“If it moves, ve vill (sic) kill it,” so intoned Arnold Schwarzenegger  in one of his movies. I happen to think that is the motto of the democrat leadership in this state. Taxpayers are in the crosshairs of their social experiments.

The most recent example is the capitulation of Governor Gina Raimondo to the demands of the SEIU local, which endorsed her election bid. Private day care workers will get a 3 percent raise this year, possible 4 percent hikes next year, taxpayer-funded  2 week vacations, brand new computers, and payments to them even when an eligible child is absent. This latter provision opens up the proverbial Pandora’s Box, with children being "enrolled" and never showing up, or off on vacation and yet taxpayers pay through the nose anyway. A bonus to get unlicensed day care workers to sign up will be paid ($500) plus a $250,000 training grant.  The state’s subsidy for child care will go from $58.6 million last year to $66.3 million this year (Katherine Gregg, August 18). Day care workers also get paid for any closure for holidays and professional development days. The state will work to expedite the workers' access to health care on Health Source RI or, if anything happens, to Obamacare to come up with an alternative. Access to federal food programs will be accorded the workers as well.

Katherine Gregg wrote an article on Sept 25, 2013 in the Providence Journal that documented the fact that one in four home-based daycare workers make more in state subsidies in a year than teachers did. In Foster-Gloucester the starting salary for a certified teacher was $35,179. At least 135 in-home child care workers received more than that. Three dozen received more than $50,000 in state subsidies. The article alluded to one worker who received $76,991 in subsidy payments, more  than the top-step teacher in Providence who made $73,270. These figures are only the state subsidies and do not include the co-pays that parents pay.

When this legislation was introduced in 2004, then-governor Don Carcieri vetoed it. In 2013, Senator Mary Ellen Goodwin spearheaded the legislation through the General Assembly. Initially, the public was told that no  paid vacations were part of what was contemplated. So much for that representation.

There are other private providers in the state who can make the same argument that they should have equal access to the benefits as well. Time will tell if nursing home staff, snow plow contractors and others demand to have the same benefits, since they also are providing a service to the state.

In any event, the Governor and the democrats have no farther to look than at themselves as to why the economy is moribund in the state. Who in their right minds would start a business here when special interests dictate the policies? So many self-employed Rhode Islanders work incredible hours to keep their businesses afloat, and nobody pays them for vacations and other time off. There certainly are 2 classes of people in the United States….the haves and the have-nots. In Rhode Island there are 2 classes of people as well: those who are connected to the democrats as a result of being in a union or campaign contributors, and then the rest of us who pick up the open tab. How disappointing that nothing changes.

Arlene Violet is an attorney and former RI attorney general.