To the Editor:

As the race for governor of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations becomes more caustic and combative, one has to ponder what is the real point?

The five competing candidates have spent millions to obtain an office with little constitutional power and little possible executive capability. All their varied reformative plans presented can never be implemented without the cooperation and support of the Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello.

Unlike the democracy our state government is supposed to be reflective of, our state system is more akin to a parliamentary system than a government with three coequal branches. In the Ocean State, the speaker is essentially the prime minister, the governor is the monarch and mostly ceremonial. Just like a parliament, the majority party selects the speaker who was elected within the chamber by associates whose favor has been curried. The representative who ascends to speaker has usually been elected in his or her district by a handful of votes, while the constitutionally emasculated governor must have thousands of votes to secure a relatively powerless chair.

Knowing this reality, the candidates for governor must wish to seek the office because they want to “be” something rather than to “do” something. A grand title, an inconsequential throne, a robe of irrelevance, and an ongoing pretense of credibility are all that waits for the aspirants of this office. Unless and until a constitutional convention is called to correct the weakness of the executive branch, everyone should hail: “Long Live the new Irrelevant King.”

Christopher M. Curran

West Warwick