State Coffee

A growing movement is calling for the National Popular Vote compact, a plan to directly elect presidents by popular vote. Every state entering into the NPV compact agrees to give electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, and the compact goes into effect once states making up a majority of the Electoral College have entered into the agreement. Because Rhode Island isn't a swing state, our concerns - and our votes - are routinely ignored by the presidential candidates. Find out how we can change that.

In related news, the General Assembly has approved legislation to sign RI "to a pact meant to ensure that the candidates who win the most votes nationwide in presidential elections are the ones who win the White House."

The legislation (2008-H 7707, 2008-S 2112), sponsored by Rep. Donald J. Lally Jr. and Sen. Daniel P. Connors, has been introduced in state legislatures across the country in an effort to prevent the Electoral College from choosing a president and vice president who did not win the popular vote.

“Four times in our country’s history we have been led by presidents who did not win the support of the majority of Americans. That is not how democracy should work. Each person’s vote should be counted equally. We have the technology to determine exactly how many votes are cast for each candidate across the country, and it’s time we started directly electing our president and vice president that way,” said Senator Connors (D-Dist. 19, Cumberland, Lincoln.)

In yet more related news, Governor Carcieri has vetoed legislation, sponsored by Ed Pacheco and Rhoda Perry, that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote.

In his veto message, the gov said existing law allows those under 18 to pre-register, provded they will be of voting age by the time of an election. Carcieri calls it "both counter-intuitive and counter-productive" to add the names of thousands of ineligible voters to voting lists.

6/24/2008 1:12:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |  

From the gov's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri today decried the City of Providence's continued refusal to work with Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to prevent illegal immigrants from committing reprehensible crimes against Rhode Island citizens.  The Governor said that the recent arrest of Marco Riz, an illegal immigrant who had been ordered deported, is a sad but vivid example of why he issued his Executive Order on illegal immigration.
 
“It is obvious that Mayor Cicilline and the Chief of Police Dean Esserman are following through with their decision not to support my Executive Order on illegal immigration.” Governor Carcieri said.  “Had they checked with ICE after either of this individual's two previous arrests, he certainly would not have had the opportunity to car-jack and rape a young woman in Roger Williams Park.  Unfortunately, inaction by Providence has public safety ramifications for individuals and families across Rhode Island.” 
 
According to reports from ICE, Marco Riz was arrested twice last year and the Providence Police Department failed to use the ICE NLTS system to verify his immigration status.  In fact, it has been reported that ICE has even offered assistance to help with illegal immigration issues, but that offer has been declined.

6/23/2008 3:58:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Governor Carcieri might have precluded the stormy reaction to his executive order on immigration if he had initially talked with some of the people on his new oversight panel. Instead, we got a lot of distracting side battles at a time when the state remains challenged by a fiscal crisis.

And now, by backtracking, the governor has angered Terry Gorman and some others by not including a RIILE representative on the oversight group. 

With new communications guru John Robitaille at the helm, the administration seems to think the best defense is a strong offense when reporters ask tough questions.

Yet when Steve Peoples takes a look at the extent of labor influence on Smith Hill, the governor takes a pass on commenting for the Sunday paper?

Peoples's story, btw, was a good read, but not particularly shocking for close political observers. In other words, yes, labor is politically active and organized, but its precise influence is probably less than that described by critics.

6/9/2008 1:58:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |  

Michael Lewis, the recently hired director of the state Department of Transportation, seems like a nice guy. But his answers to questions during a taping this morning of WPRI-WNAC's Newsmakers were generally straight out of PR 101.

While preparing yesterday for the show, I reviewed some of the recent controversies that have beset DOT, including the typist with the six-figure salary, and the Federal Highway Administration's demand that the state return $3.1 million due to problems with the I-195 project. Little did one know that another DOT bombshell would top the front of today's ProJo: 

PROVIDENCE — The state police said yesterday that Shire Corp., a major bridge contractor for the state Department of Transportation, has been illegally rifling through the DOT’s computer system for confidential information that could have helped it take advantage of the agency.

The police, who searched the company’s headquarters yesterday, said in court filings that information about other contractors’ projects and DOT internal documents and communications gave Shire a big advantage in dealing with the DOT, in part by helping it incur cost overruns to the company’s advantage.

