How Things Work on the Hill

Rep. David Laroche (D) Woonsockett and Rep. James Davey (R) Cranston are both retiring from the General Assembly this year. Jim Taricani had them on NBC 10's News Conference (with Bill Rappleye) this past Sunday to talk about how things really operated in the Legislature. Let's just say that things work just how you'd expect. If you don't want to read the following rough transcription, here's what I took away from the discussion:

1) What we thought we knew, we now know for sure: all the power is on the "3rd floor" of the State House where the leadership resides. That's not really anything new, but the degree to which the power is centralized in our legislative body--which is supposed to operate on a more dispersed power model--is a big problem.
2) The fact that Laroche is retiring as both a firefighter and a State Rep. and moving to Florida!!! "Thanks for all the tax dollars toward my pension and benefits folks...I'm going to Disney World!" That's just great...

{What follows is a mixture of a paraphrasing summary with a few direct quotes sprinkled in.}

Davey said he was leaving for personal reasons and would be moving to North Carolina for cost (taxes) reasons. Laroche is a retired firefighter who has bought a home in Florida, which he indicated would be his primary residence. {Yes, soak in the irony of that...MAC}

Then they got into how things work up there:

Davey - Gave example of how submitted a bill that would have required that all collective bargaining agreements for every town be made available on line. The committee chairs thought it was a good idea, but “the third floor” (the leadership) didn’t and no action was taken.

Laroche - Committee hearings are a farce. What really happens is that what the leadership considers important is what gets passed. What people are really doing when they testify before a committee is educating the committee, who are also private citizens and don’t have an expertise in every subject.

Davey - It’s true in a number of cases, but we did adjust a number of bills based on testimony. But the big, important ones don’t get a vote and there is no accountability. In NH or Maine, every bill gets a vote, most (90%) of ours are tabled for further consideration. In Maine, everything reaches the floor and if you want to hold it for further study, that gets voted on, too.

Taricani noted that John Celona had pled guilty to basically selling his office and then asked: How much does this go on at the State House?

Laroche — Maybe on the 3rd floor, but they didn’t call me. We vote on what the chair says we’re voting on and that comes from the Speaker.

Taricani - “And you have no idea where that influence comes from?”

Laroche - “Nope, not at all.”

Davey - “I have absolutely no evidence of any of that in the House. And I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but…my concern more is with the system and with making just a couple of simple changes in the system the Legislative branch could become much more open and accountable. For example, under the separation of powers legislation, we’ve been passing these [executive] boards… have to submit financial reports at the end of the year. The net result is that the people of Rhode Island are going to know more about the Mosquito Abatement Board and the Scenic Roadways Commission than they will the Legislature.”

According to Davey, this is the bottom line: They should report their expenditures and change the committee process so that every bill gets a vote on the merits. Davey sat on the Judiciary Committee, a busy committee, all year and he didn’t get one bill out of committee while one guy showed up two days all year, just to vote. Their ought to be minimum attendance requirements and there ought to be votes on bill.

Taricani - But isn’t the reason they won’t do that [make changes] is because it’s about power?

Laroche - But they already have the power because they stack all the committees so that all of the Speaker’s supporters outnumber everyone else.

Davey - It’s only accountability. If we could make them take a position on tings via an on-the-record vote, it would make a difference.

Taricani - Regarding pensions-why is it that public employees insist on co-pays while every “working stiff” makes them?

Laroche - They received their benefits along the way by bargaining in good faith and did that in lieu of receiving a pay raise.

Taricani - You guys received a pay raise every year!

Laroche - Nope, you're wrong. We’ve worked without a raise before...

Taricani - And many in the private sector have worked for years without a raise and still make a co-pay. Don’t you understand how the public looks at that and says what is it with these guys. Don’t the unions get that?

Laroche - I’m sure they do, but when we go to the bargaining table and get…should we give it away?

Taricani - But times change...

Laroche - Exactly, and I’m sure some Fire Depts are sharing.

Taricani - But not Woonsockett, why are you any different. Believe me, I have a lot of respect for police/fire, you put your life on the line every day, but why, in this context of pensions and benefits, should you have anymore than any other working stiff.

Laroche - I’m not saying we are, we signed a 3 year deal with the mayor…

Davey - There is a trend to paying co-pays, but my concern is that they’re minimal. In Cranston, Teachers went from 0 to5% but negotiated a pay raise that ended up giving them more money in their paycheck..

Taricani - But…in all these contracts, who signs the contract? It’s the very person that’s usually complaining they don’t have a co-pay, the politicians. You can’t just blame the unions.

Davey - No you can’t

Taricani - If you’re an executive, you try to get the best compensation package you can…

Davey - What we need to do, and I had a bill on that too--77% of Cranston’s budget is not subject to the budget process and is covered by collective bargaining (teachers, police, fire)—the bill would require any Collective Bargaining agreement have a fiscal impact statement and a 10 day notice. I will say that under Mayor Laffey we have 10-15-20% copays under this sort of process.

Davey- (In response to question from Rappleye) I have to give speaker credit for changing voting procedure—though only after a lot of public pressure—but now you actually have to be there to vote! The other thing is that now we make legislative grants public. [Legislative grants are basically patronage plums].

Rappeley - They’re moving in the right direction

Davey - There are signs that its worthwhile continuing the difficult schedule.

Rappeley - Why did you want to become rep….is it to serve their own private interests?

Davey - Never was a politician, attended a few city council meetings and saw how the public’s pockets were being picked. And I also ran into the RI attitude that you have to accept it, it’s RI. SO I figured if I ran and beat Montenaro, people would see that an unconnected person could win. Step up to the plate.

Rappeley - Are there bad guys up there?

Neither Laroche nor Davey go so far as to say that anyone up there was using their office for overt personal perks and privilege.

{Note: Made some minor edits in the intro on 7/25/2006. MAC }