Senate president William V. Irons may be the most fortunate man in state
government.
As an increasingly energetic proponent of reform within the General Assembly,
Irons looks good by comparison with the hedging leadership of the
scandal-tarnished House of Representatives. As a businessman and supporter of
entrepreneurial government, he's a synergistic partner of Governor Donald L.
Carcieri. And as a shrewd and tenacious politician, Irons, who's marking his
twentieth year in the Senate, has ascended to one of the three most powerful
roles in state government without wasting his ambition on a quixotic run for
governor.
The 59-year-old East Providence Democrat, who says he overcame any sense of
inferiority about his slight stature (he's 5'4") more than 40 years ago,
defines his height as part of what makes him competitive. Even a House proposal
to impose eight-year term limits on top legislative leaders would jibe with the
time when Irons would want to hang up his spikes -- and he promptly raised the
ante by linking the bill to his major reform initiative. It's no wonder that
Irons considers himself lucky to be working at the State House, saying, "It's
exhilarating on a regular basis to be here."
Timing has also smiled on Irons. After toppling former Senator Paul S. Kelly
of North Smithfield as majority leader in 2000, Irons was in the right place to
win election last month for the new post of Senate president -- created as part
of a package of reforms backed by voters in 1994. And while the loftier
position offers an apt pulpit for continuing the Senate's running battle for
greater equality with the House, the fall last year of House Speaker John B.
Harwood -- which followed revelations about runaway legislative spending,
dubious personnel practices, and a general lack of accountability -- add a
considerable perceptual advantage to the more reform-minded Senate.
In other words, there couldn't be a better juncture for Irons's quest to
balance the authority of Senate and House leaders on the Joint Committee on
Legislative Services (JCLS), the hiring-and-spending arm of the General
Assembly, which operated as a tightly controlled fiefdom during Harwood's
decade-long tenure as speaker. Certainly, the move isn't without a measure of
political calculation; if successful, it would be a major Senate victory and
elevate Irons's place in local history, but it also enjoys the unequivocal
backing of good government types.
As it stands, the House enjoys a three-to-two advantage on the JCLS, which was
created in 1955, and the speaker serves as chairman of the powerful panel. (The
committee was traditionally composed of the speaker and the minority and
majority leaders of the House and Senate, although the Senate president has
since replaced the Senate majority leader.) Irons has introduced a bill
intended to create parity between the two chambers by adding the Senate
majority leader to the JCLS -- there would three members of each the House and
the Senate -- and alternating the chairmanship annually between the speaker and
Senate president.
Balancing the power of the two chambers on the JCLS is vital for enhancing
accountability in state government, Irons says, although he'd prefer to
ultimately see separate supervision by the House and Senate of their own
spending practices. Considering how the committee has been a nexus for some of
the shadiest practices in state government in recent years, it's not a hard
case to make.
The speaker's sway over the panel can be seen, for example, in how he has
enjoyed the singular ability to write JCLS checks with just his own signature
-- a practice not found anywhere else in state government. Dick Kearns,
Harwood's legal counsel and his former director of the JCLS, played a
significant role in approving the settlement of $75,000 and a job at Rhode
Island College for Wendy Collins, the former legislative worker who alleged
sexual harassment by Harwood, a charge that he denies. And as the Providence
Journal's Kathy Gregg reported in May 2001, the General Assembly's budget
grew from $11.4 million in 1990 to $22 million in 2000 (it's now up to almost
$27 million), and the number of legislative employees jumped from 408 in 1992
to 732 in 2001.
Not surprisingly, William J. Murphy (D-West Warwick), who formally succeeded
Harwood as speaker on January 7, has a different view on the prospect of
balancing JCLS authority between the House and the Senate. He can count by the
days -- 37, as of last Thursday, February 13 -- the length of his new tenure,
but the new speaker is obviously loath to do anything that would diminish the
power of the House.
