Gina Raimondo, Governor of Rhode Island, says Frank Bruni of the New York Times.  As Treasurer of Rhode Island she addressed a public pension shortfall by completely suspending cost of living increases for already retired workers, in effect clawing back promised compensations from people who had already given their time and labor (commodities that, once given, can never be returned).  She was then elected Rhode Island's governor.

For this, Bruni casts Raimondo as the anti-Elizabeth Warren.  I can only hope that Warren takes that as a compliment.  For her part, Raimondo seems tepid about the comparison, praising Warren to Bruni and claiming progressive credentials for herself.  By reneging on promises made to workers, she argued, she is able to pursue other progressive goals like public education, public health care, assistance for the elderly and the like.

On that last point, I have to wonder if she sees the irony as eliminating cost of living benefits puts the value of any retirement annuity at risk to inflation meaning that she is taking money from pensioners in order to fund programs for poor elderly people, which is exactly what those pensioners will become as their purchasing power falls over time.

After Raimondo won the primary and seemed a shoe-in for Governor, The Washington Post editorial board noted:

"Ms. Raimondo’s primary victory should stiffen the spines of Democrats in other states where taxpayers and the services they count on have been given short shrift in favor of public-sector unions. Presented with the facts, voters can be persuaded to opt for balance and fiscal sanity."

I don't know that Rhode Island's voters were persuaded by either balance or sanity.  It looks to me like they were persuaded to rob their neighbors.  It's a great deal for voters, after all, if they can hire public servants and then benefit from decades of their work without having to ultimately pay what they've promised.

The "balance" here is meant to reference "shared pain."  But the pain here wasn't shared.  A state budget crisis was "solved" (we'll see) on the backs of a part of the population that could do the least about it.  During the financial crisis we were told that employees of bailed out financial services companies like Citigroup, Bank of America and AIG were entitled to their contractual due, even with the federal government having to step in to make good.  It's interesting how the contract of a public employee, even in a heavily blue state, is worth so much less.

Bruni lionizes Raimondo as a "Democrat to watch in 2015."

When she's around, you should definitely watch... your wallet.