Has the Lively Experiment Failed

Monetary chairs is the Rhode Island solution to its economic problems. Who will be the last standing? Casinos are not the economic development machines they are portrayed to be, they are re-distributional mechanism dependent on Massachusetts players leaving more money here than the owners and operators take out of the State.

Pay to play schemes are an invisable tax that benefits the politician at the expense of tax payers. Before we lower taxes and cut programs, maybe we should stop the pay to play taxes extorted by our politician and their Zombies.

A good place to start would be the sweet heart deals with Union Leaders that help to insure both the leaders and politicians re-election while condemning the next generation of tax payers and union members on pensions to poverty from underfunded pension programs.

Prison would be a good place to send those who use alleged ballot interference tactics to influence the Providence election process. True or not it, such publicity only helps to reenforce that the public's perception that the Good Old Buddy Days are back. And frighten off prospective investors.

Moral obligation bonds are a contradiction in terms. They are fiction approved by a legislature that has no morals and which feel their only obligation is toward themselves not the tax payers. This is no way to build an economy. I guess that they feel because when the Heritage Bank failed they got all their money back at tax payer expense that the tax payers will be willing bail out any private company they approve,  regardless where they are from or how the deal was made.

The Bishop, who thinks he is Pope of Rhode Island, forgets that Roger Williams founded this state on the principle of separation of church and state. The Bishop seems to feel that this entitles him to declare his church's dogma should rule over all matters of personal conscious for everyone in the state to the exclusion of all points of view. He and his Tea Party allies would love to see a Constitutional Convention be given the opportunity to overturn the principle established in the Charter and the Federal Constitution.

Rather than hold a Constitutional Convention to change things in the state, we might be better off just trying to play by the rules we have. The first step for such  change to elect honest representatives who represent the best of the state and throw out the insiders who lie and cheat to get your vote by promising everything and leaving you and us with nothing..

Has the lively experiment failed? Maybe we will see in this election.

Back to the Future with Buddy Cianci????

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Can Buddy do it again and then are we that stupid and masochistic to be fooled a third time?

I have just read where Buddy Cianci, the independent candidate for mayor of Providence and two time convicted felon, has 38% of the public supporting his candidacy for a third round of fooling the public. I will admit up front that I do not live or vote in Providence, so maybe I should not be critical of the Providence electorate. The voters of Providence certainly have the right to elect their own mayor. The rest of us Rhode Islanders should respect that right. However, when the mayor of Providence engages in actions that harm the welfare of all the citizens of Rhode Island, then I feel we have a right to express our opinion and to advocate for what is in the interest of the whole state.

Buddy, The Prince of Providence, did many things for and to Providence during his tenures as Mayor, but these all followed one rule. That rule was if it was good for Buddy then it must be good for Providence. A corollary to that rule was, if it was good for Providence, then Buddy should be paid first. Corruption, the charge that eventually landed the mayor in prison and forced him out of office for the second time, is a TAX on the people.It is a tax just like the City's official taxes, except that the money goes to one individual who, in turn, buys the votes, loyalty and services of a gang of co-conspirators. The divert funds slip away from the public interest and into the pockets of those who privately benefit from the conspiracy. It means that we pay more for less and lower quality for the public services that our tax dollars were supposed to support. Do we need this again?

I recently had the opportunity to read Mike Stanton's book," The Prince of Providence: The True Story of Buddy Cianci, America's Most Notorious Mayor, Some Wiseguys, and the Feds." I was truly surprised by the depth of corruption upon which the Providence Renaissance was build and the price the citizens had and have to pay to correct the problems created. 

The Providence Journal as recently conducted a Providence Journal./WPRO political poll which shows Cianci, at this time, 9 - 24 - 2014, leading his opponents with a 38% preference of those polled while the Democratic candidate, Jorge Elorza is polling 32.4% and the Republican,Harrop at 6%. But as the Projo pointed out in an editorial on 9 - 26 - 2014 that name recognition is still a major factor in the results. More significant, I feel, is that 41% felt that Buddy;s corruption conviction would have little or no impact on their view of the candidate.