Murphy puts the problems of the JCLS in the past, nothing that neither he nor
House Majority Leader Gordon Fox (D-Providence) served on the committee prior
to their elevation in January, and he says the panel can be made credible and
professional while retaining the House's traditional three-to-two advantage.
Dismissing attempts to increase Senate representation as "a power grab," Murphy
points to the way that JCLS meetings are now being held publicly -- the next is
February 28 -- and how Marisa White, a respected veteran of state government,
is serving as the panel's interim executive director. The speaker also cites
the greater number of representatives than senators -- 75 to 38, after
legislative downsizing -- as a rationale for retaining the House's numerical
edge on the JCLS.
Murphy falls back on his pledge to do the right thing -- that the operations
of the Joint Committee on Legislative Services will be open, the board will
vote, records will be available to the members of the committee, and day-to-day
operations will run smoothly. At the same time, it's an indication of the
tightrope facing Murphy that he embraces calls for accountability --
"Everything we do up here should be a system of checks and balances," he says
-- while trying to put the brakes on the reforms being more aggressively sought
by Irons. Showing that the best defense may be a strong offense, Murphy blames
legislative critics for not having done enough in the past to challenge the
operation of the JCLS.
In a thinly veiled reference to Irons, Murphy says, "The fact that nobody
seemed to get involved in the running of the Joint Committee on Legislative
Services over the past two years is not my problem." During a January 26
appearance on WSBE-TV's (Channel 36) Lively Experiment, Irons said, "You
can always fault me for showing up late," but he also puts the fault on
Harwood, telling the Phoenix, "We weren't brought in, we weren't
consulted, and it [the JCLS] just evolved according to the whim of the former
speaker."
Certainly, there hasn't been a more politically opportune time for Irons to
make his push for equal clout on the JCLS. Harwood's fall, the unexpected rise
of separation-of-powers as a full-fledged campaign issue, and the success last
November of reform candidates like Carcieri and Providence Mayor David N.
Cicilline clearly show which way the wind is blowing. Still, critics inside and
out the General Assembly have been raising flags about the JCLS -- and the
unbridled power of the speakership -- for years.
H. Philip West Jr., executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island,
recalls being told by former Senate majority leader Kelly that the speaker's
sole ability to write checks on the JCLS account was "a scandal waiting to
happen." In the '90s, Kelly several times introduced a bill that would have
required joint signatures for checks on the JCLS account; the legislation was
repeatedly killed in the House. Although Harwood was obviously quite reluctant
to give up the power, "The difference is the dynamic this time around," Kelly
says. "I think the press understands that it's not `a power grab' by the
Senate."
Asked about the past criticism of the JCLS, Murphy says, "There are many
things that have taken place over the past several decades in government that
are now headed in a different direction."
IRONS HAS EMERGED as a stronger support of reform than his House counterpart on
several fronts in the early months of the new year, illustrating what
legislative colleagues refer to as the Churchillian element of his personality.
He has led the push for an outside management review of the Joint Committee on
Legislative Services. Irons has backed the disclosure of how many hours are
worked by state employees. The Senate president has also signaled support for
requiring legislators and legislative employees to pay a part of their
health-insurance premiums. With his legislative partner, Senate Majority Leader
Joseph A. Montalbano (D-North Providence), Irons has also been out front in
backing the separation-of-powers bill favored by reform groups.
The effort to bring about House-Senate parity on the JCLS may be most
tailor-made for Irons since it represents a chance to blend his combative and
statesmanlike qualities. During the tenure of former Senate majority leader
John Bevilacqua, "We were very much frustrated with the way state government
was being run," recalls Paul Kelly, who remains cordial with Irons after their
leadership fight. "He was the constant thorn in Bevilacqua's side. He is not
afraid to fight, which I think is one of his strong points. Now, he attempts to
be much more diplomatic."
Yet even though Irons is arguably on the side of angels in hammering for
greater accountability on the JCLS, it remains an uphill fight. "The pit bull
in him is going to stay the course," Kelly says. "I think it will take a much
broader course to get it."
