Sounds like a classic Republican vs Democrat fillibuster on the

leadership of government.

Although there is sympathy about the facts presented by Larisa/Cusick, their process of implementation was a shock to the process used for years to reach agreements. On the other hand, the Democratic legislative method of taking care of "their" special constituency is helping to tear the city apart as never seen before in the decades I have watched it. People have got to get together and work to solve the tax issues and restore Townie Pride. Both sides have at times got to give to make it work. City Council sets policy and the Legislature should not ignore the local officials that are elected to speak in behalf of the people. In theory that's how it works.

FINALLY, someone has stood up to the “special interest” group of Larisa and Cusack. Isn’t it interesting that these council members have said that the City of East Providence is broke and could face bankruptcy despite the state auditor general’s comment that: “Having assessed financially distressed communities over the past 15 years, I can state that city is not a candidate for bankruptcy,” If the city was broke, where did the money come from to pay $41,500 to remove the former police chief, and $45,000 for the Rhode Island State Police to oversee the East Providence Police Department after the chief left? Also, what about the money for the so-called independent consultant (International City Managers Association – ICMA) to study the police and fire departments? I wonder how independent the ICMA report really is? Isn’t it interesting that the Rhode Island State Police report, which was based on assessments conducted during the months that the state police was running the East Providence Police Department, reached a different conclusion recommending more personnel. I’m sure that the fire department could hire their own “independent consultant” such as the International Association of Firefighters and the report would conclude that trucks with three firefighters are only 38% effective (NFPA 1710 study). Yet the Larisa and Cusack special interest group voted to lay off 13 police officers and reduce the fire department by 28 firefighting position, the equivalent of one-quarter of the fire personnel. Senator DaPonte is correct when he states that “What’s disturbing to me is that these guys on the council, primarily Larisa and Cusack, have used these unprecedented economic times, really as an excuse to tear this community apart and to further a right wing republican agenda for their own personal political agendas to run for higher office.” With Larisa heading to Barrington and City Manager Brown actively seeking out his next career move, I have concluded that “leadership” and “problem solving” is not part of this special interest group’s vocabulary.

rsponse to scotmask

I have posted this before in answer to a question on the staffing hope this info helps explain the need for it.

On another note proposed layoff of 13 city police officers and 28 positions in the fire department is not something that should be done will nilly as they say. Minimum staffing standards by the NFPA are there for a reason 4 firefighters per apparatus including the driver.

This is a safety mandate inorder to comply with the 2 in 2 out rule at a fire scene. Well many towns that are small can get around this because of the distances of response times being short enough that enough firefighters are on scene for the 2 in 2 out rule. The fact that this city has a larger area, polulation and many large buildings lends itself to a tragedy waiting to happen if their fire personel are on 2 or 3 different calls and lose of life to these brave people or anycirizen should not depend on budget cuts.

Jack

DaPonte and his crew are the problem. Cusack and Larisa are trying to fix a problem. Sure, Larisa was part of the city council for many years, on the minority side, so whatever he said was rarely listened to. We are in big problems everywhere, and DaPonte can only come up with it's a republican attack. This from the guy who was being investigating during the Operation Dollar Bill for some of his sketchy behavior at the statehouse. Lucky for him they didn't find enough to stick to him.

Cusack and Larisa have the financial and legal knowhow to keep us from totally tanking. We find ourselves in this jackpot because of the crooked past we let happen. DaPonte, Moura and their crew have brought this state and city to it's knees, and I for one am sick and tired of paying for their mess.

It's time for the voters of East Providence to impeach these two bums Larisa and Carcieri, along with their third co-conspirator Valerie Perry. These 3 stooges are the most self-serving granstanders the city of East Providence has ever seen. And to top it off, Larisa has the nerve to put his home in East Providence up for sale, buy a million dollar home in Barrington, and start making plans to run for attorney general. I guess with all the taxpayers money he through to his buddy Dan Kinder, he can afford to move to Barrington, and leave the taxpayers of East Providence holding the bag. While the 3 stooges would be swept out of office next year if they dare ran for re-election, the voters of East Providence can't afford to wait-impeach these bozos now, and restore Townie Pride to the city.

You make good points Jackkb. I really question how many times an International City Managers Association study ever recommends more manpower? It seems that these bogus ICMA reports are popping up with increasing frequency around the United States. These ICMA consultants are hatchet men who provide gullible city managers like Dick Brown and "special interest" council members such as Larisa, Cusack and Perry with a report that recommends deep cuts in personnel and service that will save money. However, these International City Manager Association reports are short sighted and unsafe. The National Fire Protection Association, a non-profit organization that was established to create firefighting standards, actually has concluded that 5 person fire trucks are 100% effective, 4 person trucks 65% effective and 3 person trucks are only 38% effective. The East Providence Fire Department currently operates with 3 firefighter engine companies. I just don't believe that the East Providence International City Managers Association (ICMA) report would provide a valuable or objective picture of police and fire department operations and services. The fact that the Rhode Island State Police report conducted after the summer of 2009 by the RISP Lieutenant who oversaw the East Providence Police reached a conclusion that is in direct conflict with the ICMA consultant is proof.

Oops-I meant Cusack, but you may as throw Carcieri out with them.

Any chance that when Larisa leaves for Barrington and his million dollar life style of the rich and famous, we can start a petition to rename Rose Larisa park as "Taxpayer Park". Its the East Providence Taxpayers that are paying to take care of this park, not money from "special interest" councilman Larisa. Good Luck Barrington with your new future resident. We hope he works out better for you in Barrington than the mess he's leaving here in East Providence.

response to scottmask

Minimum manning is the hardest thing to convince people of because they don't think about it till there is death because they don't have it. When a lot of time passes they forget about it again and want to ignore it. It is one of the most crucial things that Police and Firefighters face in my book. No life should ever be lost due to it.

Safety and training are the most important factors in police work and firefighting. People seem to get so made because they feel these people dont do much work all the time. But they are an insurance policy in its most basic form. The police to prevent anarchy and up hold the law. And the Firefighters to protect Life and property in time of need.

You can not hire only when you need them. They must both be available at all times it will allways be something you can not live without period. Funds should never be cut from them in my opinion by upsurping minimum manning,safety or training.

Jack

epratepayer

Go on and continue to think that Cusack and Larisa are financial wizards!

Cusack has said that in recievership, the cities' bonds will not be affected; BUT Chapter 9 of Federal Bankruptcy says that all general obligation bonds are part of the receivership and subject to the judge's review. And Cusack says our bond rating will go up! HOW?

If we stop paying interest on bonds, (Judge's choice) and have filled BANKRUPTCY what financial company would even touch a new bond offer?

Cusack and Larisa are eager to see a bankruptcy judges "tear up" all union contracts. BUT that ability is not part of chapter 9; and the 1 time a judge has imposed changes on a contract is in court for review.

AND last but not least; Larisa promisses he has the 3 votes to place the city into recievership BUT Chapter 9 says he will need state approval (in other words Auditor General Almonte).

It's secret that DaPonte is a union lackey. He'll say just about anything to keep his grip on the special inteest vote, namely the unions. Sounds like he's rallying all the rats around him as floatation devices on the sinking USS Union.

Sickening how his ilk would so blatently label the entire taxpayer base as , special interest.

Not to worry DaPonte, you'll have a place of (dis)honor right along side the rest of your criminal ilk when the people have had enough.

D.

Does anyone know why Larisa is moving? He's leaving the mess he has created because he knows he will not be able to show his face much longer once the courts rule in favor of the unions. Come on now he's a lawyer and he knows this, so he's bailing. And yes, he is going to run for AG- mark my words.

I think that Larisa is leaving because the day is coming very soon when he will be held accountable for the damage he has done to the City of East Providence. I concur with EPtaxpayer that it may be court rulings, or the unemployment costs and overtime costs for the layoffs of 13 police officers. Larisa is just like the emperor with no clothes on and the gig is about to be up! Once he is settled in Barrington, let's rename Rose Larisa Park as "Taxpayer Park" in honor of the citizens that have paid to create and maintain it.

