…the answer is, if I may paraphrase Common Cause of Rhode Island using the words of Henry Hill from The Music Man: T that stands for “trouble” which rhymes with P that stands for “patronage”.
T also could stand for “traffic tribunal” (twice!). According to Edward Fizpatrick in today’s Projo, Common Cause would like to know why the process for selecting traffic tribunal judges should be different from the process for selecting other judges in Rhode Island…

Candidates for the new job did not go through the Judicial Nominating Commission process required for state judges. Instead, the Assembly placed the appointment in the hands of Williams, who created a screening committee that interviewed the five applicants during public sessions last month. The committee did not eliminate any of the candidates and sent Williams the five names….
Common Cause of Rhode Island has criticized the creation of new magistrate jobs, saying they represent a way of appointing politically connected people and getting around the judicial merit-selection process that voters approved in 1994. Guglietta’s appointment represents a clear-cut example of that concern, said Christine Lopes, executive director of the government watchdog group.
[Nominee William R. Guglietta] might be qualified, but appointing someone connected to powerful politicians without Judicial Nominating Commission review is bound to raise questions, Lopes said. “Why not go through judicial merit selection?” she asked. “Why go through a different process?”