Politics

R.I. GOP central committee to consider plan to downsize

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state Republican Party's central committee is expected to vote Thursday night on a plan to reduce its membership from about 245 down to about 134.

If approved, the plan would bring the committee's size more into line with other state committees, said party Chairman Mark Zaccaria.

It would also reduce the number of state lawmakers on the central committee from 18 down to two. Lawmakers automatically serve on the committee, but the plan would allow one member each from the House and Senate, Zaccaria said.

Zaccaria said there are pros and cons to the plan. A larger committee makes it more difficult to keep everyone apprised of what's going on. A smaller committee makes member participation more important, he said.

R.I. Gov. Chafee backs down from eliminating state audit bureau

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Chafee has backed down from his controversial budget plan to eliminate the state Bureau of Audits to save $1.5 million, which would have incorporated some of its functions into a new "Office of Management and Budget."

The administration's budget change, submitted to lawmakers late Tuesday, comes just weeks after the head of the bureau, Chief Auditor H. Chris Der Vartanian, resigned out of concern over the proposal.

The change restores some $667,919 in state general-revenue funds and authorizes five full-time workers for the bureau, which has garnered headlines in recent years for its investigative reviews into the state landfill and the state transportation department.

It currently has 10 employees.

R.I. expected to end year with $102.7-million surplus

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The projected surplus for the current 2011-12 state budget year is $102.7 million, according to Budget Officer Thomas Mullaney.

Mullaney said the revised estimate for the year that ends on June 30 reflects a net increase in projected revenues, and a net $12.1-million decrease in projected spending.

State agencies have overspent their budgets by an estimated $16.9 million. But Medicaid and cash-assistance spending has been running $29 million below estimates.

The numbers came out late Tuesday, on the day the state released its most recent quarterly spending report for state agencies, and at a time when the House and Senate finance committee chairmen are engaged in serious negotiations over a budget for the new year that begins on July 1.

RI House panel considers rolling back 'primary offense' seatbelt legislation / Poll

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A bill before the House Judiciary Committee would roll back legislation that provides for strict enforcement of the requirement that drivers wear seat belts.

Legislators protested the way police are using roadblocks to catch and ticket violators, and said they weren't expecting that when they made wearing seat belts a "primary offense," one where police can issue a ticket for that violation alone. Before this year, it was a secondary offense, where officers must cite another violation first.

The state Department of Transportation says it will reassess its enforcement approach.

Advocacy group MERI says Chafee order 'goes a long way' toward eliminating problems gay RI couples encounter

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After Governor Chafee signed an executive order Monday afternoon recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states, Marriage Equality Rhode Island campaign director Ray Sullivan issued the following statement:

"This is a great and historic day for Rhode Island. Lincoln Chafee is now the first governor in the country to sign an executive order providing critical clarity and direction to government agencies regarding the recognition of same-sex, out-of-state marriages.

Despite long-standing Rhode Island law respecting out-of-state marriages, the fact is that far too many same-sex couples have encountered problems with the state refusing to recognize the validity of their marriage, causing harm, confusion, unnecessary expense, and heartache. This executive order will go a long way toward eliminating those problems, and makes it clear that there is no longer a gay exemption to the kind of protections and responsibilities that only marriage can provide."

Gay marriage reaction: Lt. Gov. Roberts says equality 'an issue of basic fairness'

Providence Journal / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts was one of several people at Governor Chafee's side as he signed executive order 12-02 recognizing gay marriages performed out of state during a ceremony at the State House this afternoon.

Roberts issued the following statement:

"As I have said for many years, I support full marriage equality for lesbian and gay Rhode Islanders. I applaud the governor's decision to affirm the legal recognition of marriages entered into in other states. It is an issue of basic fairness and equality."

Gay marriage reaction: Cicilline calls Chafee order 'courageous and bold'

Congressman Cicilline has issued the following statement in response to R.I. Governor Chafee's ordering state recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere:

"As a result of Governor Chafee's leadership, our state has come another step closer to acknowledging that two adults in a loving and committed relationship should have their commitment to one another recognized as marriage. I applaud Governor Chafee for his courageous and bold action."