Anyway, Lewis agreed that there is a problem with the culture at DOT. Declining to cite the root causes, he warned against using too broad a brush to characterize the department and its employees. If there is too cozy a relationship between DOT, engineers, and contractors, he said, he will move to correct it. He said DOT and its contractors will be held accountable.

My co-panelist, Arlene Violet, however, seemed less than satisfied with Lewis's response to questions about accountability regarding cost overruns on the Big Dig project and the snail-like pace of correcting at least one of Rhode Island's faulty bridges. Bridges are built faster in Siberia, she observed.

Lewis said Rhode Island's bridge problems have been caused by a piecemeal maintenance program, and that the state, like others across the US, faces a sharp gap in funding transit-related construction. Asked whether the state will consider adding tolls, as some have suggested for the Connecticut border, he said, "Everything's on the table."

Look at the bright side. With gas hovering around $4 a gallon, there may be a lot less wear and tear on Rhode Island's roads and bridges.

5/23/2008 11:25:00 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |  

From the gov's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri today issued the following response to a television advertisement being run by state employee unions.  The attack ad specifically assails four state employees under the Governor’s authority:  Deputy Secretary of the Office of Health and Human Services Adelita Orefice; Deputy Chief of Staff and former Department of Administration Director Beverly Najarian; former Director of the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals, Dr. Ellen Nelson; and former communications director Steve Kass.

“These television attack ads are designed to distract from the real problems facing this state and to smear hard working state employees who have worked to save tax dollars at the expense of the union leadership,” Governor Carcieri said. 

“In particular, the employee union leaders are trying to distract from the fact that they have so far been unwilling to help solve the state’s massive budget deficit. After 19 separate meetings, the unions have simply refused to offer any significant concessions,” the Governor continued.  “Instead, they have successfully strung the discussion process out month after month in order to avoid coming to a resolution.  Now that the fiscal year is nearly over, they have launched a barrage of television ads to distract the public and ensure that the burden of solving the state’s budget problems falls entirely on the shoulders of human service recipients and local communities.”

“Why attack these specific state employees?” the Governor asked rhetorically.  “The reason is simple.  Each and every one of them has stood up to the unions in the past and has worked to save money for Rhode Island taxpayers.” ....

5/22/2008 4:33:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

I take a long view at this question with my cover story in this week's Phoenix:

Once upon a time, there was a very smart man, Ira Magaziner, who devised a 1000-page plan — dubbed the Greenhouse Compact — to reinvent Rhode Island’s flagging economy by using $750 million in public investment to seed the high-tech businesses and high-wage jobs of the future. Yet despite broad support across business and labor, voters resoundingly rejected the plan because of concerns about prototypical Ocean State insider dealing.

That was in 1984.

Magaziner went on to work in the Clinton White House and to become a prosperous consultant. Yet 24 years later, the need to reinvent Rhode Island’s economic infrastructure — which remains anemic compared with most of its neighbors in New England — is more urgent than ever.

With a crushing $434 million deficit looming for the next fiscal year, the situation is exacerbated by how Rhode Island is just one of nine US states in a recession.

To name a few key indicators, the state is shedding jobs and residents; infrastructure is crumbling (weight restrictions have been placed on a few bridges, including one on Interstate 95 in Pawtucket); and corruption remains a concern (as seen by the ongoing trial in US District Court of two former officials with drug-store giant CVS, one of the few large corporations headquartered here). ....

Where are we headed? 

It’s enough to make one wonder, as Jimmy Breslin titled his book about the 1962 New York Mets — one of the worst teams in baseball history — “Can’t anybody here play this game?” (Even by this historic standard of incompetence, Rhode Island compares poorly; the Mets unexpectedly became world champions seven years later, in 1969 — in less than a third of the time that has elapsed since voters rejected the Greenhouse Compact.)

So, will the state continue on its current path, taking the proverbial two steps forward and three steps back?

It depends. Although the impending deficit means that things will get worse before they get better, the view of the future divides into two camps.

The optimists think the state’s short-term woes obscure positive changes that are setting the stage for a brighter future. Like the Greenhouse Compact before it, the EDC’s Economic Growth Plan 2008 targets the creation of more high-wage jobs and a strategic repositioning of the local economy.

