As the Projo’s Elizabeth Gudrais has reported, Governor Donald Carcieri has vetoed the bill that would terminate the right of Rhode Islanders to express themselves by voting on non-binding referenda placed on the statewide ballot by the Governor. The legislature is expected to override the veto.
Representative Peter Kilmartin (D-Pawtucket), the primary sponsor of the bill, argues that the Governor’s power to place non-binding questions on the ballot is an affront to principles of separation of powers and checks-and-balances…
The power should never have been given to the governor in the first place, Kilmartin argued, and has even less of a place in the state's political workings with the implementation of the separation-of-powers constitutional amendment voters approved in 2004.Actually, non-binding referenda are the balance. The executive’s power to place questions on the statewide ballot is a very minimal check on the legislature’s power to kill an issue in committee. In the committee process, not everyone in the state has representation. In a referenda, all of Rhode Island's voters can have a voice in the discussion of an issue."I ask you, where is the check and balance with this statute as it is?" Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket, said. "The fact is, there is none."
Particularly telling is the fact that the Democratic position goes beyond just stripping the Governor of the power to call non-binding referenda. The Democrats want to eliminate non-binding referenda in any form, revealing how little confidence they have in their ability to convince the voters of the sensibility of their policy positions.