R.I. Gov. Chafee to order state recognition of gay marriages performed elsewhere

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Chafee on Monday afternoon will sign an executive order declaring that Rhode Island will recognize gay marriages done out-of-state, a move meant to assure that those gay couples receive all the state-level benefits they are entitled to under law.

The order essentially codifies what then-state Attorney General Patrick Lynch determined in 2007 as to how the state should treat gay marriages from out-of-state.

That year, Lynch issued a non-binding opinion advising state college officials that they should recognize the out-of-state marriages of gay employees.

The Rhode Island state legislature last year approved the creation "civil unions" for same sex couples that are supposed to afford them the same rights as heterosexual married couples under state law.

Ex-R.I. Auditor Almonte takes first step toward 2014 run for governor

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Ernest A. Almonte, the former chief auditor for Rhode Island's legislature, has taken the first official step toward a possible run for governor in 2014 as a Democrat.

He has filed a notice with the state Board of Elections.

When he first acknowledged his interest in March, he said he wasn't sure if he would run as a Democrat or Republican.

Almonte, 56, served 15 years as auditor general, stepping down in January 2010. Last year, he served on a panel that advised Governor Chafee and General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo on state pension reform, and he has been keeping busy in other ways as well.

He is the CEO of Almonte Group LLC, a financial services firm.

Highlights from ethics filings: Raimondo, Chafee others list financial assets

They own real estate in far-flung places. They collect pensions. They own stock in the state's largest newspaper. And they are the highest ranking politicians in Rhode Island.

From their latest financial disclosure-filings with the Rhode Island Ethics Commission come these highlights:

Governor Chafee and his wife, Stephanie, had multiple real estate holdings last year in Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire and an extensive list of financial holdings that included Exxon Mobile, J. P. Morgan Chase and A.H. Belo, the Dallas-based company that owns the Providence Journal.

Atty. Gen. Peter Kilmartin and his wife, Kristine, derived chunks of their income last year from his $56,862 a year pension as a retired Pawtucket police officer and her $111,299 salary as director, until last October 22, of the legislature's data-services office. She too is now retired, with her own $60,030.96 a year pension, after close to 30 years at the State House. He is 50 years old; she turned 51 in March.

The two had real-estate holdings in Pawtucket; Narragansett and Sarasota, Fla., along with a time share on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands last year. In his spare time, he taught business law at Providence College, as an adjunct professor.

The state's Gen. Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who came to state government out of the venture capital world, and her husband, Andrew Moffit, had pages and pages of financial holdings, many of them abroad in Spain, German, Japan and the U.K.

But she listed her only source of home last year as the "100,001 to $200,000'' she made as the state treasurer, along with interest ("not more than $1,000) on a Citizens Bank account.

House Speaker Gordon Fox made an undisclosed amount of money in 2011 as a "closing attorney'' for the Providence economic development agency. He is paid by the borrowers. He also was a "member'' of the company that operates his partner Marcus LaFond's Chestnut Street salon, Imagine Hair.

Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed taught a course at Roger Williams Law School on guardianship, titled "The Voice of the Child,'' when she was not at the State House or pursuing her trade as a self-employed lawyer.

Their holdings - and a broad description of their sources of their income - came to light in the financial disclosure that they, along with all other state and local politicians, were required to file with the state Ethics Commission by the end of April.

For the record, the governor was paid $115,610 last year, the lieutenant governor, treasurer and secretary of state, $108,808.

Zaccaria wants to cut state Central Committee by half

State GOP Chairman Mark Zaccaria wants to decrease the overall size of the Republican State Central Committee from 283 members today to less than 140 in the next cycle: "The object is to promote activism and efficiency.''

It is one of several proposed bylaw changes that will be aired at a state central committee meeting on Thursday.

"As you might imagine, there is some consternation among groups that will see their raw numbers of delegates decrease under the new plan, and that's in addition to the normal concerns that any kind of proposed change generates,'' Zaccaria said.