He only thing Mr. Larissa should be ashamed of is, not cutting the taxpayer burden created by the unions, not soon enough and not deep enough.

How difficult is it to figure out that these union leeches are only for themselves and personal enrichment at our expense? Merit pay for teachers? No can do, they cry! That would actually make them try to do a good job? Professional standards, such as phsical fitness for ALL officers? No can do, they cry! We have a Police Officer's Bill of Rights!

TEN they attack the few elected reps with integrity, for casting light on their shenannagans. How about fair wages for a days work? No can do, they cry! We're union!

Sub-performing underachievers that need to 'herd up', if you ask me.

Does anyone know that Daponte personally told a representative of Rhode Island Statewide Coalition that he "made a mistake" voting for S713? That he was "sorry"? That he made a call today to assure taxpayers that this bill was NOT going to be heard on the house but sent back to committee? SO, what is Daponte's position? Is he believable by either labor or taxpayers? Don''t know- Sen. Daponte: care to answer the question?

Once Larisa moves to Barrington and gets his rear end handed to him when he runs for attorney general, the best idea for Larisa Park would be to turn it into a landfill. Perfectly named place to put all the unwanted trash in the city.

) UNIONS FIGHT AND SQUEEZE FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MEMBERS (TEACHERS - POLICE - FIREMEN)

2) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM?

3) IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS

4) IF YOU WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORT AND WANT IN. YOU WILL THEN GET HIGHER TAXES.

5) IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE !

I guess now that Larisa and his cronies have decimated the police department and given the gang bangers, drug dealers, and other assorted criminals the keys to the city, "Slow Joe" Larisa has decided to move out of East Providence before the city turns into a war zone. Talk about turning your back on the people-what a coward!

union-teacher and cronies are pathetic. You are so angry that someone stopped your feeding frenzy at the expense of the taxpayers. I heard Larisa bought a house in Paulie Moura's neighborhood. That's a money area. If he is getting out of East Providence, it would be because of the petty, Stepford attitude you people have caused. Bringing a city to it's knees isn't an overnight event. Your St Norman Mirada who has his shrine on Warren Av at taxpayers expense, and his cronies did a good job ruining this city. Talk about cronyism.

Maybe Larisa's approach isn't the great. He doesn't seem like a people person, but he is smart, and so is Cusack. Val Perry is a good woman. She has been in the city system for a long time. She probably knows where alot of the bodies are buried.

There are plenty of cops out there. They seem to have no problem doubling up for traffic stops.

Even though our general assembly members are a total joke in East Providence, we at least have some leadership in the school committee and city council who have smarts and backbone to put a stop to the bs that has gone on in this city for far too long.

If I had mismanaged the city of Est Providence the way Slow Joe Larisa has done, I would move out just like he's doing. With his puppet Dick Brown frantically applying for employment anywhere he can, I'm wondering who's going to be the next rat to jump off the sinking ship-my guess is Fat Tony Carcieri, who has singlehandedly ruined the school department. November 2010 can't come soon enough-a new broom will be coming in to sweep East Providence clean.

1) WHY ARE ALL THE DIFFERENT UNIONS ALWAYS FIGHTING AND SQUEEZING CITIES AND TOWNS FOR MORE MONEY?

BECAUSE THAT IS HOW UNIONS MAKE THEIR MONEY.

THE UNIONS RECEIVE DUES FROM ALL OF THEIR UNION MEMBERS.

THE DUES ARE DEDUCTED DIRECTLY FROM THE MEMBERS PAYCHECK.

2) WHO ARE THE UNION MEMBERS?

PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS

POLICEMEN

FIREMEN

3) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM?

IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS IN THE CITY OR TOWN IN WHICH THEY LIVE.

4)I'M A TAXPAYER, AND I"M FED UP WITH HIGHER TAXES, IT'S GETTING SO I CAN"T AFFORD TO LIVE IN MY OWN HOUSE ANYMORE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

IF YOU DON'T WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN VOTE THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORT OUT OF OFFICE.

5) IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE !

improveEP no the money comes from them working 40-50 hrs a week and don'tforget they are tax payers to so in sense they are paying themself to work. it's not that simple.if your elected leader would not try to go around the contract play by the rules they would not have to spend all that money on lawyers.

"jaywhat" THE FIREMANS UNION COMES IN AND GETS A $5,000 PER YEAR RAISE, AND YOUR TAXES GO UP $180 .................... THE POLICE UNION DOES THE SAME THING .......................... THE TEACHERS UNION DOES THE SAME THING

HOW IS THE TAXPAYER DOING?

response to jaywhat

True except for one thing I would say is that Firefighters and police officers usually work a lot more hours and thier lives are at risk every day, unlike a lot of jobs in theirs the chance of getting hurt or killed are very high due to the nature of the job.

Also a 1975 study proved that due to the pressures an type of jobs these are they will die 5 years earlyer than the average worker usually from a heart attack due to the stress for long on them from thier job. The reason I think it is not simple as you correctly note is that the union leaders and the management leaders have all forgotten what negotiations are and until they both can act like mature adults you will allways have this sue happy go to court problem raping the taxpayers.

Jack

The New Tammany Hall

Public sector unions have become a labor aristocracy--and they are bankrupting states and municipalities.

by Fred Siegel & Dan DiSalvo

10/12/2009, Volume 015, Issue 04

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Ever since the 1972 Democratic convention nominated George McGovern over the objections of the AFL-CIO, the standard wisdom has been that organized labor's power in American politics has declined dramatically. The failure of the current Democrat-dominated Congress to pass labor's highest legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act ("card check"), is taken as indicative of unions' political incapacity. But the picture looks very different on the state and local level where public sector employee unions have gone from one victory to another. Indeed, they are the one group, besides Goldman Sachs executives, that's done well during the current Great Recession. Public sector unions have become political powerhouses in New York, New Jersey, Washington, California, and a host of other states. They have become so powerful as to threaten the Madisonian system set up to constrain any one faction from overwhelming the public interest.

Once upon a time public sector workers received less pay than their private sector counterparts in return for better benefits and greater job security. But that bargain has been breached. Public sector wages have more than caught up, while the differential between public and private sector benefits has increased so much that public sector work, particularly for the unskilled, is greatly coveted. To protect such benefits, the unions have tenaciously opposed Senator Max Baucus's plan to tax expensive health insurance plans to finance an extension of coverage. Supporters of public sector union power have developed a rationale for the government employees' gold-plated perks. The argument is that public employees

are the vanguard of the working class. As such, the benefits they achieve will eventually have to be matched by private sector employers. As Carla Katz, the leader of New Jersey's Communications Workers of America, explained to Paul Mulshine of the Newark Star-Ledger, reformers embrace "the progressive theory that unless you create a substantial wage and benefits package that reflects good jobs and the ability to have a middle-class life style, there will be a perpetual race to the bottom."

Katz not only represents thousands of state employees, she is also the richly rewarded former girlfriend of New Jersey governor Jon Corzine. Katz's influence on Corzine became clear in 2006 when the impassioned governor spoke to a Trenton rally of roughly 10,000 public workers and shouted out: "We will fight for a fair contract." Corzine was of course management in that situation, not labor. But with the power of the public sector unions to drive election outcomes, they now sit on both sides of the bargaining table. Unlike private sector unions, the sheer number of workers represented is not the linchpin of their influence. Private sector unions have a natural adversary in the owners of the companies with whom they negotiate. But public sector unions have no such natural counterweight. They are a classic case of "client politics," where an interest group's concentrated efforts to secure rewards impose diffused costs on the mass of unorganized taxpayers. Also unlike private sector unions, those in the public sector can achieve influence on both sides of the bargaining table by making campaign contributions and organizing get-out-the-vote drives to elect politicians who then control the negotiations over their pay, benefits, and work rules. The result is a nefarious cycle: Politicians agree to generous government worker contracts; those workers then pay higher union dues a portion of which are funneled back into those same politicians' campaign war chests. It is a cycle that has driven California and New York to the edge of bankruptcy.

