Can Carcieri be beat?(continued)

Who speaks for the people?

With the exception of Democrat Bruce Sundlun’s four years as governor, from 1991-95, Republicans have maintained a stranglehold on the executive office at the State House since Edward DiPrete came to power in 1985. Still, with the greater and more fundamental partisan split in values this time around, the 2006 election promises to be a colossal fight.

Democrats point to Sundlun and Lincoln Almond as governors who were able to foster consensus with the legislature and labor while moving the state forward with big capital projects like the expansion of T.F. Green Airport and the establishment of the Rhode Island Convention Center. Almond, for example, after opposing the Providence Place Mall as a candidate, recognized the benefit of restoring retail business in the state’s capital city, and he helped to craft state support for the mall, which got built with more than $400 million in public and private investment.

The state income tax was cut by nearly 10 percent during his watch, more than $500 million in construction at state colleges got started, and Fidelity Investments located a sizable operation in Smithfield. The GOP governor was credited by labor with taking a progressive approach to controversial social issues, pouring millions into inner-city schools, to the dislike of suburban communities. The RIte Care program, which taps federal and state Medicaid money to improve the health of poor Rhode Islanders, also expanded during Almond’s tenure to cover one of every 10 Rhode Islanders.

By contrast, says Bill Lynch, chairman of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, "[Carcieri] can not point to any record of substantive accomplishment whatsoever, and people are going to see right through that." Lynch points to the 2004 election, in which Rhode Island Republicans, after their most aggressive push in a generation, made only modest gains in the legislature, as evidence that "the people don’t buy the governor’s spiel."

George Nee, secretary-treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, cites a common refrain of the governor’s critics: "His approach seems to be to shut us out, and he’s not getting much done as a result of it. These problems [facing the state] require all the parties to be at the table and to have a voice. He’s chosen not to use that method of problem-solving." And while some might take a dim of labor, Nee says, unions are responsible for having fostered "some of the most significant improvements in the quality of life in this country," including increases in wages, health-care benefits, and heightened health and safety standards. "We have probably done a poor job of reminding people or informing people of the accomplishments of the labor movement."

Carcieri dismisses criticism of him as being too confrontational, describing it as a response to his efforts to challenge the status quo. "When you’re trying to change things, it doesn’t happen smoothly or easily," he says. Referring to the pending agreement with Council 94, Carcieri adds, "Is that worth vilifying me for, because I inherited a situation where costs need to be brought under control? We’re going to have confrontations. I’m not going to roll over." Noting the formation last year of Working Rhode Island, a coalition of labor groups encompassing 100,000 members, he says, "Five-hundred thousand Rhode Islanders pay the bill, and somebody’s got to represent them."

The governor catalogues a list of his efforts, including his pension reform plan, which would offer $50 million in savings over the first year and $250 million over five years. Carcieri, who identified a target of creating 20,000 new jobs during his term, says the state is on track to reach that goal — an amount considered unrealistic by some when he set it. He cites the adoption of educational standards, improving test scores, and the creation of a panel on math and science education as steps toward greater accountability. Although critics would love to see reform of the state property tax, which funds a disproportionately high share of the bill for public education and has a variety of adverse effects, Carcieri is wary of making a broad change. But in an example of his ability to think outside the box, he says he’s receptive to considering a single school district encompassing the urban communities of Providence, Central Falls, and Pawtucket.

Among other initiatives, the governor cites his Fiscal Fitness efficiency effort, which is projected to save $128 million, and the ongoing consolidation of five state departments, each with a number of repetitive offices, into a single secretariat of health and human services. A new health-care contract for state employees with United will save more than $25 million, and he says local communities will be able to realize significant savings by using the same administrative rate as the state. Citing the BLB deal, which would tap new slot revenue for the overdue elimination of the auto excise tax, as an attempt to get some immediate relief on property taxes, Carcieri also endorses efforts to reduce the state income tax. With a strong handle on myriad details, he outlines a number of other initiatives — an open space bond, transit improvements, and efforts to improve the health of Narragansett Bay, among others.

The governor, whose State House office offers a prime view of the construction of lottery system maker GTECH’s new Providence headquarters, and the making of the Masonic Temple into a hotel, also notes the amount of development unfolding in Providence and the sense that Rhode Island has increasingly been discovered. "When you put all that together," he says, "what I see eventually is a state on the move — moving in a positive direction."

Efforts to come to terms with the state’s most serious financial issues, however, are, at best, incomplete.

Gary Sasse, executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC), a nonprofit research group, credits Carcieri for targeting pension reform, since personnel costs are the third-largest factor driving state spending that has grown at twice the rate of inflation over the last 10 years. The largest factor (49 cents on the dollar) is increased human services spending, and the second-largest (26 cents) is state aid. "I guess the bottom line is that there are still some very big challenges out there — entitlement reform, school aid reform, tax reform," Sasse says. "The basic issue is that [state] spending is growing faster than inflation, faster than personal income, and until we do more to grow the economic base, the state’s going to continue to face tough choices."