Tagged: scott mackay

Governor Lincoln Chafee is not on the ballot at next month’s general election. RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay tells us why Chafee is lucky he isn’t facing voters.

It has been nearly two years since Linc Chafee was elected governor as an independent with just 36 percent of the vote. From Republican Governor Donald Carcieri and the Democrats who run the General Assembly, Chafee inherited a dysfunctional state government, communities on the edge of bankruptcy, the 38 Studios fiasco and one of the nation’s worst economies.

It appears there is dissension in the already diminished team of House Speaker Gordon Fox, D_Providence. House Whip Patrick O’Neill, a Pawtucket Democrat who represents a district anchored by the Oak Hill neighborhood, has resigned his post.

“I wish Rep. O’Neill well and appreciate his contributions to our leadership team,’’ Fox said in a statement. “I spoke with the other leadership members and we are united and moving forward.’’

Ok, So let’s get this straight. The top of the income scale has done just fine under President Obama, the president who bailed out their banks and auto companies. His administration has kept taxes at 50-year lows for the wealthy. The Dow has come roaring back under his administration. Yet, the one-percent, or two-percent, or ten-percent or whatever you think is the top income cutoff express little but contempt for the president. These people, who have done so well under his tenure, are voting against him and for Mitt Romney.

Jennifer Duffy, the Rhode Island native who is a Washington, D.C. political savant, is slated to be the keynote speaker October 18 at the 69th annual dinner of the Rhode Island Public expenditure Council, the business-financed government research group.

Duffy, senior editor for the Cook Political Report, the nonpartisan newsletter that analyzes U.S. elections and political trends, has become a staple on national news television news programs and on cable news outlets.

So there is yet another tome out dissecting Rhode Island’s economic woes. RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay talks about what the big Rhode Island Public Expenditure report didn’t say.