Projo Politics Blog

April 28, 2008 Archives

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
The Rhode Island Democrat answers questions from projo.com readers during the online chat held today from The Providence Journal newsroom.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed answered questions from projo.com readers ranging from what can be done about the high price of gas to the war of Iraq to increasing pressures on the middle class, during a live online chat at midafternoon today.

In answer to one of the questions, the Rhode Island Democrat acknowledged that he has not yet decided whom he will vote for as a superdelegate to the presidential campaign.

"I have not made a decision with respect to the candidacies of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama," he said. "I am confident that both are eminently qualified to serve. I recognize that we should determine a nomination in the next several weeks in order to prepare for the fall campaign."

See more of what the Rhode Island Democratic senator had to say, in a transcript of the chat, hosted by Journal staff writer G. Wayne Miller.

As with all chats on projo.com, Reed was given the option of choosing the questions to answer. Answers were also be limited by the amount of time available.

The Rhode Island Democrat is the subject of a Journal profile by Miller and multimedia report, called "A Humble Path to Power." Click here to visit.

Remember the plan to ban drivers from talking on hand-held cell phones?

It may be ringing again.

Lawmakers did not include the proposal in their midyear budget revision last week, prompting some to pronounce the line dead.

But House leaders tell Political Scene they’re in the midst of reviving the plan with an eye toward passing it through the House Finance Committee in the coming weeks, possibly as part of the 2009 budget.

If approved, the law would require drivers to purchase and use hands-free ear pieces to conduct on-the-road conversations, or face a $50 fine.

The proposal ran into trouble last winter when Governor Carcieri predicted that fining chatty drivers could generate almost $5 million in ticket revenue next year. House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, and others balked at that estimate and state budget officials later revised it downward.

No word yet on when the law would take effect, but legislators say if they approve the measure, they’ll give Rhode Island drivers plenty of time to purchase the necessary accessories.

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By Cynthia Needham, Edward Fitzpatrick and Scott MacKay
Journal staff writers

Representative, or shall we say Sen. Roger A. Picard, may be about to make history in the General Assembly.

After handily winning last week’s special election to fill the District 20 (Cumberland and Woonsocket) seat of Sen. Roger R. Badeau, who died this year, the longtime representative is getting ready to head across the hall to his new chair in the Senate chamber.

But Picard is not scheduled to make the switch until sometime this week. On Friday, he joined his House colleagues in voting to pass the mid-year budget revision known as “the supplemental budget.”

When the proposal appears in the Senate, Picard is expected to join his fellow senators in casting his second vote.

Astute Assembly observers tell Political Scene that may be the first time a legislator has twice voted on the same budget. Over the years, lawmakers have moved from one chamber to the other, but typically not during the hectic final months of the session.

Speaking with Political Scene last week, Picard said he hasn’t yet focused on that distinction. After 16 years in the House, he’s a little nostalgic about his departure from the House.

“Will I miss them, absolutely I will,” he said. “However, on the other side there’s also the excitement of new colleagues –– not brand new because I know them and I’ve worked with them on various bills and committees so I kind of look forward to that.”

Election laws dictate that because Picard’s District 51 House seat was vacated in an election year after the first week in February, it shall remain empty until the November election.

In other election-related news, the government watchdog group Common Cause of Rhode Island has raised a red flag about the lingering vacancies on the state’s seven-member Board of Elections, saying the empty seats could soon create “a major political crisis” in this state.

In a letter to Governor Carcieri last week, Common Cause Executive Director Christine Lopes said the organization “is gravely concerned that if appointments to fill three vacancies are not submitted immediately for Senate confirmation, a major political crisis faces Rhode Island.”

Member Judith Bailey resigned in 2005; Roger Begin departed in 2006; and Thomas V. Iannitti turned in his resignation last month, Elections Board Executive Director Robert Kando told Political Scene.

Governor Carcieri has not filled any of the three seats, despite a law that dictates that he must appoint replacements within 30 days.

Kando says if a fourth member, Florence Gormley, resigns as expected this summer, the board will be unable to convene a four-member quorum that is necessary to oversee and administer elections and certify the results of primary and general elections.

But even now the board routinely struggles to summon a quorum needed to conduct business. “If something comes up for one [member], everything is off,” Kando said.

“Without a quorum, we can’t act.”

Carcieri pokesman Jeff Neal did not return a call for comment last week.

Rhode Island Family Court chief of staff Ronald J. Pagliarini has been elected president of the National Truancy Prevention Association.

“It’s a lot of responsibility and it’s an honor,” Pagliarini said. “I would hope that we can make a national mark on truancy and attendance issues.”

Founded in 2003, the association is a not-for-profit corporation “dedicated to assisting communities in developing, supporting and sustaining effective truancy prevention practices,” according to the association Web site.

In 2004, the association received $1.1 million from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs to put in place truancy prevention programs on a national level, and the association is developing a “bench book” on truancy-related issues to help jurisdictions in handling truancy problems.

Pagliarini, 51, of Cranston, has worked for the Family Court since 1999 and has been chief of staff since 2006. He was Republican state representative from Cranston from 1982 to 1990. He previously served as second vice president for the National Truancy Prevention Association.

“I am very pleased at the show of support that the NTPA has given Ron Pagliarini by electing him president,” Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. said. “Truancy is a critical issue here in Rhode Island and nationally.”

Pagliarini said one of his goals is to further develop the organization’s Web site — www.truancycourt.org — and to make the site interactive for parents, teachers and students.

And in this week’s real estate news: That For Sale sign on the front lawn of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s Elmgrove Avenue house in Providence is not an optical illusion. The senator and his wife, Sandra, are selling the house and consolidating their family at their house on Carroll Avenue in Newport, which the Whitehouses have long used as a summer place. Daughter Molly Whitehouse is a student at Yale University and son Alexander Whitehouse is attending boarding school, so Sheldon and Sandra Whitehouse will be empty-nesters this fall. The family has not purchased a house in Washington, D.C.; Sheldon Whitehouse is still bunking in with an aunt who owns a house in the District of Columbia when the Senate is in session.

Whitehouse spokeswoman Alex Swartsel declined to say where Alexander Whitehouse is attending boarding school. Molly Whitehouse graduated from Wheeler School in Providence before matriculating at Yale, her father’s alma mater.

smackay@projo.com