Skeptics, however, think the state continues to nibble around the edges of real change, and that Rhode Island’s longtime status as the economic sick man of New England will persist without more dramatic action.

5/22/2008 10:05:00 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [5] |  

As Rhode Island continues to wrestle with massive deficits, we're starting to hear some novel suggestions about how to deal with the situation. Bob Walsh has floated a few concepts, such as privatizing a 10 percent chunk of the state Lottery and putting a one-way (incoming) toll booth at the point where I-95 leads from Connecticut into Rhode Island.

Yesterday, there was a provocative letter in the ProJo on the latter subject:

 

Here’s a very smart way to help address the large structural budget deficit Rhode Island faces: Set up tollgates, with electronic toll-collection technology, on Route 95 in the far southwestern part of the state. The rationale and benefits of doing this are the following:

• It would raise considerable annual income for the state. As I do not work for the state Department of Transportation and do not have access to official data, I can only guess the income potential for the state, but it would seem to be substantial. A $4 toll applied to an average of 3,000 vehicles an hour (number to be confirmed by the DOT) would generate $105.1 million in annual revenue, about 25 percent of the budget deficit projected for fiscal 2009. This is $1.05 billion in new state revenue over the next 10 years.

• The costs would largely be borne by non-residents of the state. By placing tollgates in the far southwestern part of Route 95, near the Connecticut border, would mean most Rhode Islanders would not pay this toll on a regular basis, i.e., as part of their normal commutes. It would largely be paid by the millions of non-residents who drive through Rhode Island each year as they make their way to Boston, Cape Cod, New York and other points beyond. It is morally and economically justified as a tax on the costs that Rhode Island bears from non-residents from the highway damage and pollution they cause driving though our beautiful state.

• It is a moderate measure. Many other states have numerous tollgates that generate hundreds of millions of dollars of revenues a year for their residents. The Maine Turnpike (Route 95) is a toll road, and so is the New Jersey Turnpike. Delaware, Maryland and New York all have highway tolls. So does New Hampshire. To put a single toll-gathering spot in our state would not be excessive. It would be a minor inconvenience to most Rhode Islanders.

• It is consistent with promoting a “green” society. In the current high-gasoline-price environment, which we may face forever, any additional cost to driving, no matter how marginal, may lead individuals to take buses to New York or Amtrak to Philadelphia. When such decisions are made, our environment wins.

It would seem to me that this would be a “no brainer” for Rhode Island — huge additional state income at very little cost. The only people who would be materially hurt would be residents who live near the tollgates and who may commute regularly through them. This could be easily addressed through a targeted rebate on their Rhode Island income taxes. So the only question seems to be which state legislator is going to jump at this opportunity to sponsor this and get the credit of being Rhode Island’s “$100 million man.” I can’t see any better time to act than now.

DAVID MAZZA

Providence

5/21/2008 10:54:00 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |  

From the gov's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri today announced that he has appointed Newport resident Amy Kempe as his new press secretary and spokesperson.

Kempe replaces Jeff Neal, who announced his intention to step down in March after more than five years. “I’m very pleased that Amy has agreed to take on this important role,” Governor Carcieri said.  “Amy boasts over ten years of public relations experience in Rhode Island and already has strong connections with a number of reporters in the state and region. With that experience in mind, I believe Amy will do a terrific job of working with the local media to convey my views and public policy positions to the people of Rhode Island.”

Since 2003, Amy Kempe has served as Vice President/Team Leader of Regan Communications Group, the 10th largest public relations firm in New England.  Her client list has included Newport Grand, Dunkin’ Donuts, and the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association, among others.  From 2000 to 2003, Kempe served as a Senior Account Manager for Regan Communications and was responsible for opening its Providence office.

From 1997 to 2000, Kempe served as a public relations supervisor for GTECH, where she was responsible for writing and distributing all corporate information.  In 1996, she served as finance and communications director for the Rick Wild for Congress Committee, and previously worked for the Kevin Vigilante for Congress Committee. 

Kempe earned a Master of Arts in Modern European History from the University of Rhode Island and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Albany – State University of New York.

5/20/2008 3:25:00 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |