Editor's note: While the voters of Cranston House District 15 will decide whether to return House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello to office, we feel this race is of significance to the state as a whole. We are therefore printing this editorial in the Warwick
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Editor’s note: While the voters of Cranston House District 15 will decide whether to return House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello to office, we feel this race is of significance to the state as a whole. We are therefore printing this editorial in the Warwick Beacon. Our endorsements of Warwick candidates will appear in this Thursday’s Beacon.
State Rep. Nicholas Mattiello, D-15, ascended to the office of speaker in 2014 under trying circumstances.
His predecessor had stepped down amid scandal, while lawmakers were gearing up for that November’s election. Meanwhile, a budget needed to be approved for the coming fiscal year. Also looming were then-unsettled legal challenges to the state’s landmark 2010 pension reform legislation.
It was a turbulent time, but the initial reaction to Mattiello – who garnered nearly unanimous support from his colleagues, including members of the House Republican caucus – brought reason for hope. The new speaker addressed his fellow lawmakers, and all Rhode Islanders, in inclusive terms. He seemed to grasp the significance of the moment, to understand what would be required to succeed and move our state forward.
“There is no shortage of good ideas,” he said at the time, “whether they come from freshmen or members with more than 20 years’ experience.”
That initial glow proved short-lived, and controversies – some regarding policy, some surrounding the conduct of other legislators – have dominated much of Mattiello’s tenure in what is widely regarded as the most powerful office in the state.
While most of those issues have not directly involved the speaker, or have been beyond his control, his handling of the debate over the controversial community service and legislative grant programs left much to be desired. His public feud with the Providence Journal – including a highly unusual address to the House in which he said he was “embarrassed” for the storied institution after its critical coverage – was unwarranted.
While we applaud reforms subsequently made to the community service grants, the legislative grants remain a clearly political tool for incumbent lawmakers, despite the speaker’s protestations otherwise and regardless of the good causes to which they are awarded.
We would also be remiss not to recall Mattiello’s initial enthusiasm for the ill-conceived plans to build a new, taxpayer-subsidized Pawtucket Red Sox stadium in Providence. Reasonable people can disagree, but using public money to aid in the construction of such facilities has been shown time and again to be a poor investment. In this case especially, the move never made sense, and we are thankful an agreement ultimately did not materialize.
Also troubling have been the recent revelations surrounding former GOP candidate Shawna Lawton’s endorsement of Mattiello for re-election.
In a Google chat including other members of the group Rhode Island Alliance for Vaccine Choice, Lawton – who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in District 15 this year – appears to indicate she agreed to support the speaker and in turn received a pledge from one of Mattiello’s top aides of legislative support for the group’s efforts.
Lawton and Mattiello’s campaign have since strongly denied any quid pro quo. Rhode Island GOP Chairman Brandon Bell, meanwhile, has pledged to pursue a complaint with the state Board of Elections and perhaps to push prosecutors to look at the matter.
This situation gave us pause ahead of the publishing of this piece, and required us to re-evaluate our specific language and overall stance. We are not so naïve as to believe such arrangements as the one alleged between Lawton and Mattiello are unusual. That makes it no less distasteful if true. The real shame is that the story, and its timing, will likely only deepen the cynicism many Rhode Islanders have regarding their government.
Ultimately, we found ourselves reaching largely the same conclusion Lawton appears to draw in the online chat – that Mattiello remains the best positioned to make meaningful progress on important issues.
Through the distractions and frenzy of the last two-plus years, and despite the occasion missteps, Mattiello has kept true to perhaps the most central pledge he made upon assuming the role of speaker – to hone his focus on taking steps to improve the state’s economy and competitive standing.
His watch has seen a reduction in the corporate tax rate, and tax relief for retirees. His stance on the governor’s RhodeWorks plan led to passage of an improved version of the legislation, helping to put in place a real blueprint for addressing our ailing infrastructure – an issue that tops the list of impediments to 21st-century economy revitalization in our state.
Mattiello has also moved, albeit slowly at times, to address the negative perception many Rhode Islanders have of state government. He gave his support to eliminating the so-called “master lever” in voting booths, and is also backing Question 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot to restore Ethics Commission oversight for lawmakers.
In 2014, we wrote: “[Mattiello] is no stranger to the establishment, having previously served as majority leader, but by almost all accounts carries credibility as a man of pragmatism and integrity.”