Consider what happened in Washington State. After helping Democrats win full control of the legislature in 2002, the state affiliate of the Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and other unions persuaded lawmakers to lift the collective bargaining restrictions. Within three years the number of union members had doubled. With more state employees paying dues, the amount of union dollars flowing into the coffers of Democrats running in state elections also doubled. A prime beneficiary of such union generosity was Christine Gregoire, who became governor in 2004 after one of the closest elections in the state's history. (AFSCME gave $250,000 to the state Democratic party to help pay for the recount that handed her the election by 129 votes). Once in office, Gregoire negotiated contracts with the unions that resulted in double-digit salary increases, some exceeding 25 percent, for thousands of state employees. In 2007, J. Vander Stoep, an adviser to Republican Dino Rossi, Gregoire's 2004 opponent, prophetically remarked that the unions' arrangement with the Democrats was "a perfect machine to generate millions of dollars for her reelection. .??.??. They are building something that conceivably can never be undone--at taxpayer expense." In their 2008 rematch, Rossi lost again to Gregoire, this time by 194,614 votes.

Public sector unions with political influence can negotiate detailed work rules in which they largely exempt themselves from accountability in return for providing political support for their nominal managers. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) have

created a cartel to advance their own interests at the expense of the citizens and students. The teacher's contract is over 200 pages of small print. Reminiscent of the 12,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) who were paid not to work in the heyday of the UAW, nearly 800 Gotham "rubber room" teachers who have problems on the job are being paid not to work. The UFT has also negotiated with Bloomberg, mistakenly called an education reformer, a reduction in the number of days they must work to prepare for classes before school begins in September at the same time as their salary increases have been running at better than twice the rate of inflation.

But the teachers are not the only politically powerful labor force in New York, the nation's most-unionized state where 69 percent of public sector workers belong to collective bargaining units. In the nominally private health care sector, employees depend heavily on government programs, principally Medicare and Medicaid, for their livelihood. In the 1970s and 1980s, the local 1199 Drug, Hospital and Health Care Employees Union fought a running battle with New York's largely state and federally funded voluntary hospitals. Under the brilliant leadership of Dennis Rivera, 1199 built a top-notch political operation, and with the hospitals, which were barred from political activity, formed a partnership to maximize the flow of government revenue. The union-hospital alliance has been so successful in aligning itself with politicians, Democrat and Republican alike, that not only has 1199 been largely untouched by the downturn, but New York spends as much on Medicaid as California and Texas combined. And come boom or bust, hospital and health care employment in the state keeps growing. Rivera, who merged his local with the SEIU (Service Employees International Union), has now brought his political acumen to Washington as the SEIU's point-man on health care reform.

The combined power of the teachers and health care workers has made the New York state legislature a wholly owned subsidiary of the public sector unions. The law mandates that all new legislation be evaluated for its fiscal impact. In recent years those calculations were performed by an actuary named Jonathan Schwartz. In 2008, when Schwartz found that a piece of bipartisan legislation allowing city workers to retire early with full pension benefits would impose no new costs, the New York Times blew the whistle. Schwartz, who had been fired from a city job, worked not only for the state assembly but also, it turned out, for District Council 37 of the SEIU. When asked which other unions he had worked for, he replied, "How many unions are there?" His client list included the teachers, firefighters, detectives, correction officers, and bridge and tunnel officers. Not surprisingly New York State has the highest per-employee pension costs in the country.

Prior to World War II, a New York State Supreme Court justice neatly summarized the prevailing attitude toward public sector unions: "To tolerate or recognize any combination of Civil Service employees of the government as a labor organization or union is not only incompatible with the spirit of democracy but inconsistent with the spirit of democracy and inconsistent with every principle upon which our Government is founded." Laws permitting collective bargaining for public employees were virtually nonexistent. Even labor-friendly economists thought organizing most public sector employees was illegitimate. AFL-CIO president George Meany believed it was "impossible to bargain collectively with the government."

What produced the enormous expansion of public sector unions? In a case of unintended consequences, government unionism ironically developed from actions taken by those hostile to it. Many of the icons of the labor-left like New York's great mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and President Franklin Roosevelt were adamantly opposed to public sector unions. LaGuardia, who pledged to make New York a "one hundred percent [private sector] union" town, had a civic vision of public employees as the people's workers, exemplars of the common good. Famed for dropping in unexpectedly on city offices and dressing down slackers, LaGuardia explained that he did "not want any of the pinochle club atmosphere to take hold" in his city government. "The right to strike against the government," he insisted, "is not and cannot be recognized."

In 1935, Roosevelt signed the Wagner Act, the first peacetime effort to support the growth of private sector unions. Its aim in the words of its sponsor, New York senator Robert Wagner, was "encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining." But like his close ally LaGuardia, Roosevelt drew a definite line when it came to government workers. "Meticulous attention," the president insisted, "should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government. .??.??. The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service." Both men feared that liberalism would be compromised by the unavoidably self-serving nature of public sector unionism.

But the mayor and the president opened the door to just what they opposed. In the bad old days of Tammany Hall, which had fought both LaGuardia and Roosevelt, the average tenure of a cop or teacher or garbage collector was five years. But with the rise of civil service reform backed by both men in the 1930s, public employees both in New York and the federal government began to gain lifetime security. Civil service reform, it turned out, was the precondition for unionization because it gave workers a long-term interest in their jobs and facilitated their capacity to express collective concerns. In 1958, New York mayor Robert Wagner, son of the senator behind the 1935 federal act, issued an executive order generally known as "the little Wagner Act." It gave city employees bargaining rights and provided their unions with exclusive representation. The city was soon turning over the dues from its workers to the union. Those dues soon provided political action funds to support union-backed candidates.

Running for reelection in 1961, Wagner faced a Democratic party revolt. The party's five borough chiefs were supporting his opponent, and Wagner made the unions the basis of his winning campaign. It was a turning point. Looking back in the wake of New York's mid-1970s fiscal crisis, Alex Rose, the head of the once powerful (and now defunct) New York Liberal party and a former labor leader, concluded that "the little Wagner Act" had proven a dreadful "mistake." Rose, who had also led the private sector clothing workers, explained that public sector "workers are not extracting a share of the profits but rather a share of taxes." Ultimately, he noted, his workers would be among those "footing the bill."

Ten weeks after Wagner's victory, President John F. Kennedy, who had been elected by the narrowest of margins in 1960, decided to mobilize public sector workers as a new source of political support. In mid-January 1962, he issued Executive Order 10988 giving federal workers the right to organize, though not to collectively bargain. Kennedy's action and Wagner's victory set off a wave of local union activity across the nation's major cities.

In states with laws favorable to unionism, public sector organizing has flourished; in states without such laws, it has not. If there is a specific point from which to mark the beginning of the current looming fiscal crisis in many blue states, it would be the wave of local strikes by public employees that were set in motion by Kennedy's executive order. His strategy succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. Like entitlement programs, the expansion of public sector unionism produced a self-generating dynamic for continual expansion. Public sector unions would occasionally experience temporary setbacks--as in the New York fiscal crisis of 1975--but they had the political clout to claw back any concessions made under duress.

During the Reagan years, the growth in local and state jobs was double the rate of population growth. In the downturn of the early 1990s, the New York Times warned that the states faced a "fiscal calamity." In 2002, during the next serious downturn, the National Governors Association insisted that the "states face the most dire fiscal situation since World War II." But in each case the growth of government and public sector pay packages merely stalled. It resumed as soon as the economy recovered.

There is broad agreement among economists that public sector unions' political power increases government spending. As reported in the New York Times, public-sector wages and benefits over the past decade have grown twice as fast as those in the average private-sector. An Empire Center for New York State Policy study found that in 2006 state and local government employees in New York were paid higher average salaries in eight out of ten regions of the state. If one excludes jobs in finance in New York City and the Southern Tier, private sector employees earned slightly less than government ones statewide.

