A Blog Called Hope

The gov sat down to dish a little yule-tide joy with The Pawtucket Times’ Jim Baron on the night before Christmas..In a story that mostly focuses on the challenges facing Rhode Island in the new year, Carcieri offered the following:

“There are some cases where individuals are dependent upon the state, people with disabilities, seniors in nursing homes, people who are very poor,” he noted. “The debate, and I think it is a policy discussion, is where do you draw that safety net.” Once you draw that line, he added, you have to find a way to take care of the people on the other side of it.

Who wants to take a guess at what he’s REALLY saying? You can catch the rest of the story here.

If you’re still driving around trying to find that perfect, last-minute gift, check out the Top Ten Gift ideas for political geeks from the New York Times Caucus Blog:

Here’s our favorite:

1. Florida Voting Machine: Remember “butterfly ballots?” Palm Beach County, Fla., voting machines, made infamous during the 2000 presidential election, are now available at a Web site run by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich’s campaign. Only $219.95 gets you an actual machine used in that election, complete with chads (no guarantees on pregnancy status), a replica butterfly ballot, and a letter signed by Mr. Kucinich.

Check out the rest of the list and here’s wishing everyone merry Christmas, happy holidays and peace, love and joy in the new year.

- The RIDP Staff

Steve Kass just doesn’t get it.
Every couple of weeks the folks at The Journal manage to squeeze another gem out of Gov. Carcieri’s communications director, who recently waxed poetic to Political Scene on all the reasons why he doesn’t think it’s important or plausible for the administration to communicate with a Democratic Lt. Governor.

From today’s ProJo:

Asked what difference it might have made in the handling of the storm if Carcieri had had a lieutenant governor of his choosing back in Rhode Island, Kass said: “If you’re the governor and the lieutenant governor is part of your team and you have philosophical similarities, etcetera, it’s easy for the governor to be out of the country or out of state and his right-hand guy is in charge and there is no political stuff going on between the two, which there always is in this state.

“Would you run your company with one guy at the top and the deputy is trying to get his job? It’s just not good. … I don’t know why Rhode Islanders like that.”

That’s about as intellectually dishonest of a characterization as you’ll ever see. Kass would like us all to believe that if Republican Kerry King had been elected lt. governor, he’d have no interest in the succeeding Carcieri. Yeah, right….ok?

Mitt Romney had a bad weekend.

After spending most of the last few days trying to undo the lie he told about seeing his father march with Martin Luther King, Jr, Romney woke up Sunday morning to find that one local New Hampshire paper had officially “un-endorsed” him and laid out the reasons why voters should reject his candidacy.

This from the Concord Monitor:

If you were building a Republican presidential candidate from a kit, imagine what pieces you might use: an athletic build, ramrod posture, Reaganesque hair, a charismatic speaking style and a crisp dark suit. You’d add a beautiful wife and family, a wildly successful business career and just enough executive government experience. You’d pour in some old GOP bromides - spending cuts and lower taxes - plus some new positions for 2008: anti-immigrant rhetoric and a focus on faith.

Add it all up and you get Mitt Romney, a disquieting figure who sure looks like the next president and most surely must be stopped.

By the way, this is the guy that’s going to make Don Carcieri Secretary of Education, ok?

We thought you’d enjoy some of Dan Yorke’s commentary from earlier this afternoon.

Head’s up! Tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m., Governor Carcieri will be “available” to answer your questions on The WPRO Morning News Show, with John Depetro. Call (401) 438-9776 and share with the Governor some of the things that went through your head while sitting in four to six hours of traffic last Thursday.

Senate President Joseph Montalbano recently sat down with editorial board members from The Times and The Call to discuss what’s on the table for the upcoming legislative session.

From Jim Baron’s story: This year, Montalbano says he hopes to have more people sitting around that table when the budget is being carved up, particularly Gov. Donald Carcieri and the state employee unions.

“The approach should be a collaborative one between the House and Senate and governor,” he asserts. “But under this administration up to this point, the governor has vetoed three of our first five budgets together and unlike the previous administration there is no dialogue or very little dialogue on the budget before he unveils it in February. It has to be more than he comes out with a plan and we take it apart and put it together this year.”

Check out the video of Chairman Dean’s appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room yesterday.

A hearty congratulations goes out tonight to Warwick’s own Frank Ferri, the newest Democratic member of the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Rep. Ferri and his team ran an outstanding, grassroots campaign that was centered on the issues that matter to all Rhode Islanders: Improving access to health care, building a stronger public education system and protecting our environment.

Earlier this evening, Rep. Ferri took the oath of office, which was administered by Secretary of State Ralph Mollis. Rep. Ferri also gave brief remarks, which you can watch below.

Best of luck, Rep. Ferri. We know you’ll make your constituents proud.

Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts continues her laudable fight to make sure every Rhode Islander has access to quality affordable health care. On Friday the Roberts-led task force, Mission: Healthy Rhode Island, will focus on ways to increase transparency in health care treatment and insurance choices and costs.

This from the Lt. Governor’s office:

The next meeting of Mission: Healthy RI will be Friday, December 21st at 7:30 am.

Dr. David Cutler will be coming to Rhode Island to talk to us about health care structures and trends. Dr. Cutler, Dean of Social Sciences at Harvard University and author of Your Money Or Your Life: Strong Medicine for America’s Health Care System, will explore with the group the overall health care system, including potential changes to promote quality and efficiency. He will also discuss ways to increase transparency in health care treatment choices and costs, as well as in health insurance choices and costs.

The meeting will again take place at the Business Innovation Factory, located at the offices of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, 555 Valley Street in Providence. Click here for directions.

This today from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) praised today’s move by Attorney General Michael Mukasey to restore safeguards against political interference at the Department of Justice. Earlier this year, Whitehouse, a former U.S. Attorney, closely questioned former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about Bush administration changes to a policy regarding communications between the White House and the Department of Justice that significantly expanded the number of officials who could discuss pending cases and investigations.

“Today’s new policy is a clear, unmistakable and welcome repudiation of the Gonzales era, and this change takes a significant step towards restoring Americans’ confidence in the integrity of our justice system,” Whitehouse said. “I’m encouraged that Attorney General Mukasey has honored his commitment to begin restoring the firewall against White House politicization at the Department.

Check out Whitehouse’s appearance on MSNBC’s Dan Abrams show on “Bush League” Justice.