It’s not just religious groups that would be affected if officials enforced the policy for use of the State House buildings and grounds.

The policy would apparently outlaw just about every demonstration that takes place at the State House during the legislative session, including any use of balloons, music or tents.

In an announcement that sparked alarm from civil-rights advocates and religious groups alike, Department of Administration Associate Director Marco Schiappa warned the State Properties Committee last Wednesday that the state must either change the policy or enforce it as written. Schiappa said he discovered the policy after assuming his post six months ago.

Were the department to begin enforcing the policy, events such as the Hispanic Ministerial Association of Rhode Island’s annual day of prayer — approved for Saturday, on the State House lawn — would probably be barred because the policy prohibits “functions held by religious groups.”

And it prohibits much more than that.

Just this year, the nonprofit advocacy group Ocean State Action has broken just about every rule on the list.

For instance: “No music allowed in the State House during normal business hours, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.”

The group often begins or ends protests in the rotunda with a song. The group also assists Marriage Equality Rhode Island in sponsoring protests in favor of same-sex marriage, protests that usually include music.

Also: “Sleep-outs on the State House grounds are prohibited.”

Ocean State Action helped coordinate an overnight demonstration, including tents, to protest proposed budget cuts.

Apart from those specific bans, the policy contains this more general statement: “The State House rotunda is not available from January through June Monday-Friday due to the General Assembly session.”

Ocean State Action’s executive director, Karen Malcolm, laughed out loud upon hearing of that prohibition. Demonstrations take place in the rotunda regularly throughout the session, often at 3 p.m., just before the legislative session begins at 4. Before important deadlines — such as those for introducing bills, hearing bills, budget passage and the end of the session — demonstrations take place nearly every day, and sometimes more than once a day.

Malcolm said all the state requires is that an event’s organizers reserve the rotunda in advance through Schiappa’s office, so multiple groups don’t show up on the same day.

The state has also not enforced a requirement that anyone reserving the rotunda register the name and address of each person who will attend, 10 days in advance, with the Capitol Police. Or the requirement that groups pay to use the State House — $600 for events between 1 and 50 people, $1,000 for 51 to 100 people, $1,500 for 101 to 200 people, and $2,000 for 201 to 300 people.

“The people of Rhode Island pay through their taxes to maintain the State House as the people’s house,” Malcolm said, noting that her group has never been charged. “They should not ever have to pay for access.”

Another provision reads, “Candles and balloons are prohibited.”

At least one State House event this year featured balloons — a 50th birthday celebration for House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino.

“We didn’t realize we were violating any rules, but it was worth it for Chairman Costantino and this once-in-a-lifetime event,” House Speaker William J. Murphy told Political Scene. “I’m just glad that we used two numerical candles on his cake. If we had lit all 50 candles, we would have really broken the State House rules!”

Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Governor Carcieri, said the governor “has asked the Department of Administration to review the entire policy and to make any updates that are appropriate.”

The department “will abide by the applicable requirements, including, if necessary, a public hearing,” Neal said. In the meantime, he said, the department will continue current practice, as opposed to enforcing the policy as written.

Bedrick rejoins state

He’s back.

In April, Gerald Bedrick resigned from his dual roles as a highly paid consultant to the Department of Administration and as the “public” member of the agency’s three-member contractreview committee. By then, the onetime insurance man from East Greenwich had become the poster child for a Senate inquiry into the Carcieri administration’s use of a private employment agency — Smart Staffing Service — to fill hundreds of state jobs.

At the point he quit, Bedrick had been on the state’s temporary-employment payroll since October 2005 in a $45.94-an-hour job in which he was said to be “managing the transition” to the state’s new financial-accounting system while also serving on the committee that screens applicants for millions of dollars in state contracts.

In his April 2 resignation letter, Bedrick said he felt he had done a good job, but was “aware that certain members of the General Assembly have alleged that since I am a consultant that does work for the state, there could be a perception in the mind of some members of the public that I might be influenced by my working relationships as a member of the Architectural, Engineering and Consultant Services Selection Committee. While this has never happened … I am mindful that often perception is more important than reality. Therefore, I reluctantly resign.”

But Bedrick quietly started a bona fide $45,931-a year-state job on July 22.

The state’s official personnel records list him as an “administrative secretary” in the governor’s office, in a position vacant since Merrill Drew left in December 2006. But Jeff Neal, Carcieri’s spokesman, said the job title does not match the job to which Bedrick was hired.