Maureen Moakley, chairwoman of the political science department at the
University Rhode Island, agrees that Murphy is at a competitive disadvantage
because of the recent scandals involving the House. "But Murphy doesn't want to
be the guy who gives away the power," she says. "That's just the nature of
power." As Moakley notes, even House Republicans have indicated little interest
in the concept of balancing power with the Senate on the JCLS. During a
February 6 segment of Lively Experiment, for example (in which Moakley
and I served as panelists), House Minority Leader Robert Watson (R-East
Greenwich), advocated including more GOP members as the prescription for
checking Democratic excesses.
Representatives show general support for Murphy when it comes to retaining the
status quo on the JCLS, and short of some deal, the situation seems unlikely
change since the House would have to sign off on the plan. "[Murphy] can take
the hits and the heat for the rest of them," Moakley says. "He's doing what
he's supposed to do as a leader." Even with institutional clashes on the
surface, the need for the Senate and House to work together to pass legislation
also augurs against realigning the JCLS.
Carcieri, who has made support for separation-of-powers a centerpiece of his
gubernatorial agenda, would seem philosophically disposed toward supporting
House-Senate parity on the JCLS. It's understandable, though, that the governor
wouldn't want to play favorites between the legislative leaders or be seen as
meddling, and, at least on the surface, he's keeping a low profile on the JCLS
issue. "The governor feels very good about the relationship that he is
developing with both President Irons and Speaker Murphy," says Carcieri
spokesman Jeff Neal. "He meets with both of them for lunch every week and he
believes they are developing a somewhat united approach to solving some of the
state's challenges." As far as the composition of the JCLS, "He believes that
it's an issue to be left up to the House and Senate."
H. Philip West Jr., the executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island,
sees the question in terms of the underlying checks and balances of the
American model of government. "The framers of the American constitutional
experience did not assume that people in office would be angels, but rather
that they would divide power so that those who tried to gain all the power
would run into opposition from those who held other powers," West says. "When
the power balance is shifted as much to the point where it has been in Rhode
Island, where the speaker, under John Harwood, could control virtually
everything, it makes it very hard for the people to have any protection." In
terms of the JCLS, he says, the question is whether a better balance of power
between the two chambers will create a more accountable government. (If there
was any doubt, West thinks the answer is, "Yes.")
Yet it remains to be seen if the fight for House-Senate parity will catch fire
in a way that galvanizes public attention.
"I honestly believe the sincerity of what he's [Murphy] saying about making
the system perform better," says Senator Michael Lenihan (D-East Greenwich),
"but nothing in the system has really changed . . . If I was a House member,
I'd have to ask myself, 'the power that we have now, is it worth the risk?' My
answer as a House member would probably be, 'No.' "
Still, even with the strong anti-incumbent sentiment in November, Republicans
failed to make gains in the House and the incumbents who had controlled the
chamber for the last decade, including Harwood -- who narrowly fended off a
write-in campaign -- were re-elected. For his part, Murphy expresses no concern
that the House's opposition to changing the composition of the JCLS will come
back to haunt representatives. "I think we are taking this committee in the
right direction," he says. "I know that when we look back after June, we will
say that we have done the right things."
Meanwhile, groups like Common Cause and Operation Clean Government are
mobilizing against what they see as an effort to squelch the
separation-of-powers bill introduced by Lenihan and Representative Nicholas
Gorham (R-Foster), which calls for "separate and co-equal branches" of
government. A competing bill introduced by Representative Fausto Anguilla
(D-Bristol), seen by critics as a product of the House leadership, advocates
"separate and distinct" branches. Denying that the legislation is a leadership
bill, Murphy says, "At the end of the day, we hope to have a piece of
legislation that will make everybody proud."
STYLISTIC DIFFERENCES between the House and the Senate can be seen in the
competing Web pages for the two separate chambers. The House version,
www.rilin.state.ri.us/hofrep.html, features a large picture of Murphy, a
slightly smaller picture of Gordon Fox, and a much smaller representation of
Robert Watson, the House minority leader. The Senate site,
www.rilin.state.ri.us/senate.html features more or less equally sized images of
Irons, Joseph Montalbano, and Senate minority leader Dennis Algiere.
