Quick Takes on RI's Reps: Flip-Floppin' in Smithfield, Featuring Thomas Winfield and Peter Petrarca

And speaking of Peter Petrarca (overall score 2), the House delegation from Smithfield seems to have cornered the market on flip-flopping. As noted in the item on relief from unfunded mandates, Rep. Petrarca is the legislator who sponsored a bill to repeal municipal-side unfunded mandates in February -- and then voted against nearly identical language as a budget amendment in June.

Rep. Thomas Winfield (overall score 1) did one better, managing two flip-flops, by not supporting educational unfunded mandate relief this year after having voted for it last year, and by voting in favor of the amendment lowering the car-tax exemption from $3,000 to $500 but then voting against the final bill. Unless Rep Winfield believed that the car-tax exemption should have been lowered beyond even $500, it is difficult to find a rationale for this combination of votes.