Important bills were passed,, but the legislative session may be remembered instead for its tumult and amemorable barnyard metaphor.

08:20 PM EDT on Sunday, June 27, 2004

BY EDWARD FITZPATRICK
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Amid cheers and jeers and a pounding gavel, House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox launched into a midnight speech that captured much of the controversy and consternation, the politics and palace intrigue of this year's legislative session.

"What this House leadership has tried to do tonight is to pass a budget that is responsible," Fox said during the June 18 debate. "But what has gone on tonight in this State House is absolutely, unequivocally despicable."

"The governor of the state of Rhode Island, who is chairman of the Republican Party, with other Democratic members in here -- and we'll leave them nameless, Representative Caprio -- calling Democratic members into his chambers and offering to get Republican opponents out of the race for a vote against this budget," Fox said, his voice rising.

Fox then called for a budget vote, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's get it on." When Republican Rep. Joseph A. Trillo tried to speak, Fox told him, "Representative Trillo, you'll have your chance."

"This is about: You put lipstick on the pig, Governor Carcieri, it's still a pig," Fox said. "This is the wrong way to pass a budget for the people of the state of Rhode Island."

By the time the legislative session ended at 2:06 a.m. yesterday, the House and Senate had taken action on some major issues: They banned smoking in virtually every public place. They voted to put a casino referendum on the November ballot. And they redrew one-third of the Senate districts to bolster minority voter power and settle a redistricting lawsuit.

But the session also was marred by ethics controversies involving some legislative leaders. And the Assembly was accused of grabbing power in anticipation of a separation of powers referendum aimed at curbing legislative authority.

So, while every legislative session ends in a burst of late-night deals, dead bills and flaring tempers, some observers said they considered this year particularly ugly.

THE YEAR BEGAN with news of a stunning political development: Senate President William V. Irons, D-East Providence, had announced on New Year's Eve that he was resigning amid questions about his financial ties with CVS and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

Three weeks later, Fox, D-Providence, agreed to a settlement requiring him to pay a $10,000 conflict-of-interest fine for voting on a $770-million, no-bid lottery deal for GTECH that assured his law firm work for the lottery giant.

Then in March, Sen. John A. Celona, D-North Providence, chairman of the Senate committee that handles health-care legislation, resigned one day after state police searched his home amid scrutiny of his financial ties to CVS and other players in the state's health-care industry.

"The Assembly got off to a bad start with the Celona and Irons scandal," Brown University political science Prof. Darrell M. West said. "And it seems to have gone downhill from there."

But legislative leaders say that, after a rocky start, the Assembly passed important bills.

"It was a very difficult way to begin," Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano said, referring to the resignations of Irons and Celona. "But after that, we did get down to business."

Montalbano, D-North Providence, said he is proud of the decision to redraw 12 of the 38 Senate districts in order to bolster black voting power in Providence, thereby settling a federal lawsuit.

The Senate had "the unique opportunity" to redraw the districts because Irons and Celona has resigned, creating two "open" districts in the Providence area, Montalbano said, calling it an example of "making lemonade out of lemons."

The old map had pitted the Senate's only black member, former senatorCharles D. Walton, against Juan M. Pichardo, who beat Walton in a 2002 primary to become the Senate's first Hispanic member. The new map puts Walton and Pichardo in different districts, and Montalbano predicted the Senate will have two minority members next year. He noted that in order to redraw the map, "nine colleagues and myself had to make significant changes to our districts two years after running in them for the first time."

Both Montalbano and Fox said they were proud of a bill that bans smoking in restaurants, bars, malls, offices and taxis while exempting Lincoln Park, Newport Grand and some private clubs and smoking bars. Carcieri plans to sign the bill, making Rhode Island the seventh state with such a far-reaching ban.

The Senate had supported a smoking ban in the past, only to see it die in the House, but this year Fox sponsored the bill. House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick, said, "We felt it was the right thing to do as an important health issue here in Rhode Island."

BESIDES BEING involved with the smoking ban and the GTECH controversy, Fox also announced that he is gay. Fox made the declaration at a State House rally and later in testimony in support of a same-sex marriage legislation. The bills did not pass, but the issue gained more attention following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Attention also focused on gambling, as the Assembly agreed to put a referendum on the November ballot asking: "Shall there be a casino in the town of West Warwick operated by an affiliate of Harrah's Entertainment in association with the Narragansett Indian Tribe?"

Opponents said Harrah's will benefit most while Lincoln Park and Newport Grand will suffer. Carcieri vowed to veto the bill, saying, "I think it's a very bad deal. We're going to lose money, not gain."

Supporters said the project will be a boon for the state. Montalbano said the bill is "consistent with the Senate's view of letting the people decide. The Senate has always been sympathetic to the Narragansett Indians, and I'm happy it passed with more than enough votes to override a veto."

When asked to name the Assembly's biggest accomplishment this session, Professor West said, "It will make millions of dollars for local media outlets for advertisements on the casino issue."

