My take on the news

Thoughts on those on the state primary ballot

Lonnie Barham
Posted 9/4/14

WILL MOLLIS STEP UP TO THE PLATE? Our current secretary of state and candidate for lieutenant governor, Ralph Mollis, supported the abolition of the “master lever,” the antiquated tool that …

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My take on the news

Thoughts on those on the state primary ballot

Posted

WILL MOLLIS STEP UP TO THE PLATE? Our current secretary of state and candidate for lieutenant governor, Ralph Mollis, supported the abolition of the “master lever,” the antiquated tool that allows a voter to make one mark at the top of the ballot and vote a straight-party ticket without even looking at any of the candidates’ names. Mollis was lauded for his support.

After decades of public outcry, the General Assembly finally acquiesced to citizens’ demands and voted to eliminate the master lever. But, in an act of self-serving political cowardice, the General Assembly put off eliminating the master lever until after this November’s election.

Republican secretary of state candidate Catherine Taylor has suggested a partial solution to the use of the master lever in this election. She suggests that Mollis use his ballot-design authority to move the master lever from the very top of the ballot to the bottom. That would encourage some straight-party voters to peruse the candidates and maybe abandon their straight-party intention and instead act like a responsible citizen in a democracy and vote for the best candidates.

The big question is: Will Ralph Mollis step up to the plate and move the master lever to the bottom of the ballot? If he does, he will be demonstrating a conviction that could vault him into the lieutenant governor’s office. If he doesn’t, no one should vote for him.

THE NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES:  the Providence Journal’s PolitiFact column put concrete numbers to the debate between gubernatorial candidates Gina Raimondo and Angel Taveras regarding who has done a better job fixing pension systems.

The percentage of pension system funding recommended by the U.S. Government Accountability Office is no less than 80 percent. Both the state pension system overseen by Raimondo and the Providence system under Taveras’ control should both be tracking to reach that 80 percent funding level.

Is either system moving toward that goal? Yes. The state pension system has increased its funding ratio from 48.4 percent to 56.2 percent under Raimondo’s stewardship. At the same time, the Providence pension system dropped from 31.94 percent funded to 31.39 percent under the oversight of Taveras.

Certainly, politicians can tweak numbers to make themselves looks good. In this case, however, when an independent fact-checking organization like PolitiFact delivers the numbers, we should all pay attention. The numbers speak for themselves - Raimondo is fixing a broken pension system, Taveras is not.

PELL WOULD PUSH FOR BINDING ARBITRATION: It’s just one more reason to vote for anyone but Clay Pell for governor. Not only does he favor keeping our antiquated system of seniority and tenure for teachers, thus allowing the estimated 15-30 percent of teachers who can’t teach to remain in classrooms, he wants our cities and towns to be burdened with binding arbitration in contract disputes with teachers unions.

Binding arbitration takes financial decision-making out of the hands of taxpayers’ elected representatives, like mayors and city councilors, and put it in the hands of labor arbitrators whose decisions are binding. History shows that almost all labor arbitrators are pro-union and almost all of their decisions favor the unions.

If taxpayers think their tax bills are high now, look out! In addition to Pell’s desire to raise the personal income tax rate, his intent to impose binding arbitration for teachers will make taxpayers cry when they see their tax bills under a Governor Pell.

ISIS/ISIL IS A THREAT, ISN’T A THREAT - WHAT’S UP? General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - the senior military leader in the U.S., said several days ago that the Islamic State, the terrorist group also known as ISIS and ISIL, “is an immediate threat to the U.S.”

A few days later, apparently after President Obama told him to back off because Obama was reluctant to take additional action against the group, Dempsey changed his mind and said the Islamic State “is only a regional threat; and not a direct threat to the U.S.”

It is very disconcerting to realize that our senior military leader has become a political sycophant who will say anything his boss wants him to say, regardless of the facts and available intelligence. When a president’s advisor is pressured to no longer objectively advise, our nation is deep in something very smelly!

DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES WANT TO REPEAL VOTER ID LAW: No one can spell his name and no one remembers her from her time as an understudy, but both want to be the Democratic nominee for Secretary of State in Rhode Island. Much worse than spelling and name recognition is the fact that both Democrats, Guillaume De Ramel and Nellie Gorbea, want to repeal the voter ID law.

With no other choice in the Democratic primary, what’s a Democrat who supports the voter ID requirement to do at the ballot box? It’s simple. Vote for neither candidate. Fill out the rest of the ballot as desired but skip the Secretary of State portion. That will send a clear message to the Democratic Party leadership, who were almost all in the same General Assembly that passed the voter ID law, that responsible Democrats are in favor of keeping voter fraud out of our elections.

When the general election rolls around, Democratic voters can vote for the Republican candidate for Secretary of State while marking the rest of their ballots for Democrats. 70-year-old John M. Carlevale Sr. is the Republican candidate and he supports the voter ID law and wants a state constitutional convention.

In this case, Carlevale’s age and wisdom trumps De Ramel’s fancy campaign spelling bee and Gorbea’s former apprenticeship.

VA MESSES UP AGAIN: The Veterans Administration produced a training slide show that purports to teach VA employees how to deal with complaining veterans. Unfortunately, the VA chose to use Sesame Street’s garbage can-dwelling character Oscar the Grouch to depict veterans who complain.

With the VA still reeling and the American people still disturbed about revelations that VA administrators falsified appointment schedules that would have shown that veterans had to wait months for appointments, with some dying during their waits, it is extremely disappointing to see VA administrators still so cynical and insensitive to the plight of our veterans. Apparently, Obama hasn’t fixed a damn thing at the VA.

WHEN A CHEESEBURGER MARRIES A DONUT:  U.S. fast-food giant Burger King is buying the Canada-based Tim Hortons donut empire. Though Burger King officials claim the move is strictly a strategic expansion to foster its identity as a worldwide entity, others believe the move is designed to lower Burger King’s corporate income tax liability.

Once Burger King moves its headquarters for tax purposes to Canada, it will benefit from a 14 percent reduction in its corporate income tax. Currently it pays 40 percent in the U.S. and its profits made in other countries are also taxed by the U.S. With the shift to Canada, it will pay only 26 percent in corporate taxes and its profits made outside of Canada will not be taxed by Canada. BK will save billions of dollars every year after this move.

Whether your palate prefers donuts or cheeseburgers, you will probably be able to buy both at a lower cost once this acquisition takes place. Why? Because some of the tax savings will surely be passed on to consumers through lower U.S. operating costs for both companies.

The years of suffering controversy over gay marriage is virtually over. The controversy over cross-border corporate marriages between such disparate products as cheeseburgers and donuts will continue, however, until the ridiculously Byzantine and penalizing U.S. tax code is fixed.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Ken Block, running for the Republican nomination for governor, had this to say about his political aspirations and his longevity intent if elected: “I’m not in politics because I’m looking for a career; I have a career...this is the only political stop...this is about getting in, doing a job that needs to be done, and getting back out.”

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