For Immediate Release July 29, 2011

Contact:  Leslie K. Paige 202-467-5334 Luke Gelber 202-467-5318

CAGW and OSPRI Release 2011 Rhode Island Piglet Book

(Providence, Rhode Island) – Today, the Ocean State Policy Research Institute (OSPRI), in collaboration with Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), released the 2011 Rhode Island Piglet Book. The publication sheds light on more than 300 projects that total more than $600 million in federal, state, and local spending in Rhode Island. It includes $175 million in spending by the state government that, if eliminated from subsequent budgets, would preclude the need to continue any current or future debate about raising the state sales tax or any other tax by the same amount.

The 2011 Rhode Island Piglet Book exposes pork projects, bungled boondoggles, bad ideas and examples of abuse of power. The egregious examples of taxpayer-funded expenditures in Rhode Island include:

$23.1 million to subsidize Providence’s failing convention center;
$20 million to renovate state lawmakers’ offices;
$5.3 million for a new elephant pen and a botanical exhibit at Roger Williams Park; and
$4.6 million to overhaul an ice skating rink in Smithfield.

Other taxpayer-funded projects include $53,000 to fund a program that gives cash rewards to young people in Mexico who remain free of sexually transmitted diseases and a $1,000 grant to a local artist who crocheted women’s undergarments out of plastic bags.

“Once citizens get a look at this report and see the enormity of the spending, the outright cronyism, and the multitude of examples where our government has taken money from industrious taxpayers to fund non-essential projects, it will become clear why our economy and job market are suffering,” said OSPRI Executive Director Mike Stenhouse.

“The 2011 Rhode Island Piglet Book just scratches the surface on the amount of taxpayer dollars wasted by Rhode Island’s state and local governments,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “It is imperative that all of the frivolous spending highlighted by the Piglet Book be cut immediately.”

Click here to read the 2011 Rhode Island Piglet Book. The Ocean State Policy Research Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on crafting sound public policy based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and traditional American values. Citizens Against Government Waste is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in government. For more information visit www.oceanstatepolicy.org and www.cagw.org.