Think the state has a hiring freeze? Think again.

Providence Mayor David Cicilline’s sister, Roberta Cicilline-DiMezza, last week started working for the General Assembly, which is out of session.

In a brief telephone interview, she told Political Scene that she had been hired as an “administrative assistant to six legislators” from West Warwick, Glocester and Coventry.

House spokesman Larry Berman said Cicilline-DiMezza will be paid about $34,000 a year.

Her name last surfaced as a line item in one of her brother’s fundraising reports. The report indicated that she had been paid $5,900 by the mayor’s election committee for bookkeeping services.

Call to lessen Electoral College’s role renewed

With less than a month to go before the November presidential election, legislators have renewed their calls for changes to the Electoral College system, saying it’s the best way to increase Rhode Island’s relevance in the campaign process.

Since the end of the primary season this spring, neither presidential candidate has visited the Ocean State.

“Just a couple of states to our north, the campaigns are showering unprecedented attention on New Hampshire’s electorate,” Sen. Daniel Connors, D-Cumberland, said in a statement. “... A vote in Rhode Island should be worth as much as a vote in a swing state. In a democracy like ours, every vote should be equal.”

In just one week this month, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain spent a total of $514,000 on television ads in New Hampshire, according to figures from FairVote Rhode Island. During the same period, they spent nothing in Rhode Island.

Rep. Donald Lally Jr., D-Narragansett, said the state deserves more attention — and more respect — on the national stage.

This spring, Lally and Connors sponsored legislation that would have allowed Rhode Island, with four electoral votes, to join a national compact of states that commit their electoral delegates to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of who carries each state. The measure would kick in only if states representing a majority of the nation’s 538 electoral votes decide to make the same change.

The bill was passed by the General Assembly, but was vetoed by Governor Carcieri.

ABC interviews Carcieri

Governor Carcieri had only one event on his public schedule Friday: a 2 p.m. interview with ABC World News Tonight.

In response to an inquiry, his spokeswoman Amy Kempe said an ABC film crew was headed to Rhode Island to interview Carcieri and others as part of an effort to visit “50 states in 50 days” to talk about the national elections and the economy and “their impact on every corner in America.”

Kempe was unsure when the Rhode Island segment might air, but said it might be as early as the middle of this week.

New judge sworn in

The state Workers’ Compensation Court got a new judge last week with the swearing in by Governor Carcieri of Robert M. Ferrieri.

Carcieri assured the legislators and judges and courthouse staff assembled in the State House rotunda that “there is no truth to the rumor” that he chose Ferrieri because both of their names end in the letters “ieri.”

Ferrieri’s law partner, Frank Lombardi, also drew hearty laughs when he told the crowd that before calling on the governor to administer the oath of office, he was going to “take one last shot at preventing this from happening.”

“Forget all the bootstrap stories,” he told the chief judge of the court. “I need him more than you.”

Among his arguments: “Rob loves his family too much. It will take away from his time as judge ... Rob triple-books appointments with clients which can cause a potential backlog on the WCC calendar.”

In a more serious moment, he said: “Governor, you could not have made a better choice.” And Ferrieri assured those gathered that he “will never ever forget where I came from.”

Following a time-honored path to the bench in Rhode Island, Ferrieri graduated from La Salle Academy and Providence College before earning his law degree from Suffolk Law School in 1985.

He had been a partner in the law firm Lombardi & Ferrieri, specializing in workers’ compensation, real estate closings and personal injury. From 1986 to 2001, he was an associate with John N. Calvino Law Associates, also concentrating on workers’ comp and personal injury. Previously, he worked in the law office of John Andrew Thompson.

Ferrieri resides in Johnston with his wife, Paula, and their two children, Nicholas and Lindsay.

Pichardo on national panel

It’s common knowledge that state Sen. Juan Pichardo is a big proponent of human service programs that support low-income Rhode Islanders. Now, the Providence Democrat will have a chance to push his agenda on a national scale.

Pichardo has been named vice chairman of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Human Services and Welfare Committee. As a result of the appointment, Pichardo took part in “officer training” at the organization’s Denver office earlier in the month.

While the state had yet to receive a final invoice, the trip cost taxpayers at least $788.

The flight was $470, while the hotel cost $159 per night; Pichardo stayed two nights, according to Senate spokesman Greg Pare.

In Denver, Pichardo met with several committee members. As a result of their work, the committee will help draft new policies on poverty, including early childhood education and “financial policies that support working families’ efforts to move out of poverty and aging services,” according to a statement issued by the Senate.

“I am excited to come together with colleagues from other states in working to draft policies that will positively impact people both locally and nationally,” Pichardo said in a statement. “The important work of this committee goes hand in hand with the commission that I cochair on building income and assets for working families in Rhode Island.”

speoples@projo.com