I would strongly suggest any objective voter in Providence take the time to read Stanton's book to gain an understanding of the Buddy, the man, and Buddy, the MAYOR. If ever there was a case of Breaking Bad this is a classic one. Has anyone ever wondered what happened to Pfizer's plan to locate a major plant at Fields Point? Why and how we, as a State, lost all those jobs and tax revenue that that deal would have produced? How the ego of one local politician to get ahead of the Governor for credit for the deal, scotched it? Read the book!

We don't need to go back to the Buddy future. The world has changed and Rhode Island has changed. Rhode Island needs to go into a NEW future with a new outlook and new image. Providence plays an important role in that effort.

Buddy is filled with ideas, some pipe dreams, some outlandish, and some very sound and practical. Let him use the bully pulpit of his radio show to expound on these. But let's have a new voice, more in tune with the times, and who is willing to work with and for the community take charge of Providence;s future, rather than working for himself and his cronies.

  

Ken Block: Visionary Leader or Just Another RI Political Narcissist?

On July 23, 2013  an article appeared in the Providence Journal by Katherine Gregg, the Journal's State House reporter entitled, "Moderate Party’s Block hires experienced political operative Jeff Britt."

As a Centrist or Liberal Republican, I was impressed by Mr. Ken Block's efforts to create a vision for Rhode Island. He presented that vision through the creation of the Moderate Party. The old Republican party, locally, has been effectively neutralized. It is a failure as much because of the local Democrat lock on the General Assembly as it is due to the right-wing extremism the national Republican Party. As a result those of us who are centrists or independents here in Rhode Island have made divided government (Democrat  General Assembly vs Republican Governor) a standard solution to an otherwise dysfunctional state government.

Mr. Block and the Moderate Party appeared on the scene to offer an alternative for the vast majority of us who feel disenfranchised by the current Rhode Island political jungle.

So it was with great surprise and disappointment when I read yesterday's Projo story that Mr. Block is considering a run for the Governorship under the Republican banner. Mr. Block stated his reason as

“I am not running because I want 5 percent … to keep a party alive on principle,” said Block, who is running a second time for governor. “I am running to win this race.”

I had to ask myself, "Where is the idealism, the vision, and commitment he expressed in his message to the public about the mission of the Moderate Party?" Where is the commitment when he says on the Moderate Party website "Rhode Island does not need career politicians. We need dedicated volunteers who are problem solvers and who are willing to serve the public for a limited time."

For those who have supported the Moderate Party and those of us who have thought to join the Moderate Party now we are left with questions

Is Mr.Ken Block the public spirited idealist, visionary who formed the Moderate Party and volunteer his talents and corporation to help "to root out social service waste and fraud"
 .
Or is Mr. Ken Block just another RI Narcissist who wants to gratify his own ego like other narcissists, e.g. Governor Donald Carcieri, Mayor Buddy Cianci, etc.

Is the Moderate Party Chairman's ego too big that he now feels politically constrained by the grand vision he once professed and sold to the public?

Or maybe, his initial vision and commitment is too weak and tentative to lead challenges that the process of building of a new political structure for Rhode Island would require?

Then too, maybe the Tea Party allure is just too much for his narcissistic ambition?

We are left today with question, "Who is Ken Block?

SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY AND Rhode Island

On December 14, 11 days before Christmas in the year 2012 one of the most hateful and viscous partisan political years in my personal memory, 

“Adam Lanza, age 20, fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members and wounded two at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the village of Sandy Hook in the town of Newtown, Connecticut. Before driving to the school, Lanza had shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their Newtown home. After killing students and staff members, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head as first responders arrived.” From Wikipedia 

Since that date a tremendous amount of public outrage has been vented against guns, gun ownership, gun laws, gun rights from both the general public and the radical extremist on both ends of the political spectrum.  

That we should see such an outpouring of concern and emotion is good and healthy, especially after such a painful confrontation with our own failings as a human beings and as a society. It is venting the sick and misguided venom of a partisanship that is blinding us to the common interest we share for the safety of one another and our future, our children. 

