Providence Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr., the self-styled master of the Rhode Island universe, took a precipitous fall, replaced by an openly gay progressive. House Speaker John B. Harwood, the autocrat who weathered previous controversies without batting an eye, barely managed to retain his House seat after getting swept up in scandal. The esoteric issue of separation of powers, slowly nudged forward for years, became a potent rallying cry for reform. Like no time in recent memory, 2002 was a year in which the conventions and status quo of Rhode Island politics was turned upside down.

David N. Cicilline's easy victory in the Providence mayoral primary (followed by an impressive 80-plus percent mandate in the November election) gladdened the hearts of progressives. But after a period in which Democrats have held the governor's office for only four of the last 16 years, Republican Don Carcieri won a comfortable victory, spoiling Myrth York's third bid for the State House.
A desire for a GOP counterbalance to
the overwhelmingly Democratic General Assembly worked to Carcieri's advantage, but it still didn't translate into gains for Republican legislative candidates in a year also marked by redistricting and
legislative downsizing.

The dizzying array of changes prompted some seasoned observers, such as Maureen Moakley, a political science professor at the University of Rhode Island, to cite 2002 as the culmination of 10 years of political reform.
"It really marks the end of a transition going on since 1992, whereby Rhode
Island has moved into a modern age of government and politics," Moakley says. "By national standards, Rhode Island has always been considered kind of parochial and backward," because of the old-boy network, machine-driven politics, and the state's own peculiar traditions.

Still, it would seem naïve to expect Rhode Island to entirely shed its reputation for dubious politics. Harwood and numerous other legislative leaders have talked the language of reform on the way to becoming entrenched. But after the watershed year of 2002, 2003 promises to be anything but dull. As Darrell West, a political science professor at Brown University, puts it, "I think we're going to see substantial changes in Rhode Island, just because virtually the entire leadership structure has turned over and new people always have their own priorities."

Cicilline strikes many observers as a real force for reform, even as the City of Providence faces dramatic problems. The state remains on a far better budget footing than our neighbor to the north, but it remains to be seen how the avuncular Carcieri's brand of Republicanism will affect people, particularly the state's less fortunate residents. Just as the rabbit that greeted Alice after her tumble in Lewis Carroll's tale promised a world of dreams and nightmares, Rhode Island is likely to face its own mix of divine and obscene moments in the year to come.

In the city

DAVID N. CICILLINE was seen as an underdog when he formally unveiled his mayoral campaign in February 2002, but his pledge not to accept campaign donations from city employees quickly helped to set him apart from the status quo of Providence politics. Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr. wasted little time in criticizing Cicilline's work as a criminal-defense lawyer, but it was the upstart who proved to have the staying power in this fight. Nor did it hurt Cicilline that former mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr. and state senator David V. Igliozzi got into the Democratic mayoral race only after Cianci had pulled out. By the time when Cicilline decisively won the primary in September -- thanks to his sharp contrast from the Cianci administration -- the fact that he had made history as Providence's first openly gay mayor was almost beside the point.

Even after his conviction on a single count of racketeering conspiracy, Cianci remained the state's foremost figure of affection and consternation, at least until he reported in December to a federal prison in New Jersey to start serving a 64-month sentence. The Plunder Dome trial -- which lifted the lid off the underside of the Providence Renaissance even while sparking questions about the strength of the prosecution's case against Cianci -- proved a riveting drama. And although he remained perhaps the most astute political analyst on the air, Cianci's work as a commentator for WLNE-TV (Channel 6) and a talk show co-host on WPRO-AM led critics to charge that the two-time felon was being unduly rewarded for his notoriety. Some were Buddied out by the end, but a seven-part series in the Providence Journal offered a tantalizing preview of Mike Stanton's Buddy book, due for publication in 2003.

Acting mayor John J. Lombardi shook up the police department during his brief tenure, but the real challenges awaiting Cicilline remain much the same as they were during the end of Cianci's tenure: putting city finances on a better footing, improving the schools, reforming the police department, making city government more user-friendly, and capitalizing on the gains of Providence's enhanced stature, to name a few. As the city looks to the future, the mayor-elect appeared to be living by the credo of his campaign, having brought a diverse cast of early selections to his administration while scheduling inaugural celebrations for Monday, January 6 in three different points of the city -- Hope High School, Mount Pleasant High School, and the Community College of Rhode Island's Liston Campus in South Providence.

Around the state

ARELATIVE UNKNOWN at the start of the gubernatorial race, retired businessman Don Carcieri proved to be the right man in the right place at the right time. Myrth York, the three-time gubernatorial candidate, ran a skillful campaign in outpacing attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse and state Representative Tony Pires in the Democratic primary. But with House Speaker John B. Harwood having emerged as a symbol of legislative arrogance, Carcieri used his outsider status and a focused message of change to score a larger-than-anticipated margin of victory over the Democratic standard-bearer.

