Press Releases

LONG ON RHETORIC, SHORT ON REASON

'GOVERNOR SOUNDBITE' STRIKES AGAIN

Vetoes budget, fails to offer any real solutions to solve budget crisis

PAWTUCKET- Rhode Island Democratic Chairman Bill Lynch issued the following statement today in response to Governor Carcieri's veto of the state budget.

"Now more than ever, our state needs a leader, someone who can offer substantive and realistic solutions to help solve Rhode Island's fiscal crisis. Unfortunately, that's not what working families have seen in Governor Don Carcieri, who seems more concerned with spinning empty rhetoric, than with delivering results," Lynch said.

"What we need is Governor Specific, but he's no where to be found. Governor Sound Bite, however, is by no means shy, especially when there's a camera or microphone around. That's not leadership, and this state deserves better."

Fact vs. rhetoric: Setting the record straight

RHETORIC: When asked by Providence Journal columnist M. Charles Bakst why, after four and a half years on the job, the state's fiscal problems are getting worse, Governor Carcieri said: "The spending problem's getting worse."

FACT: The budget approved by the General Assembly is $32.6 million less than the budget Carcieri proposed.

RHETORIC: In today's veto message Carcieri says: "Cutting school aid hurts children, local communities, and property tax payers."

FACT: This year's budget does not cut school aid to local cities and towns, it provides funding at the same level that was allocated last fiscal year. Over the last four years, the General Assembly has increased education funding by approximately $39 million.

• FY 2007 $13.3 million more than governor proposed
• FY 2006 $845,000 more than governor proposed
• FY 2005 $9.4 million more than governor proposed
• FY 2004 $15 million more than governor proposed

RHETORIC: Carcieri today in his veto message: "This budget, by contrast, will increase the amount of tobacco bonds being sold - from $160 million to $195 million - to spend on operating expenses. This is a radical distortion of my plans and a huge disservice to Rhode Island taxpayers..."

FACT: Governor "One-time-fix" himself intended on using $80 million the state expected to receive from the AIG settlement, money that in May, we learned wouldn't be coming. The only problem: The governor had already counted on that windfall to plug operational holes in his budget. Here's what A. Michael Marques, the governor's director of the Department of Business Regulation, told The Providence Journal on May 2, 2007, after learning the money wasn't going to arrive.

"It is my opinion that the AIG settlement will enter long and protracted [litigation] in the next four to six months. We don't expect the revenue for 2008. We're just at a standstill at this point."

RHETORIC: Carcieri today: "Impending the executive branch from implementing savings that can be achieved by enabling private companies to perform state services undermines the state's ability to reduce future costs."

FACT: Fact: The only thing this budget would undermine would be the governor's ability to award sweetheart, no-bid deals and contracts to private staffing and law firms. With his own administration under state and federal investigation for mismanagement and possible malfeasance, the last thing the governor should be looking to do is privatize services that are subject to mark-up fees upwards of 201 percent and costing the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

"The fact is Democrats in the House and Senate held the line on spending in this difficult budget year. While governor Carcieri remained mostly uninvolved in the process, Democrats made the difficult choices and offered a budget that is responsible to the taxpayers of this state," Lynch said.

"The Governor has proven himself to be a poor steward of the people's money, and is now either unwilling or unable to bring people together. He has once again chosen the easy road by taking cheap political pot-shots that play well on the 6:00 news, but do little to help solve the state's problems."

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