Here in Rhode Island there has been concern for our neighbors to the west and reflections that there but for an act of God that could be us. Over the past week (since January 1.) there have appeared Op-Ed pieces in the Providence Journal from the Jewish and Catholic community, a personal observation by Congressman Langivan (a survivor of a gun accident), and today by Allen Hassenfeld  focusing on priorities. Letters and comments also appear in the local letter to the editor and the web-based versions. Many good points are being made, many simplistic solutions proposed, and many self serving offers or promotions served up. All of this, points to complexity of our motives and feelings toward the GUN as physical objects and their use generates.

The central issue, I feel, is how does a civilized society based on the principle of individuality, freedom of choice and self expression survive when the power of life and death is granted to every citizen without any control or constraint from the community in which the individual lives? What happens when the social controls we, as citizens, agree to live under through our system of laws and collective decision making are surrendered to super-rich plutocrats with private armies and the mentally deranged psycho- and sociopathic, isolated, and alienated individual with an assault rifle? What is the proper role of government and the citizenry?

Roger Williams founded Rhode Island based on the principle that the answer to question the rights of diversity and the majority was not civil war of the majority against the minority. The answer he proposed is a civil debate based on the “tolerance” of the other’s views and interests.

Over the years I have heard many complaints about the word “tolerance.” It is too weak, too insincere, too “liberal,” too “conservative.” What I believe I am hearing when people reject or question the word, is a demand for ideological purity of principle, rather than a pragmatic acceptance that there will always be different points of view. Each of these has legitimate perspectives and claims. These are claims that arise as much from experience and they do from any “purity” the adherent might claim. 

Tolerance is a term used in physics and engineering to describe just how much room there is between the ideal stress that can be applied to a material and the amount of actual stress that can be applied to the material before it fails.

Rhode Island’s lively experiment, envisioned by Roger Williams, has been and is a social experiment in the tolerance of something called civil society. Since civil society is made up of imperfect material, humans and their self interests, the question is when it comes to the GUN, what are we willing to tolerate? Sandy Hook is a test of our resolve. 

Can we tolerate the murder of 22 children as price we are willing to pay for the right of some people to own a GUN with minimum supervision and regulation by the community into which they bring their GUN? Or do we insist that to own a GUN, because of its power to kill and maim, carries with it a higher standard responsibility and a lower tolerance than applies to other objects in our society. What is our tolerance for GUN ownership and GUN rights?

Here in Rhode Island we are beginning the debate. Here in Rhode Island we must exercise our rights under the 1st Amendment to determine our own course within the very broad and vague provisions of the 2^nd Amendment.

There are consequences for every action. There will be consequences from whatever we decide. Let us take seriously the potential costs of unintended consequence. Let us learn from Sandy Hook and tighten up our legal standards to the right GUN ownership and lower our personal tolerance for personal misuse of GUNS here in Rhode Island.

Also check out:  Americans for Responsible Solutions  Gabby Gifford initiative

A Rhode Island Treasure

COGGESHALL  FARM MUSEUM is a working late 18th Century farm located Bristol, Rhode Island next to Colt State Park.

38 Studio - The Blame game begins

I find it interesting but again not unpredictable that the blame game has begun. Having been in the position of being an interim director of several organizations in my life time -- the present situation seems all to familiar.

Gov. Chafee, like President Obama, will get the blame for the sins of their predecessor. The public and the press (media) operating on a short term memory basis will blame the individual who is closest to the victim when they (the media) arrive on the scene. That is, we were and are facing an economic crisis both here in Rhode Island and nationally. It is a crisis brought on by our own actions in the current culture of greed. Our elected leaders are showing their true courage and in some other cases their lack there of.

To be the Governor of ALL the people or President of ALL the people, is like a being a the first Trauma Doctor at the scene on 9/11. You have to jump in do your job the best you can and make choices about which victims to treat and which can wait. Regardless of what you do, somebody will blame you for those you did not treat.

Chafee was constrained in his role with the EDC and by the crony capitalist deal by the baseball player, the former Big Audit Governor (does anyone remember that campaign pledge) and the incompetent Leadership in the State House who love to pass those sweetheart deals. While Chafee opposed the deal before he was elected, he was saddled with it and the personnel who oversaw it. The Executive Director of EDC was in on the deal in the beginning with the former Governor. One would expect he would be most knowledgeable about the details and immediately responsible for monitoring and managing the loan guarantees on a day to day basis.