In November, voters will also be deciding on a separation of powers referendum, which would curtail General Assembly power in part by banning legislators from quasi-public boards and commissions.

Critics say that in anticipation of that vote, the General Assembly seized power this session by, for example, taking away control of public college budgets from the Board of Governors for Higher Education.

"This chamber is deathly afraid separation of powers will pass this fall," said Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry. "The legislature is just taking over before people have a chance to vote."

Critics also blasted Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams for a "power grab" that prohibits the governor from changing the judiciary's annual budget request before it goes to the Assembly. The judiciary also gained control over purchasing, personnel and judicial salaries.

Williams linked the proposal to the separation of powers movement, emphasizing the need for judicial independence and noting the Assembly will still have the final say on the court's budget.

Carcieri said, "It's a bogus argument." He said the Constitution requires the governor to put together a budget for all parts of state government, and he said the judiciary is by no means getting shortchanged. "They have been getting all the money and more," he said of the courts.

West cited the judiciary and higher education proposals in saying, "This session has been the most chaotic I have seen in recent memory. I think we really reached a low point with so much stuff coming out at the end with no discussion or deliberation. It's a terrible way to run government."

West also cited last-minute action on a controversial bill that would have forced the Convention Center Authority to borrow $17 million for a downtown hotel project proposed by developer Vincent J. Mesolella Jr., a former state representative. The House on Friday replaced that plan with another that would give Mesolella up to $20 million in tax credits.

WHEN ASKED about the new hotel proposal, Carcieri picked up on the porcine theme, saying, "My analysis of it is: It's a pig. Put lipstick on it, it's still a pig."

"Make no mistake about it," the governor stated. "This is not an economic development tax credit; it's a Vincent Mesolella development tax credit."

Rep. Paul W. Crowley, D-Newport, said he came up with the idea of using tax credits for the hotel project. "By going that route, it threw it to the market," he said. "If you can get private investment, you can have the hotel deal, and that took out the element of the so-called public subsidy." It's no different, he said, than tax credits used for the Masonic Temple hotel project.

Rep. Peter T. Ginaitt, D-Warwick, chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, agreed that in some respects it was a "tough year," but he said there were major strides on environmental issues. For example, the legislature will provide annual funding for habitat restoration projects, such as salt marshes, fish runs and eelgrass beds, and passed bills to coordinate environmental agencies and prioritize environmental issues.

Christopher S. Hamblett, director of advocacy for Save the Bay, said, "The 2004 session is the best session in over a decade for Narragansett Bay and the environment."

Kate Canada, Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group advocate, agreed, noting a bill passed calling for Rhode Island to get 16 percent of its energy from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind, by 2020.

AS THE SESSION neared an end, the budget debate generated a lot of heat. "I've been here 12 years and this is about as political as I've seen it," Fox said. "Some of it has to rest squarely with the governor. At some point, you have to transition from a candidate to an elected official."

Fox and Murphy accused the governor's office of trying to get House Democrats to vote against the budget by promising the Democrats that they would have no GOP opponents in fall elections.

Murphy said he and Montalbano met with Carcieri at 7:30 the morning of the June 18 budget vote. "There were some ideas that he wanted," he said. "We said we would be able to accommodate him. And all the while he was playing games behind our back, acting in bad faith. I am, frankly, quite shocked."

"There has to be an element of trust," Murphy said. "When I go to negotiate with the Senate President in good faith and we are told later in the day that [Carcieri's'] staff has been meeting with Democratic members of the Assembly, trying to get them to sabotage the budget, I have a problem with it."

Montalbano called Carcieri "a good man," but said, "I believe the Governor owes the Speaker of the House an apology."

Carcieri said, "Respectfully, I don't owe anyone an apology. The problem the Speaker had Friday night was within his own ranks. Don't blame me for something when he can't control his own ranks."

The governor maintained that no one in his office promised to keep Republicans out of races against Democrats. "I didn't promise anyone anything," he said. "A few Democrats asked me how I felt about the budget, and I said I thought it was a bad budget." He said he wouldn't want to keep Republicans out of races "because that would undercut the effort to build the Republican Party."

After the House voted 49-22 for the budget, Carcieri said the House was one vote short of a required two-thirds majority. But the House later voted 62-12 for a bill that had the appropriations section of the budget attached to it as a "trailer."

Murphy said the budget vote was a sign of strength, not weakness. While it takes 38 votes to be speaker, he said, "We had 49 Democrats unify. If we had one defining moment, it had to be Friday night when 49 members stood strong while all of this was going on."

The dispute comes in an election year for members of the General Assembly -- but not for the governor.

While at the State House last week, state Democratic Party Chairman William J. Lynch criticized Carcieri, saying, "Despite what he may say publicly, he is as much a political animal as anyone who has ever been in this building. He's pulling every trick out the (James Michael) Curley book. They might as well call him Boss Carcieri."

In response, state Republican Party Chairman Patricia L. Morgan, "That's outrageous. That's just a vicious political attack. Bill Lynch can never stoop low enough. The governor is trying to rein in spending and make us more accountable to the taxpayer."