Is the election of Scott Brown to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in the U.S. Senate a wake-up call to Rhode Island’s elected officials?

The winds of change .......... they are a comin!!!

The people now expect fiscal responsibility based on economic facts and forecasts ie; Leonard Lardaro, Economist URI and a culture change ;ie Al Verrecchia of Hasbro. We need leadership that will develop a path of financial responsibility and not one that invents another burdensome tax. Our Bond rating is teetering but didn't fall .....but it will.

I don't care if the next leader is Democrat or Repbublican as long as we elect someone that has what what was supposed to be the premise of an elected official ... ethics and morals. It has been a journey into the mire and it will be a journey out. Long term planning is needed and not just short term fixes without foresight of the consequence.

The people want their government back and Massachusetts is only the beginning. Our giveaway system of government has to be over with and recipients need to earn their way off the payroll. Some of our cities cannot fund the bloated pension plans as well as the State plans. We are burying oursleves with debt that cannot be repaid.

If they like staying in office it *amn well better be!! We need leaders who listen to and respond to the sentiment of the people they REPRESENT!! Simple enough, but that concept -- a cornerstone of our republic -- has been BADLY corrupted.

It'll probably take more than Mr. Brown's election to make RI's pols work in the best interests of the state as a whole, not just the unions and themselves. RI is the most one party state in the union. The Republican party is tiny and powerless. Dems have controlled the state for well over 50 years. They are antibusiness, socialistic and in bed with unions, especially public employees and teachers. As a result of this and one-party rule, the state is a corrupt, bankrupt mess.

One of the top things business people want is fair, supportive government, which RI clearly doesn't have.. I grew up in Connecticut and years ago we joked about the Mafia corruption in RI. That's been replaced by political corruption—and it's no joke.

Yes, they need to get some pickup trucks and polish their plain speakin'. Populism is on the rise!