Neal said Bedrick was actually hired to serve as an assistant director of community affairs under Deborah Smith, and alongside deputy director Sue Stenhouse, the former Warwick councilwoman who waged a Republican campaign for secretary of state last year.

In this new role, Neal said, “Mr. Bedrick’s primary role will be community outreach. One of his many duties at the Department of Administration was to work with communities to share services in order to lower costs for the state and for local governments. I expect he will continue that effort as one of his duties in this office.” Noting the state is “facing another large budget deficit.” Neal said, “Mr. Bedrick is helping with that process as well.”

He said Bedrick has not been appointed to any other board or commission.

2nd DHS official departs

Another top official is leaving state government, attributing the decision at least in part to the budget cuts enacted by the General Assembly in June.

Reeva Murphy, childcare administrator for the Department of Human Services, on Friday left the post she had held for eight years.

“I feel like people in state government don’t have the resources they need,” Murphy, 50, told Political Scene last week. “The cuts were very deep.”

Today she begins a Ph.D. program in social policy and management at Brandeis University.

She had hoped to continue working in state government, at least part time, while pursuing her doctorate at the Massachusetts university. But she did not expect Governor Carcieri to propose a fiscal 2008 budget that narrowed eligibility guidelines for state-subsidized childcare from 225 percent of the federal poverty rate to 150 percent.

The General Assembly would later restore some of the proposed cut, but Murphy said the move represented a step backwards for a successful program that had gained national respect. An estimated 1,500 Rhode Island families will lose childcare coverage Sept. 1.

Murphy said she was most bothered that the governor and his directors made the policy decision without her input. She said she learned it was coming “a few days” before the budget was released, without having a chance to discuss the policy.

“That’s the first time that’s happened to me since I’ve been here. There’s always been a lot of discussion. Not that you always win the battle, but you always have a say,” she said. “The fact that there was so little dialogue about this policy decision was frustrating to me. And I feel like that wasn’t using my policy expertise. That did play a part in my decision to move on.”

Before proposing the cuts, the governor had several meetings with DHS Director Gary Alexander and Jane A. Hayward, secretary of the Office of Health and Human Services, according to Neal.

“All the policy implications were thoroughly reviewed,” he said. “Reeva Murphy has been an extraordinary advocate on behalf of children in this state. The governor appreciates and values her contributions to Rhode Island during her time at the Department of Human Services.”

Tom Dwyer, the associate director of child welfare at the Department of Children, Youth and Families, told Political Scene earlier in the month that he was leaving state government after more than 30 years because of the budget cuts.

“The time has come that I can no longer participate in the choices being made, which fail to make our most needy and vulnerable children a top priority,” Dwyer said in an e-mail to hundreds of DCYF staff.

Counsel to governor quits

Murphy wasn’t the only Carcieri official who Smith Hill left last week.

Friday was the last day for the governor’s special counsel, Claire Richards. She had worked in the executive branch’s legal department since 1995, previously serving as Gov. Lincoln Almond’s executive counsel.

News of Richards’ departure came the same day Carcieri announced that failed lieutenant governor candidate Kernan “Kerry” King would replace executive counsel Andrew Hodgkin, who left earlier in the month to return to the private sector.

Richards was not in her first-floor State House office when Political Scene stopped by seeking comment on Friday. Neal, Carcieri’s spokesman, refused to make her available for an interview when asked.

When asked repeatedly why Richards was leaving, Neal would reply only, “I don’t know.”

He wouldn’t comment on whether King’s hiring affected Richards’ decision to leave. Richards, a former executive counsel for Almond, leaves a $107,373.20 annual salary behind.

King, incidentally, last practiced law 12 years ago, according to Neal. “That does not invalidate the fact that he did practice for about 25 years,” he said.

When asked about selecting King over Richards last week, Carcieri responded: “I felt that Kerry could do the job that I wanted to get done.”

Capitol guide on new path

There will be something missing from State House tours this week.

Johnson & Wales University senior Ashley Evans is leaving the secretary of state’s office, where the outgoing young lady guided groups of schoolchildren and adults around the Capitol dome for the last 15 months.

“I loved it. I loved giving the tours. I loved teaching kids,” she told Political Scene last week.

Evans is unofficially the longest-service teaching assistant from the Johnson & Wales program, which puts travel and tourism students into jobs to gain real-world experience before graduation.

If you miss Evans, you’ll be able to catch her at her next gig, giving information to travelers at T.F. Green Airport.

She is being replaced at the State House by Johnson & Wales junior Alison Henault.

kgregg@projo.com