What a difference a year makes, eh? Last year, Governor Carcieri got taken to the woodshed by Ed Achorn and some other sympathetic types when he painted an upbeat picture of Rhode Island's future.
Not this time around. Last night, as the ProJo reported, the governor said:
“The state of the state is at a tipping point,” he told a packed chamber of senators, representatives, judges and mayors. “If we are not willing to make the hard choices, then the tipping point will lean to the side of disaster, and we will have failed the people who sent us to serve them.”
So what happens from here? Will the Democrat-controlled General Assembly mostly try to wait out Carcieri, whose two terms will be over before too long? Or will he have some success in moving forward?
Over at Anchor, Marc thinks the governor is smart in appealing to the public:
Good luck, Governor. To too many people in that room last night, "working together" means "do what I want". But I think Governor Carcieri knows that, which is why he attempted to appeal directly to the non-trough feeding citizens of Rhode Island.
While Matt, at RI's Future, takes the governor to task:
Instead of announcing big ideas to unite Rhode Islanders around a shared purpose, Carcieri continued his MO of blaming the poor, the middle class and labor unions for the state's problems. While his ideas of moving senior citizens into more independent living settings and consolidating the state's school districts are good ones, the Governor remained silent on the real elephant in the room - the major issues that are throwing Rhode Island's economy into disarray: the foreclosure crisis, the energy crisis and the health care crisis.
I agree with the governor on this:
I’m sure you’re saying, “How did it get this bad?” “How’s that possible?”
We didn't get here overnight - it has been more than a decade in the making.
There's plenty of blame to go around. While legislative Democrats haven't demonstrated a history of long-term thinking when it comes to state finances, the governor has undercut his efforts with a sometimes top-down approach.
And while some of Carcieri's cost-saving ideas sound appealing -- trying to shift long-term care to homes, from nursing homes, for example -- it remains to be seen how the state will accomplish this.
Most significantly, Carcieri's legacy (and the state's economic health) are at stake. He came into office as a would-be reformer and government outsider who was going to make Rhode Island the jewel of New England.
Yet for now, the state's budget problems -- which couldn't come at a worse time in terms of the international economy -- threaten to remain the lasting issue of his second term.
Latest Slideshows
