Gallo receives warm reception from R.I. tax group

NEWPORT — Central Falls School Supt. Frances Gallo was given a hero’s welcome on Saturday when she addressed the winter meeting of the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC), a group that generally supports lower taxes and smaller government.

About 280 people — including business owners, some elected officials and some candidates for public office — gave Gallo a standing ovation when she spoke at the meeting, held at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Goat Island.

It was in sharp contrast to the scene in Central Falls on Tuesday when several hundred union members rallied in support of the city’s teachers and decried Gallo and other education officials.

Teacher unions challenged in unprecedented face-off

Eight months ago, Deborah A. Gist began her first staff meeting at the state Department of Education with a call to arms: “Are you ready to change the world?”

The woman who once climbed Mount Kilimanjaro made it clear that she would bring the same resolve to her job as the state’s new commissioner of education.

“Our state’s 150,000 public school students are depending on all of us to do whatever it takes to create better schools,” Gist said in her first speech.

Her urgency to fulfill this promise places Gist — even more than Supt. Frances Gallo — at the center of the turmoil now playing out in Central Falls.

More collaboration than conflict in Providence over education

PROVIDENCE — In January, after five city schools were named among the worst in Rhode Island, Providence Supt. Tom Brady had a choice: he could reorganize the schools with — or without — the union’s support.

Brady approached Providence Teachers Union President Steve Smith, who was currently suing the district over hiring practices, and asked if he would join him in speaking with teachers at the affected schools.

As they toured the schools, Brady would ask teachers with 20 years in the system to stand up, then those with 10 years and so forth. Each time, Brady said, “You all deserve a round of applause.”

Call it a tale of two cities.

Nicholas Ratti, Jr.: Nasty LNG hearing

Regarding “Opponents try new tack against LNG,” Jan. 22 news:

A telecast of the recent Rhode Island State House hearing on the proposed anti-LNG tanker legislation was the most disgusting episode of its type that I’ve seen in my 78 years. The legislators’ blatant hostility and ad-hominem attacks on witnesses who disagreed with them was the behavior of mob goons. This suggests that the energy issue may be falling into the wrong hands. Beware.

Nicholas Ratti Jr. Bristol

Paul D. Santilli: Good teacher fears to speak out

I spoke with a Central Falls teacher and he embraced the changes Supt. Frances Gallo wants to make but is unwilling to speak out publicly against the union for fear of retribution.

Central Falls teachers, working in a continuously underperforming school, average $75,000 a year and can’t spend an additional 25 minutes per day and accept additional pay for two weeks of summer training — unbelievable!

CNN Exposes 'Lavish' Government Pensions despite Economic Crisis

All this week CNN has been taking a look at "Broken Government" and in some cases the cable channel deviated from the mainstream media norm by providing a critical view of government.

That was the case on Feb. 23 when Wolf Blitzer and Lisa Sylvester scrutinized lavish pension-plan and retirement-packages for government officials during "The Situation Room."

"Many Americans will spend half a lifetime or more working for the same company only to find little or no safety-net when that job ends," Blitzer said to begin the report. "Others, especially those on Capitol Hill don't have that problem."

"This is certainly nice work if you can get it," reporter Lisa Sylvester noted, alluding to the troubling disparity. "Lawmakers on Capitol Hill get automatic pay-raises and they never have to worry about their retirement, but that's not the case for many middle-class Americans."

The Decline of New York

Move over, New Jersey, you're getting a run for your tax money as the nation's most dysfunctional state from the once great mecca of commerce and finance known as New York. Politics in the Empire State has become a carnival of spendthrifts, sexual miscreants and the all-purpose ethically challenged.

In the latest sign that the Apocalypse is upon Albany, New York Governor David Paterson announced yesterday that he won't seek election to a full term in November only two weeks after he had announced that he would. Mr. Paterson, a Democrat who became governor in March 2008 after Eliot Spitzer resigned in a prostitution scandal, has spent the past two years lurching from one fiasco to the next.

OCG State of the State Public Access TV Shows

Broadcast notice for broadcast beginning Saturday, February 27, 2010
 
Program 1. Providence Water, a Historical View
When was the last time you became concerned about your water supply?  One of our most valuable and most taken-for-granted fundamental resources, the Scituate Reservoir and its distribution system is a product of the foresight and careful planning of our engineers and community leaders of a hundred years ago.  Some of the history, thinking, development and planning for the future that makes it so useful and reliable today for a large part of Rhode Island is the topic of today's interview. Visit the Web site www.provwater.com
Program Note: This is another program in the continuing series concerning energy matters and the greening of R.I. The series will generally look at the potential savings associated with greening efforts along with other conservation measures and renewable energy initiatives and their economic development implications.

Guest:  David Nickerson, Manager of Communications, Providence Water
Host: Spencer Dickinson
Produced Feb 25, 2010 / Run time: 30 minutes
 

Program 2.. The Rhode Island Political Scene Today
Continuing the series of interviews with prominent and influential Rhode Islanders, guest Edward Achorn and host Bruce Lang discuss the current personalities and issues in the very dynamic political scene in Rhode Island. A bit of the arcane hidden in Rhode Island's sports annals comes to light with talk about the guest's forthcoming book "Fifty-nine in '84."  Visit the Web site www.EdwardAchorn.com
 
Guest: Edward Achorn, Deputy Editor of Editorial Pages, The Providence Journal
Moderator: Bruce Lang
Produced Feb 25, 2010 / Run time: 30 minutes
 

Broadcast dates and times:
Saturday, February 27 and March 6 at 11:00 PM on Cox channel 13, Verizon channel 32, and Full Channel 9
Sunday, February 28 and March 7 at 8:00 AM on Cox channel 13, Verizon channel 32, and Full Channel 9
Monday, March 1 and 8 at 9:00 PM on Cox channel 18, Verizon channel 31, and Full Channel 9
Thursday, March 4 and 11 at 9:00 PM on Cox channel 18, Verizon channel 31, and Full Channel 9

Continuous streaming of this program will begin on OCG's website  www.ocgri.org soon after the program is broadcast on television

State of the State is a cable television production of Operation Clean Government featuring topics and guests that inform the public about the functioning of their government and its leaders. If you have any suggestions for topics that you would like us to consider, please forward your requests or comments to info@ocgri.org.