The downturn has been very tough on private sector workers. But the public sector, particularly when it comes to pensions for uniformed workers, has been a different matter. In New York City, where public sector union benefits have grown twice as fast as those in the private sector since 2000, firefighters may retire after 20 years at half pay. Pension benefits for a new retiree averaged just under $73,000 (all exempt from state and local taxes). Many also collect an annual $12,000 "Christmas bonus." To top it off, they receive a health insurance policy that is worth about $10,000 annually. New York City is also paying benefits to 10,000 retired police officers under 50 years of age.

Such cases abound. According to the Boston Globe, 225 of the 2,338 Massachusetts state police officers made more than Governor Deval Patrick's $140,535 annual salary in 2006. Four state troopers received more than $200,000, and 123 others were paid more than $150,000. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that in suburban Chicago, there are school administrators--a unionized profession--who are making over $400,000. California teachers are represented by one of the country's most powerful teachers' unions and earn 25 percent more than the national average. Forbes has reported that there are California prison guards making $300,000 a year.

While the wage parity between public and private sector workers is largely unchanged since 2002, public sector benefits are a different matter. For every $1-an-hour pay increase, noted Dennis Cauchon in USA Today, public employees have gotten $1.17 in new benefits. Private workers have gotten just .58 cents in benefits for every $1 raise. This gap worries left-liberal labor economist Barry Bluestone. The price of state and local public services increased by 41 percent nationally between 2000 and 2008. Private services only increased by 27 percent. The benefit growth has continued unabated into the Great Recession, and Bluestone says the gap will inevitably produce a backlash.

Like banks, but with even less self-control, state governments make long-term promises in boom times while depending on the short-term flow of revenues. But when the boom ends, the benefits that have been ratcheted up have to be paid for out of a declining private sector economy. Barring a sharp recovery, state and local government tax-funded pension contributions in New York are likely to triple over the next five years in order to pay out the pension benefits guaranteed by the state constitution. (This is equally true in Illinois.) California's public pension fund liability has already topped $200 billion, and in cities such as Oakland, Vallejo, and Rio Vista bankruptcy looms.

In the states and cities where government workers' unions are strong, they have formed alliances with nonprofit advocacy groups such as ACORN and foundations committed to greater government involvement in the economy and society. The Manhattan Institute's Steven Malanga argues that this constellation of forces is in effect a new Tammany Hall. It is, says Seymour Lachman, a former New York state senator who now heads a center for government reform at Wagner College, "the ward heeler system of Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall wrapped in some kind of progressive disguise." The old Tammany, however, was subject to electoral defeats. The new Tammanies have proved self-perpetuating. In California, Governor Schwarzenegger's ill-organized effort to roll back public sector union power in 2005 led to the muscleman's first defeat, then his political evisceration, and now the Golden State's fiscal humiliation. New York City and State are on a similar course. Across the country the new political machine has mostly been aligned with the Democratic party. Some individual unions, however, such as California's prison guards and New York's hospital workers, have been protected and advanced by Republicans. Still others play a pragmatic balance-of-power game, forging short-lived marriages of convenience with either political party.

Public sector unions are beginning to strike out on their own, too. If the recent primary elections in New York are any indication, it is only a matter of time before, using the vehicle of the Working Families party (WFP), they take control of New York City government. New York allows third parties on the ballot, and the Working Families party--organized in 1998 as an alliance between labor unions and ACORN--cross-endorses allies in the Democratic party. Yet the WFP is thriving while New York's Democrats atrophy. In last week's New York City primaries, WFP candidates for city council won easily, as did the party's candidates for the city's second and third highest offices: comptroller and public advocate. Those are the best platforms from which to make a run for mayor of New York City when Bloomberg finally gives up his throne.

Public sector unions bring to the fore what James Madison called "the violence of faction" and its threat to the "permanent and aggregate interests of the community." This can't be blamed on the unions; they're advancing their members' interests. The fault lies with politicians, particularly those governors and mayors who have been willing to sabotage the public interest to smooth the path to their own reelections.

In the absence of tough-minded reform leaders who will take on the public sector unions, the fiscal future of states and localities is bleak.

Fred Siegel is a visiting professor at St. Francis College and a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Dan DiSalvo is a professor at City College of New York.

What a racket! They get paid for sleeping!

Oh God I'm trapped and they can't find me!

Don't tell me they're asking for more money!

Dear God I'm not going to see my family again!

We can't justify staffing three people on an engine.

God who will take my son fishing?

And why should they have special insurance? We don't!

Please God give my wife rge courage to get it alone.

We've got to repeal these restrictive safety standards.

Oh God Oh God........

Response to scottmask

I to am sick of posters picking on the firefighters. If you want to complain about the Union leadership that’s fine, like our government leaders we vote for we rarely get what we want and every one complains. But you never blame yourself if you voted for the person who you are upset with now. So why blame rank and file members of the Firefighter Union. They use the same voting system as the U.S. in their elections.

If you don’t like firefighters fine that’s your opinion but they have a creed just like the military that protect your right to freedom. The creed I speak of hangs in my home and explains why all people should have respect for the firefighter period. I am posting this creed and after you read it if you don’t have respect for these men and woman then you need serious mental health help in my opinion. It is called the firefighters prayer and I have spoken this at many funerals and memorial services over the years it says it all.

Jack

FIREFIGHTERS PRAYER

When I am called to duty, God wherever

Flames may rage, Give me strength to

Save some life, Whatever be its age.

Help me embrace a little child before

It is too late, or save an older person

From the horror of that fate, Enable

Me to be alert and hear the weakest

Shout, and quickly and efficiently

To put the fire out. I want to fill my

Calling and to give the best in me.

To guard my neighbor and

Protect his property. And if according

To my fate, I am to lose my life,

Please bless with your protecting

Hand my children and my wife.

Author Unknown

Jack, I believe the real problem in this State is the legislature . We have had a run of corruption for about 40 years that has lead us to where we are now. Apathy was the fuel that fed it along with greed. We now are in a hole that's about $50 billion deep if you add up all of the unfunded liability, cities, towns, and state. I don't know if you watched the state hearings Rep. Williamson held on the state pension system. They brought to light the secret people on the hill did not want to talk about. The states bond rating was in trouble because of the problems created by previous Legislators and the numerous pension give aways, that were not funded, and in a lot of cases not deserved. The pension pigs, as I like to call them, have bought in to the system with special pension deals. They now get hundreds of thousands in pensions they did not earn. The union leaders at the time did not object,in fact they lined up for pensions them self's. It was them who hurt the system and hurt the future recipients of state pensions. There were some good legislatures that stood up for what is right but not enough and it went on for to long. The result is cuts in state aid to cities and towns and lay offs for public workers .The union leaders want to blame every one but them self for these problem. The truth is previous leaders screwed them and now they want to tax the hell out of every one to make up for it. We are all paying for the past with higher taxes and a lack of opportunity as jobs flee the state for a better Environment to do business. It is true if we all worked together we might be able to turn this around .I don't expect that to happen and the Governor will attest to that fact. That is why tensions are high and people are uncompromising in there belief that the union will have to do more with less.The personal attacks on peoples character are childish and uncalled for but not unexpected in this environment .I have a lot of friends who are Government workers Cops, Fire Fighters ,Public Works, Teachers and so on .I want them to do well and hope they will,but I see the harm excessive taxation does to the job market.Some where in the middle is the solution .I hope we can get there.

Happy Halloween

I agree with everything in your post my concern it picking on the wrong people as many do here on both sides with name calling and such. Like all taxpayer we seem to have lost total control of our elected officials in all levels of government.

I believe a movement has finally rose up from the so called silent majority and I hope it will succeed, and scare the hell out all these politicians. I wouds point to another devolpment today of hard nose idiots. The auto workers leaders refuse the Ford cost saving plan to march the other 2 companies. and also refuse to have anymore talks on the matter.

It would seem since ford who was the only company to not take bail out because they know how to run a business but since they are in better shape finacialy its back to get all you can get and if the company go in the ground the taxpayer will recue them. The other 2 GM and Chysler now have an unfair advatage over ford due to them being able to cut cost.