Governor Chafee came into office inheriting the credit rating cut, the pension problem, state and local revenue short falls, a Republican, --WHOOOPS!! I got the Congress and the State Legislature mixed up here -- a Democrat Legislature, and a Press fueled by the Tea Party mentality that would neven consider the revenue side of fixing these problems, etc. We all concentrated on the BIG issues and expected that those in-charge of the specific programs would do their job as PUBLIC SERVANTS in the tax payer's and citizens' interests.

I know from experience that when you find yourself in this situation you set priorities. Then you move ahead putting trust in the people you have inherited as well as those you hire. Some of the people you inherit turn out to be either incompetent and/or part of the problem. They will bale out the moment things get uncomfortable, leaving behind their own failures as well as the failure of those over whom you entrusted them to oversee or regulate. But haven't we seen this before in reference to Wall Street?

The point here is simple, Chafee's job from today forward is to try to solve the problem as best as he can and with the sincere help and support of those who care about the present and future interest of the State, the taxpayers, and the former employees of 38 Studios

38 Studio is a local case of the larger problem we face. It brings to mind Socrates' age old question, "Who will guard the Guardians?"

38 Studios - Crony Capitalism is alive and well in Rhode Island

The crisis at EDC and 38 Studio reflect the problem of crony capitalism at its best. Having written about this while the deal was being negotiated, I can't say that this comes as surprise.

The public's money should never be invested in a start-up in a mature market. All one is doing is buying out the original investors (the capitalist who are cashing in their investment) and replacing it with public money. This is what an IPO, such a Facebook, is supposed to do.

From an economic development perspective public investment should go to infrastructure improvements that will have a longer term value and benefit for the taxpayers and improve the environment into which private investors might decide to locate.

If anyone has been watching the market for video games, it has been shifting. As a start-up, it would make more sense if 38studio had been creating Game APPS for smart phones to reach a wider audience, quicker, at lower risk and cost and used the experience to work out the problems that come to all start-ups. Instead they went for the Big Hit with its high risk, high cost and, untested team.

The video game business is not a new business. It is a variation on the movie business as 38 Studios has claimed as the rationale for applying for the movie tax credits. The movie business isolates the product from the company by creating a corporation for the movie placing the risk in that company and still controlling the upside.

In 38 Studios we had a company with no product at the time of the deal. Today it seems that we may have a product without a company. Is the state considering putting a lien on the box game, to guarantee our investment?

 

Arlene Violet has her take on the situation  She points out that “As reported by Ted Nesi of Nest’s Notes on WPRI’s website, 38 Studios was removed from the list of companies scheduled to present at next month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, a sort of World Series of offerings in the electronic game industry.” Such cut back in marketing effort is another sure sign that things are not right.

As for the tax credits if granted, they can be sold to raise cash, as the Projo’s story pointed out. But for the tax payers, those credits mean less tax revenue from whom ever buys and uses them. In turn, it means an additional RI tax payer contribution to 38 Studios on top the $ 75M loan guarantee.

Another problem is the potential loss of the human capital that we, as tax payers, have invested in to staff and provide the talent for 38Studios. Now that the wounded animal has left blood in the water, the sharks have gathered to bite off the prime cuts (top talent). Will there be enough talent left if the funding situation can be resolved to have a company? And if not, can we still keep that talent here or will we be exporting it to Massachusetts?

38Studios is NOT GM. Its success or failure is NOT going to destroy the economy. One hopes that some investors will be found to refinance and restructure the company so that it is a success. Governor Chafee is to be commended for getting on top of the problem as quickly as he has in an attempt to protect tax payer interests and by being an active participant in the effort to find a solution to the problems.

But one also hopes that the blind, star struck, politicians in this state have learned something from this. And that lesson is that we, the tax payer, are paying them do their due diligence before throwing tax payer money at deals that no self respecting or even greedy bank would turn down.

Crony Capitalism and Sweetheart Union deals are the cause of our economic problems. I, for one, am happy to see that something is now being done to move us in a sane direction.