Dear Attorneys that visit this site,

I would like to talk to someone about suing the state on violation of separation of church and state grounds for giving the Catholic Church $300,000.

Oo, I found an item that can definitely be cut:

"RI AFL-CIO Dislocated Worker Program $150,000"

We already have an AFL-CIO Dislocated Worker Program. It's called the state payroll. This extra $150,000, therefore, is redundant.

>>Oo, I found an item that can definitely be cut: "RI AFL-CIO Dislocated Worker Program $150,000" We already have an AFL-CIO Dislocated Worker Program. It's called the state payroll. This extra $150,000, therefore, is redundant.

I wonder if there is a $149,000 a year position called "Director of RI AFL-CIO Dislocated Worker Program?"

I never realized the Office of Higher Education was such a conduit -- I'll give the leadership of the General Assembly credit for creativity. Look at that: Alternative Educational Programming (Rep Ray Gallison), $210,000; Institute for Labor Studies, $208,763. Impressive. Maybe Yorke should have someone on the phone from that shop come on the air to explain the justification for these two grants, and, oh yes, what metrics have been used to track program effectiveness and efficiency...

RHODE ISLAND STATE PENSIONS ARE NOT WHAT THEY ARE MADE OUT TO BE ACCORDING TO STATE OF INDIANA:

The State of Indiana Legislative Services Agency Office of Fiscal and Management Analysis completed “A Comparison Study of State Employee Pension Programs” across 50 states also utilizing information gathered during “2006 State Employee Benefits Survey: Benefits in Effect January 1, 2006” authored by Workplace Economics, Inc., Washington D.C., 2006 and reported back to Indiana Pension Management Oversight Commission on October 25, 2006 the results.

The State of Rhode Island is ranked in the State of Indiana report as having one of the lowest state efforts for pensions (defined benefits) ranking 43rd out of 50 and has the 3rd highest percentile (%) of required employee salary contribution (State of RI employees 8.75%) in the nation and ranks 30th out of 50 nationally for value of the returned benefits.
http://www.in.gov/legislative/publications/PensionStudyReport.pdf

Nice try, Ken, but no sale to this voter.

Why, pray tell, does RI have such a low level of employer (i.e., govt) contributions to the state employees pension plan, while the latter have such a high contribution? Could it have anything to do with the fact that public sector union leaders, via their bought and paid for Senators and Reps in the GA, agreed to this, in budget after budget after budget? And why, pray tell, did they do this? Why, to fund ever increasing spending on social welfare programs. And why, pray tell, did they do this? Because with private sector union power and RI's private sector economy shriveling on the vine for the past 20 plus years, staying onside with the rising number of "progressives" in the GA was the only way to keep their grip on power and keep the goodies flowing to the favored few.

Ken, you and your public sector union colleagues made a deal with the devil and now you are reaping the whirlwind.

Don't expect me to cry myself to sleep tonight over your "crisis."

John,

Number one, I do not belong to a union. Number two, when you assume things about me you make an ass out of you and me! Number three, I am retired, not public sector and tired of people pointing fingers and not doing anything constructive to alleviate the problem.

I was surprised as anyone after all of the hype going around about the use of my fixed income tax dollars to sweetheart deal the State employees retirement system. What I did find out is there are four retirement systems operated by the state and during Gov. Bruce Sunderland (Democrat) tenure and budget crisis he under funded the whole state retirement system approximately $300 million but he balanced the structural budget defict.

The good ship Rhode Island is sinking. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays! What are you going to do with your all mouth and no action?

I'm very suspect that Ken is really a Rhode Islander. Mentioning "Gov. Bruce Sunderland" was my first clue.

Ken, I'm not completely following your point. If you're saying that public pensions have not been fully funded - bingo. That's what many of us have been saying for some time.

"tired of people pointing fingers and not doing anything constructive to alleviate the problem"

We correctly point fingers at the people who caused this problem and who have had the power to fix this problem from the beginning: Democrat controlled state legislature and city/town councils who promised something big but diverted the resources elsewhere. To point a finger at anyone else is foolish; no one else has the authority to deal with this problem.

"Doing something constructive".

Bad news there, Ken. The solution remains the same and rests with the same people who created the problem. Proper allocation of the not inconsiderable resources (seventh highest taxed) of the state to fulfill the promises made. Anyone looking forward to receiving a public pension needs to contact Speaker Murphy and their state legislators and ask them to do nothing less.

Ken,

Yes, the state contribution to the employee pension plan(s) was cut under Sundlun to balance the budget during the credit union crisis. But the Democratic leadership of the General Assembly chose not to make them up in subsequent years. And where was this money going? To fund rapid increases in welfare spending.

Here's a concrete example: what did the GA choose to do a couple of budgets back with the one time windfall they expected from the AIG settlement? Did they use the whole amount to reduce the yawning pension deficit? No. They added it to the operating budget to avoid cuts in welfare spending.

The point is clear, if brutal: the Democratic leadership of the General Assembly has consistently avoided taking any action to (a) reduce welfare spending; (b) either increase pension contributions or reduce benefits and therefore the size of the unfunded liability; or (c) increase the health of RI's economy and thereby make the state more attractive for tax generating investments -- e.g., by reforming our pathetic public education system, or our stridently anti-business web of labor laws and regulations (e.g., review the history of the no overtime for nurses legislation).

And now the state and the Democratic leadership are coming face to face with the consequences of this inaction. Rome is fully aflame and the fiddling can't go on any longer.

As Monique notes, the choices are clear: (a) cut welfare spending; (b) cut state employee pension and retiree health care benefits; (c) cut spending on government programs; (d) cut all those grants that keep our bloated not-for-profit sector afloat; and/or (e) cut the number of state and local employees -- since we all know that compensation reductions are out of the question.

Of course, Ken, if you are one of the folks out there who thinks tax increases are the answer -- in a state which already provides such wonderful services (think about those great schools, compared to what's on offer just across the border in Massachusetts) -- by all means, approve them. They will only hasten the flow of businesses, retirees, and affluent citizens out of the Ocean State, and accelerate the collapse in tax revenue that is now well underway.

As I said, the solution(s) are clear. But to quote Jack Nicholson, too many people in Rhode Island (still)"can't handle the truth."

Ken,

I ask this honestly: Are you sure you understand what a structural budget deficit is, because to say...

he under funded the whole state retirement system approximately $300 million but he balanced the structural budget deficit.

The chickens have come home to roost.
Complete silence from the GA, Jerzyk, Segal, Dennigan, Lima, Paiva-Weed, Sissyline, etc.
They're starting to look like Erich Hoeneker in 1989 Berlin.
Couldn't happen to a nicer crew!

The community service grants has been long known as the political favors repayment to the Speaker. With the wasteful spending going on here and the budget, it won't be long before the axe will come down on all of this and many people will be hurt. You have no one to blame but yourselves for returning these corrupt people to the state house.