Ford on the other hand cannot do this time as all three auto makers normally have done which is make all union contract close to the same to stop any unfair advantage. but now that is gone. I am against bail outs for banks or companies there is no such thing as too big to fail it is a lie plain and simple.

In the 90's during the Clinton years over 3000 banks failed. To date as of what I seen todays it is less than 200 since january and less than 500 total since this so called depression that never happened. If people think this is even close to being solved or over they are dreaming, nothing is being done at all and the healthcare thing will tank this economy even more.

They have saved jobs as that can not be proven. They have created no jobs that have even come close to 60,000 and that numbers is even considered very high. The blame game is stupid what happened to look forward, what happened to clear consise bills, what happened to accoutiblity, what happened to open government, what happened to vetting, what happened to take responsibility for your own actions, what happened to work ethic, what happened to getting knocked down and pulling yourself up,what happened to America,

It all died last year with nobody taking blame for anything on both sides and this year with only blaming the past and not doing a thing for the future. for the same reasons as last year. When I look at the time frame for all these new social programs it is assinine to believe any will work or even need to be implimented. Am I mad you bet I am, do I have the answer, no I dont. But I know one thing for sure nobody in washington or states or local politition do either they all follow a blind party line. They are required to follow the voter line period.

Jack

Jackkb,

Thanks! I am all too familiar with the Firefighter's prayer and after funerals in Worcester, New York and Charleston, S.C. have a hard time understanding why firefighters are perceived as the enemy. I look at all the wasteful spending at the federal government level but we take it out on the people that serve us directly (i.e. teachers, police officers, firefighters, and municipal workers).

My point exactly the guns and anger are pointed at the innocent not the true criminals the polititicians and yes Union leaders who are all very good an convincing who they represent they are right no matter what the cost. It is wrong and dispicable to assume there is an ever growing money tree in this country there is not. Something has to give and it is about to blow up in the faces of those that would have their way at all cost at least I hope so.

Jack

There is one thing that I believe could help save jobs in our country.It would also solve some of the pollution problems in the world we live in. It would require congress to undo a mistake that has cost American jobs and hurt the effort to curb pollution.The clean air and water acts restricts Americans companies to high environmental controls costing too much for them to produce here so they move there manufacturing to countries with less control.

We allow goods to be imported in to our country from places like Asia and south America that are polluting the air and water faster every year as they grow.Why do we allow it?

I can only blame our Fed. Gov. Congress and several Presidents who sold this as good for our country as they send our jobs over seas leaving Americans high and dry .More on the High I think some times,seeing the clowns we send to congress from this state. We need regulations that require companies to have the same standards as ours if they want to export to our country. They should have to meet our standard, or we will not put there goods on our shelves. That would equal the playing field and keep jobs here. It should have been part of the clean air & water act but was not considered.I no labor is still cheaper in those countries ,and this does not solve that. It will help our air and water, and there air and water.We won't be supporting companies that pollute the world.

Why is it that the efficiency and performance of firefighters of the mostly volunteer fire departments in South Carolina, rival or surpass that of that of the unionized firefighters of Rhode Island?

It's a serious question, not intended to question the integrity of the men that risk their livess in Rhode Island. Any perspectives from you folks?

Watch man did you pick up a southern accent yet

I believe unions, in their efforts to create sameness amongst all their members, stifle the drive to excell and standout. If you do try to standout, you will bring down the wrath of your "union bothers".

Regarding efficiency ........................ why bother? we get paid regardless!

1) UNIONS FIGHT AND SQUEEZE FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MEMBERS (TEACHERS - POLICE - FIREMEN)

2) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM?

3) IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS

4) IF YOU WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORT AND WANT IN. YOU WILL THEN GET HIGHER TAXES.

5) IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE !

IM.EP. Is EP looking to go along with the consolidation plan as discribed by the Prov.Mayor?

Dont know about that watchman never seen studies that support that. Most volonteer departments have much smaller populations and a lot more volunteers to pool from so naturally with more manpower you can do a better job in some cases. In larger areas it is a matter of fine tuning everything to what you have which is why there are NFPA guide lines used that have been proven to work to make the personel safe and do an efficient job.

To improveEp

"I believe unions, in their efforts to create sameness amongst all their members, stifle the drive to excell and standout. If you do try to standout, you will bring down the wrath of your union brothers."

I agree that happens a lot now, didnt use to be that way but greed and power in the Union leadership has caused that and it does happen I have seen it first hand. A good example of that was the Conneticut firefighter law suit on reverse discrimination the union did not want to touch it for fear of angering minorities even though one of the men was a minority and all were dispicibly discriminated against.

Fortunatly the Supreme court did a fair and just thing for some who were very unfairly being single out because of thier intelligence. The politicians there had no back bone an were cowards of the highest degree. So was the Union for not supporting these men fully from the start when it first happened as they played politics also with their own membership.

Jack

Also watchman I beleive it is 400 volonteers or more in warren and 300 or more in bristol and I know of not a single one who is not trained well and hasnt spent their own personal money and time training over the years which gets lost in the talk of money spent in these 2 towns when people do pick on the volonteers here they are all people that do it because they want to no different than a soldier.

By the way I have a list of bumper sticker that are found on Marine bases that cracked me up soon as I think how I can make it relevent to a post i'll paste it LOL. Opps got it these stickers say it all in why our military fights to allow us all to be free to post here and their attitude and humor makes us all more than proud to be American.

Jack

Bumper-Stickers Seen On Military Bases

Except For Ending Slavery, > Fascism, Nazism and Communism, WAR has Never Solved Anything.

U.S. Marines Certified Counselors to the 72 Virgins Dating Club.

Water-boarding is out so kill them all!

Interrogators cant water-board dead guys

U.S. Marines Travel Agents To Allah

Stop Global Whining

When In Doubt, Empty The Magazine

The Marine Corps When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be Destroyed Overnight

Death Smiles At Everyone Marines Smile Back

Marine Sniper You can run, but youll just die tired!

What Do I Feel When I Kill A Terrorist? A Little Recoil

Marines Providing Enemies of America an Opportunity To Die For their Country Since 1775

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Anyone Who Threatens It

Happiness Is A Belt-Fed Weapon God Job to Forgive Bin

Laden It Our Job To Arrange The Meeting

Artillery Brings Dignity to What Would Otherwise Be Just A Vulgar Brawl

One Shot, Twelve KillsU.S. Naval Gun Fire Support

Do Draft-Dodgers Have Reunions? If So, > What Do They Talk About?>

My Kid Fought In Iraq So Your Kid Can Party In College

Machine Gunners Accuracy By Volume

A Dead Enemy Is A Peaceful Enemy Blessed Be The Peacemakers

If You Can Read This, Thank A Teacher. If You Can Read It In English, Thank A Veteran

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the Marines don't have that problem...Ronald Reagan

ahh should point out that I dont know every volonteer but I did see a lot of them grow up from time they were in kindergarden and a lot of them are also 2nd 3rd and 4th generation volonteers in their familys.

Jack

jack I was in Bristol one day a few years back and watched the field day games played by the volunteers at the park south of the top side I don't know the name of the park. I watched as the crews scrambled to hook up the hose and pump water to knock over a target The grass was wet and the crews slipped around what a laugh Do they hold those compotitions every year.

yes they do at burrs hill park in warren they are a riot

though the young pups would be doing CPR on me after about a minute now lol.

Jack

I only caught some of it, I stumbled in to it while out on a ride. I will have to look for the advertisement next spring.

Watchman says:

Why is it that the efficiency and performance of firefighters of the mostly volunteer fire departments in South Carolina, rival or surpass that of that of the unionized firefighters of Rhode Island?

Time to call your AA sponsor!

Absolutely NO EVIDENCE to support that claim!!!

Why is it that when there was a HazMat incident in Portsmouth they called in the East Providence Firefighters?

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING!