Symbolically at least, the contrast reinforces images of the Senate as a place
with a somewhat greater degree of fair play, and it depicts Irons as someone
more secure in his current position.
After growing up in the Kent Heights section of East Providence, Irons earned
a BS in civil engineering at the University of New Hampshire and gravitated
toward a career in life insurance. Although he describes politics as a natural
interest in a family where relatives served on local boards and commissions, it
wasn't until June 1983, when Irons was 40, that he won a special election to
the Senate.
Rising to become chair of the Corporations Committee, Irons developed a
reputation as a business-minded legislator who showed support for reform. "I
think there were early indications that he got it," says former Representative
Tony Pires of Pawtucket. "I thought Bill was tenacious. I thought Bill was
someone who would become an ally from a long-term perspective."
Irons's tenacity, ambition and competitiveness came into the fore when he
unveiled a challenge to Kelly, whose own rise he had helped to engineer and who
had selected him as chair of Corporations, in the summer of 2000. The move came
as a surprise to Kelly, who had been Senate leader for eight years, longer than
anyone since the early '70s. But with support from a dissident group led by
Montalbano, who had previously challenged Kelly, Irons came out on top.
"Eventually, I think I healed the wound," Irons say, referring to two
prevailing factions that existed prior to the leadership fight.
Irons is seen as being more socially conservative than his predecessor,
although Senator Rhoda Perry (D-Providence), credits Irons with helping to pass
legislation of concern to liberal interests, including a bill promoting the
availability of different forms of contraception through
employer-pharmaceutical plans and another that extended the same
anti-discrimination protection afforded gays and lesbians to transgendered
individuals. Although more "doctrinaire" than Kelly, Irons "has for many years
been an advocate for change in the General Assembly and the way it does
business," Perry says.
Senator Teresa Paiva Weed, (D-Newport), a Kelly supporter who lost her
Judiciary Committee chair when Irons came to power, credits him with healing
the rift from the leadership fight. "I think he's doing an excellent job right
now," she says, regarding the push on the Joint Committee on Legislative
Services. "I only wish that we had started earlier."
Irons settled on the challenge for majority leader after considering running
for governor. He says he ruled out the run for higher office for fear of
running an under-funded and ultimately unsuccessful campaign -- much as Pires
did last year.
Having secured his power in the Senate, Irons remains a relentless booster of
Rhode Island, citing a flurry of indicators that reflect the state's improved
status as an economic competitor. He cites the arrival in office of Carcieri
and Cicilline "as an amazing moment," and predicts that Rhode Islanders will be
basking in good times in the years to come. Although social advocates worry
that the hard times will exact an additional toll on the poor, Irons puts the
budget deficit, perhaps optimistically, at closer to $100 million, calling it a
"manageable" blip within Rhode Island's $2.7 billion budget.
Irons says he relishes the chance to impact the architecture of state
government. As he faces his 60th birthday in May from the pinnacle of state
government (not to mention a third-floor State House office with impressive
views of downtown and the East Side), he seems to perceive fighting the good
fight as a win-win scenario. "There hasn't been a step in my life where doors
haven't opened," Irons says. "I've never had more energy, more enthusiasm than
I do now."
Although Irons faces an uphill battle in altering the composition of the Joint
Committee on Legislative Services, the smart and ambitious Senate president
doesn't seem like the type to take up a losing cause. For a man who once
regarded the possibility of overthrowing Kelly as "impossible," it might be his
version of the Holy Grail. Irons, though, puts his quest in more democratic
terms, expressing his faith in the possibility of an energized citizenry. "The
Harwood process should be eliminated," he says, conspicuously linking the issue
with the unpopular former speaker. "This is not Speaker Murphy's power."
Rather, Irons says, it's the power of the people.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.
Issue Date: February 21 - 27, 2003