Perceived as being more conservative than the outgoing Lincoln Almond, Carcieri nonetheless promises to deliver a more robust style of leadership, particularly in working with the General Assembly and trying to build the anemic ranks of the state Republican party. Skeptics might question how much influence Carcieri can bring to bear with such a paltry representation of GOP legislators. But one case in point came when the legislator-dominated Lottery Commission delayed a vote on significantly expanding video lottery terminals at Lincoln Greyhound and Newport Jai Alai after Carcieri made a personal appeal.

"I think Carcieri understands how organizations function, so I think he'll be very good at communications and representing his own point of view," says Darrell West. "He has essentially already done that through the Lottery Commission," when Carcieri phoned members, sent out a press release, and showed up for the meeting when the commission was expected to take a vote on the VLTs.

Carcieri also promises to be a vigorous advocate in bringing separation of powers to the 2004 ballot in a fashion that meets the support of reform groups. "He is intense and he is willing to risk large amounts of political capital on issues, particularly separation of powers," says H. Philip West Jr., the executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island. "And in saying that, I don't want to minimize what Lincoln Almond did, because he did more than any other governor before him in Rhode Island history. [Carcieri's support] is a very hopeful thing in my view. I'm encouraged by his determination to get the separation of powers amendment passed in a good form and begin a whole range of other tasks before we get into the budget struggle."

In the state's general offices, Lieutenant Governor Charles Fogarty and General Treasurer Paul Tavares fended off challenges to retain their seats. Patrick Lynch, part of a politically powerful Pawtucket family, emerged to claim the AG's office, while Matt Brown, getting significant help from the political problems of John Harwood, knocked Ed Inman out of the secretary of state's office.

In contrast to the turbulence on the local scene, Rhode Island's congressional delegation enjoyed a fairly tranquil political season. US Representative Patrick Kennedy easily fought off a Republican challenge from David Rodgers, while Representative James Langevin failed to attract serious competition. US Senator Jack Reed "is becoming an institution in this state," says URI's Moakley. "He spent a lot of money [on television advertising] just to reinforce that image, solidly in the path of Pell and [John] Chafee." And the future is also seen as bright for US Senator Lincoln Chafee. "The more he fights with national Republicans, the higher his job approval ratings go in Rhode Island," says Brown's Darrell West, "because people are more likely to side with him than the Senate leadership."

On Smith Hill

DESPITE HIS BEST efforts to hang on, John Harwood was too politically damaged by the Wendy Collins scandal to retain his post as speaker. In the end, an obscure write-in candidate, Bruce Bayuk, even came close to beating Harwood for his House seat in Pawtucket. Incoming speaker William Murphy of West Warwick comes from Harwood's camp, but observers remain bullish about the prospect for some meaningful changes in the way business is conducted at the General Assembly.

"I think we'll see some different approaches because the legislature understands that people voted for change this year and they have to take it seriously," says Brown's Darrell West. "Their big challenge is restoring public trust and confidence in government."

URI's Moakley believes Murphy "is a very different character. He's indicated he's dedicated to more open government and has a mandate to deliver from the voters." She notes that legislative downsizing, which has reduced the size of the House from 100 to 75 members, also makes it more difficult to control rank-and-file legislators.

Common Cause's Phil West expects there to still be significant legislative resistance to separation of powers and other reforms. At the same time, the legislative leaders he's been talking with "have been very cooperative and it's a marked change from where we were a year ago."

"That effort to stonewall separation of powers seems to have ended," he says. "Some people who are now shaping the agenda on the House side are pragmatic and reasonable, and I for one welcome that." But whether this represents real change is difficult to say, of course. "I want to believe that it represents a move toward policy-based decision-making rather than hardball power politics," West says. "And I think it does represent that, but only time will tell."

Left out

PROGRESSIVE HEARTS were gladdened by Cicilline's win in Providence, even as they were disappointed by York's loss. Truth to be told, the lack of enthusiasm that York failed to generate even for some liberals was an early suggestion of her eventual loss to Carcieri.

The Rhode Island Green Party, which fielded candidates for mayor of Providence and several other offices, scored its first electoral victory with a win by David Segal in Ward One of the Providence City Council. The importance of the victory is hard to overstate for the Greens, but it alienated those Ward One residents who believe they'd be better represented by a more experienced resident with deeper roots in the ward.

It was a bad year at the polls not just for Republican legislators, but also for women candidates, who were few and far between. "I do believe a woman can and will be elected [governor] in Rhode Island and, I hope, in very short order," says Kate Coyne-McCoy, director of the state legislative training program for Emily's List, who volunteered for York's campaign. "I'm disappointed at the lack of women candidates in this cycle. We've got to work much harder. We've got to start much earlier."

While ingrained chauvinism may well be part of the local culture, Coyne-McCoy believes that women and progressives also bear part of the blame for not being sufficiently organized. "No one gives up power," she notes. "You have to take it, and you have to do the work to take it, and we haven't done that." An informal group of women, including Representative Nancy Benoit, Senator Rhoda Perry, Marti Rosenberg and Kathryn Hopkins from Ocean State Action, and Coyne-McCoy, are considering launching an effort to better organize female candidates.

Ian Donnis can be reached idonnis[a]phx.com.

Issue Date: December 27, 2002 - January 2, 2003