You have to remember "taxpayerEP", that watcman a.k.a. watchDan, a.k.a. Dan Gordon believes that all fire departments should be volunteer, police departments should be staffed by private security guards, and all children should be home schooled. He and a few other wackos on these forums hate everything associated with unions, and will do everything in their power to discredit unions. My suggestion to him and his supporters is that if they like things so much in South Carolina, by all means do the rest of the Rhode Island population a favor and move there. I'll stay in Rhode Island where teachers, police officers, and firefighters are paid a decent wage with decent benefits and provide top notch professional service.

1) UNIONS FIGHT AND SQUEEZE FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MEMBERS (TEACHERS - POLICE - FIREMEN)

2) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM?

3) IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS

4) IF YOU WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORT AND WANT IN. YOU WILL THEN GET HIGHER TAXES.

5) IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE !

Read it and weep "improveEP"-score another victory for the unions!

Agreement brings back 13 officers

01:00 AM EST on Monday, November 2, 2009

By Alisha A. Pina

Journal Staff Writer

EAST PROVIDENCE — Although a vote of the full City Council still looms, the 13 officers laid off in early October may be back in their uniforms this week.

City officials and representatives of the Local 569 of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers came up with an agreement late Wednesday afternoon that brings the officers back in exchange for several concessions and contract modifications from the union.

The changes will save the city about the same amount, $892,000, if not more, than what the city was projected to gain this fiscal year — which just began Nov. 1 — by laying off the officers.

“We feel this was a fair and equitable resolution to the city’s financial hardship in these difficult economic times,” union president Detective John Rossi said.

Councilman Robert Cusack, who attended the Wednesday negotiations, said, “I think it’s good. I think the union really understood the needs of the city and were willing to help us and we greatly appreciate it.”

Among the concessions, the union agreed to give up the next six holidays. The savings equates to the officers’ 3-percent raise, making it a wash, Mayor Joseph S. Larisa Jr. said. The officers also agreed to give up their annual uniform payments for two years.

The department’s community policing division and its four officers will be absorbed into the patrol division, but Larisa says that it does not mean there won’t be community policing. The patrol division will handle those responsibilities.

In addition, union members will increase health-care contributions from $16 to $20 a week, or 7 percent, for most and to $40 per week for newer officers. This is the rate they would have paid in 2012 with the previous agreement.

Anyone hired after this agreement will be enrolled in a Blue Cross health-care savings account, which, according to Cusack, tends to cost the city 30 percent less than a traditional health-care program. Larisa explains that they pay 10 percent of the insurance premium for the individual and family plan and, in addition to that, the employees contribute $2,000 for an individual plan or $4,000 for a family plan.

“The benefit to the city is obvious: they have to use the $2,000 or $4,000 first,” Larisa said. “The benefit to the employee is if they don’t use it, it’s their money and they can use it anyway they want.”

Cusack said the health-care savings account plan will be offered to all the officers and he believes it is “better for the young and healthy.”

The city also presented an enhanced retirement package that willing officers have until March 1 to take. Although all the details haven’t been revealed, Larisa said it has greater incentives than the previous offer, yet “it is also something that is taxpayer friendly and won’t disrupt the pension system.”

It is expected that at least a half dozen officers will accept the deal.

And finally, the city agreed it will maintain a staffing level of 90. The authorized staffing level before the layoffs was 104 and there were four vacancies. The layoffs brought the total to 87, so with their return — some have been offered jobs elsewhere and may not chose to come back — and the “likely retirements,” the staffing level should be around 90, Larisa and Cusack both said.

“We’re very pleased that we reached an agreement that is beneficial to both the taxpayers and the officers,” Larisa said. “Now they can go back to what they do best, and that’s defending and protecting the people of East Providence.”

The officers unanimously approved the plan Wednesday night in an emergency membership meeting. The full council will vote on the agreement at its 7:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday in City Hall.

apina@projo.com

Jethro; Haven't picked up a southern accent, but sometimes catch myself 'drawling' a bit when in conversation with a think accented native.

Jack; Thanks for the response and the bumper sticker quotes! Good to go, ooh rah! Here's one that my Dad (a Vietnam era Marine vet) has; 'You're making the wrong assumption that a Marine by himself is outnumbered.' ---Gen. Peter Pace

A bit of trivia....Gen. Pace was a Major then LtCol when he signed off my training certifications in Operation on Urban Terrain, Operations Against Guerilla Units, and Terrorism Counter Actions For Marines. Semper Fi.

TaxpayerEP; You blind rage and Lemming mentality leaves less than desired when you lash out in response to a legitimate question. Thank you for illustrating so well, the one of many beefs the taxpayers have with your union leadership and the zombies that echo the same tired spiels.

union_teacher, aka, unionteacher, aka, unionteacher1, aka Paul Doughty.....Yes, I believe that I will sell my Portsmouth residence and split my time between San Diego, and S.C. Even though it'll be at a loss, I can write off most of it and save money in the long run by not paying you people, and making tax deductable donations to the volunteer F.D's in S.C. It's a win-win for me....too bad, so sad for you. But don't be too blue....I still plan on being in Portsmouth for the summers in a rental and injecting some of my dough into local restraunts, the marina, etc. Bye Paul!

It's too bad the individual self-worth of the union members has degraded into a Borg-like mentality....soul-less, without ambition and drive......hurts everyone including themselves. Got to go and start packing!

ImproveEP; Great posts on the subject at hand, as usual!

My brother is a union carpenter, and has expressed seeing the same 'oneness' mentality. He's had other members threaten him for 'going too fast', and being a 'job killer'. Luckily for him he has a CCW permit and isn't afraid to use it.

improveEP says:

The changes will save the city about the same amount, $892,000, if not more, than what the city was projected to gain this fiscal year — which just began Nov. 1 — by laying off the officers.

11/2/09, 09:12 AM

Report inappropriate content improveEP says:

In addition, union members will increase health-care contributions from $16 to $20 a week, or 7 percent, for most and to $40 per week for newer officers. This is the rate they would have paid in 2012 with the previous agreement.

11/2/09, 09:13 AM

Report inappropriate content improveEP says:

Among the concessions, the union agreed to give up the next six holidays. The savings equates to the officers’ 3-percent raise, making it a wash, Mayor Joseph S. Larisa Jr. said. The officers also agreed to give up their annual uniform payments for two years.

11/2/09, 09:15 AM

Report inappropriate content improveEP says:

THATS THE WAY WE LIKE TO CAVE IN, LOL !

Well watchman, a.k.a. watchDan, a.k.a. Dan Gordon, a.k.a. iustitia, a.k.a. make believe marine, it's good to know you'll be leaving Rhode Island-don't let the door hit you in the behind on the way out. If you want some company on the ride down to Scabville, feel free to pick up "improveEP" on the way-you two nitwits can sing anti-union chants on the way to in-bred town. By the way, why don't you see if Paul Doughty wants to chip in to pay for your gas money-I'm sure he would be happy to contribute. And if President/Attorney Doughty was doing all this posting on government time, why hasn't he been caught/exposed by Tim White? I'll let you ponder that one while you load up your double wide for the trip down south.

Not to worry.....I''m sure the State Police have retention of their two known investigations of you Paul. One for not showing up for work for 3 years then filling your own spot for overtime, and for the threats of physical violence you made, here..

And considering that I've managed to EARN a sizeable nest egg through my own MERIT, I just may git me a quaduple-wide and a mule that wears a straw hat. I think I'll name it union-turd and beat it mercilessly three times a day whether he needs it or not. Yee-haw! (Just kidding about the mule, PETA)

Well look who just reared their union hating head-if it isn't the make believe soldier watchDan/the watchman/Dan Gordon/coward. So what happened Halloween night watchDan?-I thought you were coming over to my house. Oh wait a minute-that's right-you had to take Joe the felon Sousa to an appointment with his probation officer. I've noticed you and Jailbird Joe haven't been playing soldier on the computer lately-guess you've outgrown that-what a miracle. Anyway watchDan-why is it that President/Attorney Doughty hasn't been charged with any crimes/wrongdoing? And you never answered my question watchDan of how could Paul Doughty post all day when he's assigned to one of the busiest pieces of fire apparatus in one of the busiest fire departments in the country? Come on watchcoward-give it your best shot.

