WHY EXEMPT ACADEMIA?:

RI gov to shut down state government for 12 days (RAY HENRY, 8/24/09, AP)

Rhode Island will shut down its state government for 12 days and hopes to trim millions of dollars in funding for local governments under a plan Gov. Don Carcieri outlined Monday to balance a budget hammered by surging unemployment and plummeting tax revenue.

The shutdown will force 81 percent of the roughly 13,550-member state work force, excluding its college system, to stay home a dozen days without pay before the start of the new fiscal year in July. [...]

The governor ordered the shutdown in an executive order but said he's willing to negotiate a different deal with state employee unions so long as it saves the same amount of money, roughly $22 million. But time is short: the first shutdown day has been scheduled for Sept. 4. Additional shutdown days have been scheduled every month through June.

There's a lot of mileage for the GOP in taxpayers vs. taxeaters.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2009 10:17 AM