William R. Guglietta, legal counsel to House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, will fill the newly created post of chief magistrate of the state Traffic Tribunal.

Journal Files / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE — Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams yesterday chose the House majority leader’s top lawyer to fill the newly created position of chief magistrate of the state Traffic Tribunal.

William R. Guglietta, chief legal counsel to Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, was picked over four other candidates for the job, which comes with a $132,062-a-year base salary, a 10-year term and the power to appoint magistrates to the Traffic Tribunal.

Williams said, “Bill Guglietta shares my vision for and believes strongly in access to justice and user-friendly courts, especially in our Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, which sees over 100,000 citizens a year.”

The appointment comes about four months after the General Assembly removed the Traffic Tribunal from under District Court Chief Judge Albert E. DeRobbio and created the position of chief magistrate.

Legislators have denied they were exacting revenge for DeRobbio’s failure to pick magistrate candidates favored by Assembly leaders. They have said the change was part of a budget article creating more uniformity among the state’s 18 magistrates.

Candidates for the new job did not go through the Judicial Nominating Commission process required for state judges. Instead, the Assembly placed the appointment in the hands of Williams, who created a screening committee that interviewed the five applicants during public sessions last month. The committee did not eliminate any of the candidates and sent Williams the five names.

Williams said Guglietta “has an outstanding work ethic, prior experience as a municipal judge and previous service to the state as an administrator with the Department of Attorney General. The position requires a commitment to not only performing administrative tasks, but to judicial responsibilities on the bench.”

The four other candidates were Special Assistant Attorney General Kelly A. McElroy, state Health Department deputy legal counsel Bruce W. McIntyre, deputy state court administrator Gail M. Valuk and Johnston lawyer William J. Vescera. Williams said, “All five were fine candidates and will make excellent judges some day.”

Common Cause of Rhode Island has criticized the creation of new magistrate jobs, saying they represent a way of appointing politically connected people and getting around the judicial merit-selection process that voters approved in 1994. Guglietta’s appointment represents a clear-cut example of that concern, said Christine Lopes, executive director of the government watchdog group.

Guglietta might be qualified, but appointing someone connected to powerful politicians without Judicial Nominating Commission review is bound to raise questions, Lopes said. “Why not go through judicial merit selection?” she asked. “Why go through a different process?”

Common Cause is “very disappointed” the Traffic Tribunal’s top job is being filled outside the Judicial Nominating Commission process, Lopes said. “It does raise a lot of questions,” she said. “It perpetuates a perception by the public that things are fixed.”

House spokesman Larry Berman said, “Bill Guglietta was put through the same exhaustive process that the JNC put him through when he was a candidate for District Court and Superior Court. He filled out an 18-page application and underwent background checks by the state police. Chief Justice Williams did a very good job of following the same procedures as the JNC.”

Berman said the creation of the chief magistrate’s job “was part of the reorganization of several different departments. It was part of the budget. A hearing was held, and Common Cause did not object at that time.”

Guglietta, 46, of Cranston, has been Fox’s legal adviser since January 2003. He now makes $134,154 a year, including a base salary of $114,173 and longevity pay for 21 years in state government. So as chief magistrate, he would receive a raise of more than $18,000.

Guglietta has been a part-time Cranston Municipal Court judge since January 2007, but he plans to resign if confirmed as chief magistrate. Earlier this year, Guglietta applied for a Superior Court vacancy, but the Judicial Nominating Commission did not grant him an interview. In 2004, the commission interviewed Guglietta for a District Court vacancy, but that seat went to Rafael A. Ovalles, the state court system’s first Hispanic judge.

From 1999 to 2003, Guglietta was an assistant attorney general in charge of the policy and prevention unit. He was the state’s first drug court prosecutor and its first community prosecutor, focusing on the Mount Hope neighborhood.

In 1998, Guglietta ran for attorney general in the Democratic primary won by Sheldon Whitehouse, now a U.S. senator. From 1993 to 1998, Guglietta worked as legal counsel for the House Finance Committee. And from 1990 to 1993, he was an assistant attorney general in charge of the narcotics unit, a job that involved trying cases in Superior Court and Family Court.

Guglietta now faces Senate confirmation. Berman said House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick, has indicated the Assembly will hold a special session this month to take up veto overrides “and other business,” and it’ll be up to the Senate to decide whether to hold a confirmation hearing.

Senate spokesman Greg Pare said, “Advice and consent may be something we take up if there is a special session this month. It’s very likely we will be back, possibly this month, but there is nothing definitive.”

efitzpat@projo.com