Well it looks like level heads prevailed, good to see it.The city kept it's police and the citizens can afford it.Some times it looks like the sky will fall,then the storm passes and things are back to normal.Good job on both sides.

Stephen T. Day, fire union president from 1988 to 1996, said that he was allowed to work on union business full-time, and that he, too, worked overtime shifts on his former truck.

Day said that past practice proves that Doughty’s actions are proper

Imagine that, all day to do union business, or post on East Bays blog. Is it any wonder Providence is broke?

Psssst.....HQ to Juliet Sierra. Recon patrol have reported angry comms from public enemy #1, PP

aul Doughty. Intel Section attempting to decipher why someone that gets paid great money to do nothing, has a bee hive in his bonnet.

First reports back indicate that Mommy didn't love him. Secondary analysis shows an inate jealosy of military veterans. (Zero tolerance for homosexuality in his eligibility time frame was in effect)

Deep psychological issues, proceed with caution, psssst. Subject has been know to threaten violence over EastBayRi postings, over.

Sounds as if watchdan Dan Gordon is describing himself once again.

Uh oh! Wooks wike wittle Bri-Bri wan't getting any attention!

How many years did you serve in the arrmed forces Brian? That's right; zero. Too busy smoking dope, organizing circle jerks at day camp, and wondering what Bob Marley's 'pipe' tastes like. Fail.

(Why is it the cretins that cyberstalk me? I must be pretty effective at getting under their skin. 'Keep up the good work, Watchman!'

'Thanks, Dan. I will.'

Watchdan we all know that you spent no time in the service. If you had they would have taught you to grow up and stop acting like an infant. None of the real vets that I know run around talking like a GIJOE doll. You are a phony but you are fun to have on the boards. You were a fake as Insutia, a fake as Dan Gordon and Gord Daniels, and you latest incarnation of the phony brave WATCHDAN is awesome.

Looks like watchcoward Dan Gordon is playing soldier again-too bad it's all a fantasy for you Little Dan-you watch too many old war movies. You make all these idle threats behind the keyboard in your parents basement-why don't you come out in public watchcoward? I picket on a regular basis with the East Providence Police, the Providence Firefighters, and the Woonsocket teachers, just to name a few. Why don't you dress up in your military uniform you bought at the costume shop and come and visit me? Or better still, why don't you try calling Tim White and see if you can get me fired for posting on the computer on YOUR DIME. By the way watchDan/Dan Gordon/watchcoward, you said you're going to come back to RI and visit in the summer and spend money in the Portsmouth restaurants-good idea-every time you pay any kind of tax, it pays my salary. Keep up the good work watchcoward. And by the way, did you and Jethro Joe Jailbird Sousa have fun playing in your basement last night? Read yesterday's Providence Journal-it has a great article about a guy named Robert Croft from Smithfield. He has a perfect solution for guys who commit the type of acts that you do.

State Rep. Doug Gablinske is quoted as asking union officials representing more than 9,000 teachers: “Do you not think that the pigs at the public trough have gone too far?”

THAT QUOTE IS FROM A DEMOCRAT, WHO WOULD KNOW BETTER?

Hey "improveEP"-I hear Paul Doughty is looking for a boot licker-do you think you could have Carcieri and Larisa call him with a recommendation?

State Rep. Doug Gablinske is quoted as asking union officials representing more than 9,000 teachers: “Do you not think that the pigs at the public trough have gone too far?”

THAT QUOTE IS FROM A DEMOCRAT, WHO WOULD KNOW BETTER?

Paul Doughty

Watch last nights City Council meeting.

Sen DaPonte had a detail oriented, point by point overview of the actions of Larisa, Cusack and Carceiri!

From the cities drasticly ubderfunded pension account ($28 million),

to the $1.5 million in stimulus money, to the council's lack of support of a bill he sponsored that would require cities and towns to consolidate duplicate functions from the school and municial sides.

The BEST that Cusack and Larisa could come back with is that Sen. DaPonte ttakes his health insurance from the state (with a co-share)!

Not much of a surprise, coming from two of the most useless council members in the history of the city. And Val Perry just sits there and nods her head like the useless puppet she is.

IF YOU WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES (HACKS) THEY SUPPORT AND WANT ELECTED. YOU WILL THEN GET HIGHER TAXES.

improveEP says: "I'm a puppet for Larisa and Carcieri, and I post the same nonsense 100 times over".

Did you know?

Our overall taxes rank fourth in the country and are the highest in New England. Our school costs are the largest on a per capita basis in New England, yet our educational achievements are in the bottom 25% of U.S. performance. School budgets comprise about 60% to more than 70% of all municipal budgets in Rhode Island. Rhode Island teacher salaries are the 9th highest in the United States.

FOR HIGHER TAXES, VOTE UNION !

ImproveEP hasn't had an original idea for several months now!

Just cut and paste the same nonsense again and again and again...

ImproveEP

REPEATING THE SAME POST OVER AND OVER AGAIN DOSEN'T MAKE IT TRUE!

JUST LOOKS LIKE THE BRAINWASHED REPETING THE PARTY LINE OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

TIME FOR YOU TO SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP.

Unfortunately the only help "improveEP" gets is from Larisa and Carcieri, who pay "improveEP" slave labor wages to cut and paste the same post 50 times over-very original "improveEP".

"I have no problem whatsoever paying a little more in taxes. It's a small price to pay for the quality of life we enjoy."

THIS RECENT QUOTE SHOWN ABOVE IS FROM A RABID UNION BLOGGER NAMED "union-teacher"

HE OBVIOUSLY THINKS ITS OKAY TO PAY MORE TAXES IN THE MOST "TAXED OUT" STATE IN THE COUNTRY.

THEREFORE PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:

1) UNIONS FIGHT AND SQUEEZE FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MEMBERS (TEACHERS UNION - POLICE UNION - FIREMENS UNION)

2) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM WHICH GOES TO THESE GREEDY UNIONS?

3) IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE HARDWORKING TAXPAYERS

4) IF YOU WANT TO PAY HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THAT THEY SUPPORT AND WANT ELECTED. YOU WILL THEN PAY HIGHER TAXES.

I GUARANTEE YOU THAT!

5) IT'S REALLY JUST THAT SIMPLE !

The Union_Teacher Creed

Must be past 4:30 as UT Pronounced ( eewwt ) has gone back to his bleak little world where he never wins and screams all the rest of the live long day and night until he wakes up and takes his meds and thinks I Stuart Smalley ( eewwt ) am a good person, I Stuart Smalley ( eewwt ) will tell people today how good I am,

I Stuart Smalley ( eewwt ) will tell all the other people what they are with every vile insult I learned from The glorious GODS of Union leadership, who I Stuart Smalley ( eewwt ) bow to without question when I am on my knees praying to them like a good little minion.

Bless the Union Leaders for they have seen to the destruction of Companies, Businesses, and Taxpayers for we have taken money from them and will continue to do it till we can't walk from the weight of what steal and will continue to steal the blood out of the American economic system until it collapses.

Bless the Union Leaders for they are the GODS of destruction even if their Membership doesn't approve we will intimidate the members if they try to object, we will make sure those who do end up first on the list for firing or layoffs.

We are the first and the last to destroy all that was ever good in the American industrial system under the guise of helping workers. We will only use them to further are secret agenda of a socialistic society where only we have the power and the taxpayers are lowly servants kept in check by having no money. ( because we took it )

We shall make all the rich pay more and more till they flee the country and close their companies and millions out of work. oops scratch that we did it all ready to auto industry and it kind of isn’t working hum can't figure that out. Well who cares we will just get more money from taxpayers that will take care of it. We are Union Leadership GODS.