But "I see this as a routine house cleaning effort on the part of the organization. And it is one that was initiated by [former GOP Chairman] Ken McKay during his tenure in this seat.''

Cicilline hires Texan as his campaign's field director

U.S Rep. David N. Cicilline, D-R.I., has hired a new field director.

Andrew Childs is a 2010 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin who served as field organizer for the successful re-election campaign of Virginia state Senator George Barker (a Democrat representing Virginia's 39th Senate district) last year and for Democratic Houston Mayor Bill White's unsuccessful campaign for Texas governor in 2010 against Republican Rick Perry.

Cicilline campaign manager Eric Hyers wrote in an email to supporters that Childs is already busy organizing interns and volunteers.

Hyers also mentioned in the email that Cicilline has lined up a number of notable endorsements in his first bid for re-election, including : the Newport Democratic City Committee, the Portsmouth Democratic Town Committee, and two large labor unions, the AFL-CIO and the National Education Association.

Cicilline faces businessman Anthony Gemma in the September primary. The winner takes on Republican Brendan Doherty in the November general election.

Common Cause wants politicians to disclose more

Common Cause Rhode Island is calling on politicians to disclose more of the gifts -- including expense-paid trips -- they receive from interest groups.

The good government group wrote to the state Ethics Commission last week proposing a new regulation requiring elected officials to report all gifts worth more than $25 that they received because of their official position.

According to Common Cause, the state's ethics law currently requires public officials to report any gifts worth more than $100 given by an "interested person," which is defined as a person or business with a direct financial interest in a decision the public official has a role in making "as part of his or her official duties."

Common Cause's proposed rule would require the reporting of any gift worth more than $25 -- no matter who gives it -- as long as the official receives the gift because of their political office.

The group says the request was prompted by recent Journal reports that state General Assembly leaders were taking "lavish trips" at the expense of outside groups.

In October 2011, Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, D-North Providence, traveled to Buenos Aries, Argentina for a five-day conference partly at the expense of Senate Presidents' Forum, a New Jersey-based group.

In January 2012, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, Ruggerio, and Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin, D-Providence, traveled to Key West, Florida, also partly at Senate Presidents' Forum's expense in order to make a presentation on the state General Assembly's recent passage of a law overhauling the state pension system.

"Citizens shouldn't have to find out who is trying to influence their elected officials because the media received a tip about a legislator taking a trip," Common Cause said in a statement.

Shallcross Smith announces bid to get back into the House

Former one-term Democratic state Rep. Mary Ann Shallcross Smith is seeking to reclaim the House District 46 seat she lost in 2010.

She confirmed last week that she will run as Independent this year for the seat currently held by Rep. Jeremiah T. O'Grady, D-Lincoln, who defeated Shallcross Smith, 836 votes to 746.

The district represents Lincoln and Pawtucket.

Shallcross Smith, a Lincoln resident and owner of 14 "early learning centers," has blamed her 2010 defeat on labor unions seeking to oust her for voting in favor of limiting the annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) provided to retired state workers, teachers and judges to just their first $35,000 in benefits.

An executive board member for the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, Shallcross Smith says she's seeking a potential November rematch with O'Grady because she wants to help turn around the state's stagnant economy.

"Since starting my company over 30 years ago, I have created hundreds of full time jobs for Rhode Island residents and trained thousands of professionals how to achieve greater success," she said in a statement. "I know what it takes to create jobs and get people's careers started."

R.I. Senate proposes repeal of 2008 welfare 'time limit'

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The Rhode Island Senate approved legislation Thursday letting welfare recipients claim up to two years' uninterrupted benefits, a proposal that would reverse a significant provision of the welfare overhaul lawmakers passed in 2008.

Introduced by Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, S-2764 eliminates language that prevents families from drawing on welfare benefits for more than 24 consecutive months.

Advocates for the poor have complained that the requirement makes Rhode Island's welfare program one of the strictest in the country.

Pichardo's change would let welfare recipients claim up to 48 uninterrupted months of benefits without being "timed out" after two years. The proposal, however, maintains the 48-month lifetime cap on benefits imposed in 2008.

Pichardo's bill now heads to the state House of Representatives.