Governor Carcieri says his power is not legislative because the questions are nonbinding.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 31, 2006

BY ELIZABETH GUDRAIS
Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri yesterday vetoed a bill that would take away his own power to place nonbinding referenda on the ballot.

In his remarks, Carcieri pointed out the irony, as he sees it, of the General Assembly passing this bill, given the rhetoric surrounding a referendum on a constitutional amendment to allow a casino in Rhode Island.

"Right now, the slogan around this building seems to be: 'Let the people decide,' " Carcieri said. "How many times have you heard that?"

The legislature is expected to override Carcieri's veto, possibly as early as next week.

Carcieri said he opposes the bill on principle, not because of his own personal desire to place questions on the ballot.

"The sponsors of this bill have painted it as a separation-of-powers measure," Carcieri said, referring to the reform voters approved in 2004, which removed legislators from state boards and commissions. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

Placing nonbinding questions on the ballot, Carcieri said, is not a legislative function.

"Let me make this very clear," he said. "No laws are enacted by this process, no matter what the outcome of the vote is."

The purpose of such questions, Carcieri said, is to "enable governors to take the pulse of voter sentiment."

For instance, Carcieri noted that separation of powers itself only came to a binding referendum for a constitutional amendment -- which requires General Assembly approval to get on the ballot -- after voters supported the concept in two nonbinding referenda.

"Having a clear-cut mandate from the voters helped get the ball rolling," Carcieri said.

Arguing in support of the bill on the House floor, the prime sponsor, Rep. Peter F. Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket, noted that Rhode Island is the only state whose governor has this power.

That may be true, Carcieri said yesterday, but 24 states do allow voter initiative, which enables voters to place questions on the ballot by petition.

While Carcieri may oppose Kilmartin's bill on principle, the bill also has practical implications. Carcieri has already submitted two nonbinding questions to the secretary of state, to appear on the ballot this November. One involves caps on state spending and local property taxes. The other involves voter initiative.

It was unclear yesterday whether Kilmartin's bill -- which would become law with the vote of three-fifths of members present in the House and the Senate -- would affect questions the governor has already submitted.

"Our legal interpretation is that the legislation that has been passed would prevent [the secretary of state] from placing [the questions] on the ballot," House spokesman Larry Berman said yesterday.

But Jeff Neal, spokesman for the governor, said: "We assume that he's going to put them on the ballot. . . . We have not been informed otherwise."

During remarks voicing support for the governor's veto, Common Cause of Rhode Island executive director H. Philip West Jr. predicted the issue would end up in court.

Asked whether the House leadership would mount a legal challenge if the questions appear to be headed for the ballot, Berman said: "I think that's something we would have to talk about. One step at a time."

And if the secretary of state voices intentions not to include the two questions? "The governor intends to do everything he needs to do to give the people of Rhode Island the opportunity to vote on these questions," Neal said. "At this time, I'm not prepared to get into tactics."

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