I know we will force card check and then we can intimidate all workers because they will no longer have a secret ballot like that stupid freedom America has always had. We will make this a third world country if we have to destroy the country to do it by making the Government stupid enough to take over all business and financial markets and healthcare system except exempt Unions of course. The taxpayers will suffer but who cares we are Union Leadership GODS.

I Stuart Smalley alias ( eewwt ) do here by affirm this diatribe and will follow it tell I too starve and lose all my wealth and become another nail in the coffin of the America I wanted to create. Thank you Union Leadership GODS.

Does anyone else here like Jack as much as I do, for his clarity of thought, insightful posts, and general all-around 'good guy-ness'?

He's a continual breath of fresh air. Thanks, Jack.

---pssst--- roger that WM he's Grrreeaat over ---psst--

Hows the Job going are you bussy

IF YOU WANT TO PAY HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THAT THEY SUPPORT AND WANT ELECTED. YOU WILL THEN PAY HIGHER TAXES.

Geez jack, twice in one week. Good spelling, grammar, and punctuation, A++. ;->

Just cut and paste the same nonsense again and again and again...

REPEATING THE SAME POST OVER AND OVER AGAIN DOSEN'T MAKE IT TRUE!

...

Jack is a great poster, perhaps we should all take a lesson from his level head fair thinking. Not to mention he has a great sense of humor and drinks tasty beer.

When Larisa and Carcieri only pay "improveEP" slave labor wages to cut and paste the same statement dozens of times over, what do you expect? Fortunately next year's elections are right around the corner, and a new broom will be coming in to sweep this idiot Larisa and his small band of cronies out the door.

Tasty, you call that sludge tasty. Sam Adams Boston Ale is tasty. Becks Dark is... I had to think about it a moment, I may want one of his when I run out. :)

Paul Doughty

"YOU AIN'T EVER GONNA BEAT US"

BECAUSE "US" IS NOW THE TAXPAYERS

BECAUSE "US" IS THE "FED-UP" GENERAL PUBLIC

THE FOLLOWING WAS POSTED BY A UNION AGITATOR:

"Fortunately next year's elections are right around the corner, and a new broom will be coming in to sweep this idiot Larisa and his small band of cronies out the door."

MY QUESTION IS: WHO IS YOUR "NEW BROOM?"

IS IT "PAT DOWN" PAUL MOURA, THE UNION BAD BOY AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS WHOSE BEHAVIOR EMBARRASSES EVERYBODY AROUND HIM?

IS THAT YOUR "NEW BROOM?"

GOOD LUCK!

Response to those Supporting and touting Connecticut’s Binding Arbitration Thought you should read this. Before you want it here.

BINDING ARBITRATION LAWS COULD BANKRUPT CONNECTICUT!

May 11, 2009 Press Conference, hosted by Connecticut State Representative Arthur O’Neill

Mike Guarco who heads the Connecticut Municipal Consortium for Fiscal Responsibility.

The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

As municipalities struggle to find the money to support their budgets they are faced with the realization that 85% or more of local property taxes are dedicated to supporting union salaries and benefits, which are, in turn, driven by State Binding Arbitration laws. They also struggle with the fact that many management rights, due to Binding Arbitration, have been transferred to the unions. From the unions dictating the size of classrooms, to the control of town cars, to the number of fire stations which must remain open, to the work schedule of police which results in the build up of overtime which is factored into their pensions, neither the Governor nor town officials can control their budgets or the taxes we pay until Binding Arbitration Laws are reformed.

Minimum funding requirements to local Boards of Education are due to sunset in 2009. However, this funding requirement may be extended by the legislature which could explain why many teachers unions have refused to give concessions even though many of their students are witnessing the effect of unemployment in their own households.

When Governor Rell introduced her budget with no tax increase she asked the State Legislature to give her what she and town leaders needed in this economy to control their budgets and their personnel. The Governor asked for reform of State Binding Arbitration Laws. She asked specifically for, and I quote: Suspension of binding arbitration requirements for two years while we confront our economic troubles. At the end of the two-year suspension, I propose that we limit mandatory subjects of binding arbitration to salaries and benefits only.

The Federation believes that many more reforms to Binding Arbitration must be made but we endorse what the Governor has requested as an initial effort toward reform. The Governor also asked the Democrat-controlled State legislature to reject the $86 million contract for 5200 state employees driving some salaries to a 6% increase in wages.

As we stand here today, all three of Governor Rell’s requests have been ignored by the Democrat-controlled legislature. The 5200 member union got their raise and her two proposed reforms to Binding Arbitration have been ignored.

With the Federal government sending Connecticut $745 million for education and millions more for other projects, more government employees will be hired and fall under union contracts. There is an obvious concern when this federal money is depleted as some ask the question - Who will fund these new hires? The answer is simple – local and state taxpayers!

Binding Arbitration laws exert an unhealthy power by government sector unions over taxpayers and those public officials who are not intimidated by the unions and actually want to do the jobs they were elected to do. The Governor attempted to do her job – she produced a no tax increase budget but wanted help from the legislature through binding arbitration reform. Without the two year suspension of binding arbitration laws as requested by the Governor, the end result was the State unions receiving a no layoff guarantee for two years while the state anticipates a near $8 Billion deficit for 2010-11.

Taxpayers, the Governor, and the CEO’s of the 169 towns are held hostage to union contracts. Either the wage increases are paid or our officials are forced to go back to the bargaining table and give the unions what they want. And who wouldn’t want to be guaranteed their job. But this guarantee is at the taxpayers’ expense, many of whom do not have jobs and couldn’t comprehend expecting their employer to give them a no layoff guarantee.

And there is much to fear for our State, our towns and our families, many of whom have lost their jobs, their homes and their savings. The losses in the housing market are now being seen in the commercial market. General Growth Properties, which filed for bankruptcy, owns the Buckland mall and malls throughout the country. As commercial bankruptcies and home foreclosures escalate, the impact on sales taxes, property taxes, state income taxes and other taxes and fees will be significant. The loss of those taxes will come at a time when the greatest cost of government will grow as wage increases will have to be paid to State government sector unions who agreed to limited concessions while receiving a two year no layoff guarantee.

So as the scale tilts with less money coming to the State and the State having to pay more, what will the end result be? Could it be less money going to towns which will, in turn, have to raise property taxes! Or will state officials have to raise taxes if their collection rates cannot be sustained. And if the towns and the state cannot find the money they need to keep the engines of government running, with their greatest cost being state and town employee salaries and benefits governed by binding arbitration, then what?

With the economy continuing to plummet, mounting job losses affecting the payment of state and local taxes, and a two year no-lay off clause for state employees as the state’s debt continues to climb, Connecticut and some of the 169 towns in the State could be brought to the edge of bankruptcy. Ironically, the end result would be dissolution of public sector union contracts.

The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations encourages State legislators to reform State Binding Arbitration laws as the Governor has proposed. We ask local elected officials and taxpayers throughout the State to phone or email their state representatives and tell them that without Binding Arbitration reform it will be impossible to limit the growth of government spending and control property taxes.

In conclusion, I would reflect upon the past to demonstrate the effects of Binding Arbitration today. When elected Mayor in 1989, under a strong mayor form of government, I refused the Mayor’s car. I then instructed town personnel to find another means of transportation to and from home as they could no longer rely on town cars. I was grieved by the unions. I thought for sure I would win as this condition was not included within their union contract. But I was wrong. I lost based on Past Practice. If a union is allowed to do something long enough outside the realm of their contract, they have earned the right to continue the practice according to arbiters. The effects of that arbitration decision rendered several years ago are being felt today by towns which are trying to take their taxpayer owned vehicles back from the unions. In order to get them back, they must return to the bargaining table and agree to give the unions something in return.

Jack

Response to taxpayerEP says:

Binding Arbitration in Connectiucuit

The years you a quoting were the beginning and like most things that people think are great at first in the long run as always with the government the taxpayers suffer. As stated by the post above the Sate of Conneticut is in deep trouble with this now and it will take a herculean effort to reverse it.

It is not proven it does not work long term obviously and I'm sure in this Stae it would be even worse with the corruption that exist here.

Jack