Rhode Island legislators adhere to a time-honored tradition of handing out stickers with the state seal to a few favored constituents.

09:03 AM EDT on Monday, April 25, 2005

BY SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- There's nothing official about these "Rhode Island Official" stickers.

You don't need to be in state or local government to get one. You don't need to be a former official. You don't even need to have considered running for office.

Each state representative and senator is given 25 windshield decals that they can hand out at their "discretion" to friends, family and political supporters.

The practice has been going on for decades; longer than any current lawmaker has been serving.

The decals -- about the size of an inspection sticker -- include the state seal and say "Rhode Island Official" and the two years of the current legislative term.

The latest batch was handed out recently.

House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick, and Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, sent a letter with them saying: "Dear Colleague: Enclosed please find your 2005-2006 Rhode Island Official Stickers. Since the supply is limited, please use your discretion when you distribute the stickers."

Freshman Rep. James F. Davey, R-Cranston, got his supply and said he was shocked.

"I don't think it's appropriate unless you're a Rhode Island official and in which case you don't need to get one from me," Davey said. "Use your discretion only because the supply is limited not because it might be inappropriate."

Davey called The Journal about the stickers and said he will return his allotment.

"Unbelievable. Unbelievable," was the response from H. Philip West Jr., executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island, when he learned about them.

"I would doubt it's illegal, but it's certainly wrong," West said. "It clearly is meant to create a privilege for a group of favored individuals. I would say there's probably already too much of that in state government."

The state's other prominent government watchdog, Robert Arruda, chairman of Operation Clean Government, however, finds nothing wrong.

"Other than status, I can't think of what else it's going to gain the individuals that have it," Arruda said. "I'm more concerned about the jobs [legislators] hand out."

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman

Rhode Island legislators adhere to a time-honored tradition of handing out stickers with the state seal to a few favored constituents.

Sticker proponents say they are a harmless tradition; a little way of making constituents feel good and show state pride.

Rep. Rene R. Menard, D-Lincoln, keeps a list of his supporters and campaign workers and when the stickers come out every other year he mails two to each supporter. Each time, he said, he uses up his 25-sticker allotment and gets another batch from the House leadership.

"People who enjoy politics tend to enjoy them," Menard said. "People actually beg for them."

Freshman Rep. John J. Loughlin II, R-Tiverton, first heard about the decals while going door-to-door campaigning last year when a man asked him for one, if he got elected.

"It's a Rhode Island thing. It's like low-numbered license plates. It's like Del's Lemonade," Loughlin said. "It's a visible symbol, that 'Hey, I know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody,' which is the Rhode Island way."

"I don't think the sticker necessarily purports them to be a state official," Loughlin added. "It's a nice little gesture; it's a nice little thing to have."

Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis, D-Coventry, likened the stickers to the medallions given out by the Fraternal Order of Police.

Others just chalked them up to tradition.

"They've been around since I've got here," said Bruce J. Long, R-Middletown, the longest current serving member of the House. "They go back to at least the mid-70s."

So why give the decal to someone who is not an official?

"Because it makes them feel special," said Long, who was first elected in 1980. "I think they're given out to impress people. In my early years, I did plenty of that."

And why would someone want one?

"It's one of the great mysteries of life and a quintessential Rhode Island political dynamic," said House Minority Leader Robert A. Watson, R-East Greenwich. "I still don't think anybody takes those things very seriously, certainly not the police in Rhode Island. Nor do I expect many people believe that [they] would."

Peter T. Brousseau, president of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association and West Warwick police chief, said the stickers are not some type of "get out of jail free pass" from parking or speeding tickets.

Like the legislators, Brousseau said: "I don't know what special privilege you get from those."

Even Governor Carcieri's chief of staff, Kenneth V. McKay IV, has one -- although it is a 2003-2004 sticker -- on his car.

Has it ever given him some preferential treatment?

"Never, ever, ever, ever," McKay said. "I have no idea what it's for. Everybody puts them in their window, so I did."

What's your take on the General Assembly practice of handing out unofficial "Rhode Island Official" windshield decals?

http://projo.com/decalsurvey/