Poli-ticks

The good, the bad, the ugly

By Arlene Violet
Posted 9/27/17

Nary a week goes by that the public isn’t subjected to a smorgasbord of activity by the power brokers in Rhode Island, and last week was no exception. I'll begin with one positive note among …

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Poli-ticks

The good, the bad, the ugly

Posted

Nary a week goes by that the public isn’t subjected to a smorgasbord of activity by the power brokers in Rhode Island, and last week was no exception. I'll begin with one positive note among some pretty disturbing actions.

The good
Domestic abusers lose gun rights. Despite die-hard gun owners who decried the legislation as an attack on the Second Amendment right to bear arms, the Tanzi/Metts legislation struck an appropriate balance. The bill restricts gun possession by people convicted of violent felonies and domestic violence crimes like assault, cyberstalking, cyber harassment, violation of a final protective order and disorderly conduct — if the convict used, attempted to use or threatened use of a dangerous weapon. The accused gets an expedited hearing to challenge the stripping of his firearms, hence there is an appropriate mechanism to rectify any problem case.

The bad
The new crop of judges and magistrates makes a mockery of judicial selection based on merit. The selectees included the House Speaker’s legal counsel, a top aide to the governor, and the brother in-law of senate majority leader Michael McCaffrey, who was also instrumental in having his sister get on the bench. Other appointments went to a former House Majority Whip, and the sister of the Senate president’s chief of staff, who comes from a long line of labor activists. The notable exception to a shallow resume was the appointment of Melissa Long as a Superior Court Judge. Besides dismantling the perception that judges are selected on talent as opposed to “connections” the present batch of nominees eschewed making public their answers to the questionnaires they were required to submit, which dealt with being sued by clients, being arrested or convicted of a crime, pending disciplinary charges, addictions,etc. Most candidates in the past have done so.

The danger with these selections, of course, not only lays in their lack of experience, but also the inclination, given their backgrounds, to side with the poohbahs in court contests, be it the legislature, the unions or their former bosses. So much for any penchant for open records — since they hid theirs.

The ugly
A national study revealed that in Rhode Island 38 percent of district teachers miss more than 10 days of school a year. This is a ridiculous state of affairs. How hard can it be to have a 180 day job and still miss that much time out of work? Some time ago, The Valley Breeze unearthed a scandal at Cumberland High school where teachers participated in a round robin where each would take turns to stay out of school and the teachers who would "cover" the class (by overseeing the students sitting in the library because of the absentee teacher) would all make overtime. Immediately, school committees across Rhode Island should initiate a forensic audit to see if this is practice is going on in other districts or just why the chronic absenteeism is happening.

Needless to say the union honchos attacked the study with the most dubious arguments known to mankind. That this study emerges at a time when the state National Education Association (NEA) is running ads touting how powerful it is but how that power is being used for the good of school children is absolutely laughable. The R.I. education system continues to show little or no progress in test scores. No wonder.

Arlene Violet is an attorney and former Rhode Island Attorney General.

Arlene Violet

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.