Senate

Latest Articles

Making the ‘Buffett Rule’ law

Tax Dept.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has received plenty of ink for his "Buffett Rule" legislation, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 16, 2012

What they write about

The Maine Democratic Party's US Senate prospects
Thanks for coming to my power-point presentation.
By AL DIAMON | February 15, 2012

Online Freedom
Maine's congressional delegation appears to be in a holding pattern while attempting to form positions on two bills that address widespread copyright and trademark violations via the Internet.
By JEFF INGLIS | January 18, 2012

Congress gives us all detention

Rights watch
The $662 billion military spending bill expected to go before both houses of Congress later this week includes controversial provisions allowing the US military to arrest and indefinitely detain, without trial, anyone suspected of terrorism-related crimes, including American citizens.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 14, 2011

Our quirky, compelling senator

Profiles
Any faithful reader of the Providence Journal is familiar with the talents of G. Wayne Miller — a reporter with a remarkable knack for storytelling.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 28, 2011

Rolling Rally: Our guide to the 22nd Annual Freedom Rally

Make the most of your freedom
It would have been impossible — or at least boneheaded — to print this sort of treasure map a few years ago.
By CHRIS FARAONE | September 19, 2011

In a job-starved economy, casinos are still a good bet

The issue provoked a rare show of common purpose on Beacon Hill
As Beacon Hill considers — yet again — an expanded gaming proposal, some say that the opportunity has passed. We disagree, and continue to support a carefully crafted plan for bringing resort casinos to Massachusetts.
By EDITORIAL | August 31, 2011

Boston's last congressman?

Musical chairs dept.
At the moment, neither the Senate president nor the Speaker of the House lives in the city. And in two years, the unthinkable could become reality: Boston might not have a single congressman residing in its borders.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 31, 2011

The debt crisis is only on hold

Plus, what does congressman Bill Keating have against Cuban families?
The United States was only hours away from joining in the international community of deadbeats and bunko artists — think Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal — when President Barack Obama signed the legislation raising the national debt ceiling and cutting trillions of dollars in federal spending.
By EDITORIAL | August 03, 2011

the great depression and republican Bolsheviks

There is no mystery to the debt crisis. Plus: Scott Brown, and the Boston Foundation

Republican Bolsheviks
Understanding the debate about raising the debt ceiling, and imagining the economic crisis that will follow if Congress fails to do so, is really very simple.
By EDITORIAL | July 20, 2011

End of the innocence

Gubernatorial Scorecard
As the legislative session ends, the amount and nature of Governor Paul LePage's political influence has become clearer.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | June 29, 2011

Democrats celebrate victory in the face of defeat

They cozy up to Republicans and the rich
Senator Dawn Hill, of Cape Neddick, the lead Democrat on the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, which fashioned the recently passed $6-billion state budget, explained to the Phoenix why she voted to reduce income and estate taxes on the rich while also voting for cuts in help to the poor and in teacher and state-worker pensions.
By LANCE TAPLEY | July 06, 2011

Liquored up + lacquered down

Maine's senators need to sober up
It's possible that every member of the 125th Maine Legislature is dead drunk.
By AL DIAMON | June 22, 2011

The plan to turn Rhode Island red

GOP strategist Ken McKay is quietly plotting a data-driven explosion of the state’s one-party rule
The Rhode Island Republican Party's reputation for ineptitude is, by any reasonable measure, richly deserved.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 12, 2011

Deval Patrick is on a second-term winning streak, and casinos might be the next payoff

Gaming the system
Last summer, when Deval Patrick's veto killed a gaming bill in the final days of the legislative session, many thought he had badly damaged himself politically. He was, after all, the one who had pushed for casinos in Massachusetts almost from the day he entered office.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | June 20, 2011

We are family

The Maine Republican Party
Campaigning for office is easy. It's governing that's hard.
By AL DIAMON | May 25, 2011

NAACP, others bristle after GOP Senator censors anti-private-prison testimony

Words ‘slavery,’ ‘racism’ banned
What is it with some Republicans and racial issues, anyway?
By LANCE TAPLEY | May 04, 2011

Earth Day observances

Going green
Last week, the Maine House voted to ban bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in some plastics — much to the regret of beard-wanting ladies all over Maine.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | April 13, 2011

The State vs. the People, Pt. 1

A variety of cesspools; the right to know; taking aim
On Monday, the most prominent headline on the front page of our daily paper or, as the Bud-I calls it with a unique mixture of glee and sadness, "The Pamphlet," was "Cesspools given notice."
By RUDY CHEEKS | April 06, 2011

It's a reasonable bet that gaming could once again gridlock Beacon Hill

Slow play
Gaming bills have plagued the last two legislative sessions on Beacon Hill.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 04, 2011

New Corrections commissioner nominated

Prison administration
Joseph Ponte, 64, a veteran warden for the nation's largest private-prison operator, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), has been nominated by Republican Governor Paul LePage to be the state's Corrections commissioner, replacing Martin Magnusson.
By LANCE TAPLEY | January 27, 2011

Little things

On shrinking legislatures
In the midst of the new Republican majority's mania to reduce the size and cost of state government, I offer some advice and a warning.
By AL DIAMON | January 12, 2011

The Kennedys will rise again!

Dynasties
As you've probably heard a couple thousand times by now, Rhode Island Representative Patrick J. Kennedy's retirement means Washington is without a member of Team Camelot for the first time in 64 years.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 12, 2011

Sub Rosa

Rosa Scarcelli's Senate run
Rosa Scarcelli is running for the US Senate in 2012. Her husband is still running away from what he did in the 2010 gubernatorial race.
By AL DIAMON | January 05, 2011

The 2011 political forecast

Getting Back To Business
The great wave election of 2010 did little to reshape Rhode Island's Congressional delegation. Neither of the state's senators faced re-election and Democrats held onto both House seats, with Congressman-elect David Cicilline replacing the retiring Patrick Kennedy.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | December 15, 2010

Let them eat cake

Obama caves, FIFA cashes in; Don checks out; Huzzah for Bill and Jaimy
Phillipe and Jorge will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming Senate vote on continuing the tax cuts for the filthy rich (the top two percent of Americans) who now appear to control America. And we trust Messrs. Reed and Whitehouse will do the right thing.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | December 08, 2010

Activist and friend hope for DREAM Act passage

Immigrant rights
Jessy Galvéz is kneeling at the altar of El Sinai Church in Portland, at an interfaith vigil supporting the DREAM Act.
By ANNE HOFFMAN | December 08, 2010

Not-so-United States

Divisive radicals vs. the moronization of America; postcard from Florida
The BeloJo had a story on Sunday that gave a rating of absolutely true to Senator Weldon Shitehouse's contention that "current US law permits companies that close down American factories and offices and move those jobs overseas to take a tax deduction for the costs associated with moving the jobs to China or India or wherever." Wow!
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 24, 2010

Keeping Close Buy

Going green
Masey Kaplan's children used to bring home fundraising catalogs — the ones from which part of the proceeds go to the school — from their Portland school, full of wrapping paper and plastic toys and goods "from god knows where." Kaplan, a graphic designer who lives in Portland, was torn.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | October 27, 2010

What women want

And what they need to run — and win — in Maine
It doesn't make much sense, on the surface. In the 60 years since Maine made history by being the first state to send a woman to the United States Congress, women have been regular, and stalwart, members of Maine's Washington delegation. But the state’s chief executive chair — and the only statewide elected office — has eluded women.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | October 13, 2010