That assessment remains largely true today. We appreciate the unique challenges Mattiello faces in leading a part-time legislature and the difficult circumstances under which he assumed the speakership. While we have not always agreed with his decisions and stances on key issues, we do believe he generally has the best interest of his District 15 constituents, and all Rhode Islanders, at heart. We also view his pragmatism, and willingness to adapt to the needs of the moment, as in the end being more a virtue than a vice.
Steven Frias, Mattiello’s Republican challenger, also has our respect. As with the Journal, he has in the past been a distinguished contributor to this publication’s pages. His fluency with issues and passion for our state are indisputable. We hope his voice remains a part of our shared discourse.
We do, however, urge the voters of District 15 to re-elect Mattiello.
4 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Justanidiot
Meet the old boss, same as all the other bosses.
We always will get fooled.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016 Report this
sprawler47
I must say I was surprised this newspaper which I thought believed in clean government endorsed Mr Mattiello. Shame on them. Is it because of the thousands f dollars he spent to advertise here? Is it because they don’t want to break up the status quo “business as usual” atmosphere in the GA? Is it because they don’t want to continue the non transparent “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” backroom dealings that will continue to go on? Did they get one of Mr Mattiello’s legislative grants?
Perhaps this site accepts Mattiello and what he has done this past session alone but we in district 15 feel differently. He may be the “accidental” speaker(he got that position only because his handler Bill Murphy called in all his favors after Fox resigned) but he doesn’t represent the middle class majority in the district. He supported truck tolls. He aligned himself with Raimondo, throwing pensioners under the bus accepting her pension reform . He signed and passed raimondo’s pension legislation saying he fixed the pension. He fixed nothing. The pension continues to lose a million dollars a day. He has done nothing in the past Jan to June GA sessions to address it. There’s been no discussions, no oversight, no monitoring of the lack of pension due diligence w/current treasurer but he made it a point to sign raimondo’s bill to hide the $4B due to decades of GA malfeasance. Is it the opinion of this paper that they accept his stance on the pension because they don’t have a horse in that race and don’t understand that the contracted COLA illegally taken (we will never know since a court case was squashed w/Taft Carter burying the issue) would have been discretionary income going to local business where now they get nothing, too? This paper thinks legal challenges to the law were a bad thing. Rest assured the legal challengers, if allowed would have shown RIRSA 2011 to be unconstitutional; all SA2015 did was hide a bad law. But Mattiello, his tag team partner Raimondo & the court put the kibosh on any litigation.
As for the stadium salivating speaker’s want of a ballpark, that’s not a dead issue. Look how Prov. is changing w/projects; Pawtucket is temporary and in 4 yrs, the 4main millionaires including one of Raimondo’s Point Judith pals will again bring the issue up. As for Mattiello being best position for meaningful change, you omitted change for who?
Even Michael Sepe, Cranston’s Dem mayoral candidate lashed out at Dem Speaker Mattiello for effectively throwing him under the bus, in an effort to link himself to the city's Republican mayor Fung.
Are you so blind as to see that if Mr Frias wins, the statement will have been made to clean House and that alone is meaningful change? People are sick of the scandals, the 38 Studios debacle, the head in the sand pension stance, his lack of sensitivity to even the developmentally disabled when he cut their budget a few years ago saying the state was broke. He’s a flip flopper and makes promises he can’t deliver on. The car tax he vetoed in 2010 is now an issue for him in 2017 if he wins. His limited state tax reduction on SS & pensioners affect a miniscule percentage of the population; many won’t qualify! Leg grants are his pay to play using taxpayer money. He’s against term limits &he never wanted an ethics law in his political 10 yr career. The Gallison debacle changed his mind as he came up with a part time ethics law with a block out time period. How laughable is that? One cannot make a complaint during campaign-election season. You are very generous in your assessment to a man who has helped the corporate and the higher socio economic population as many people still continue to flee to other tax friendlier states. As for your last statement, “We hope his voice remains a part of our shared discourse” you forgot to add “as the new District 15 rep full of honesty and integrity” because your support for Mattiello is just more of the status quo, backroom dealings and business as usual.
Thank you.
Friday, November 4, 2016 Report this
sprawler47
This is to validate what even a candidate running for Craston mayor says about Mattiello-the man you endorsed!
In his first sentence, Sepe said: "This election has been unfortunately marked by underhanded and frankly illegal influence peddling tactics. If this is how Speaker Mattiello chooses to run his campaign, then it’s really no surprise that he would collaborate with such a scandal-ridden mayor as Allan Fung.''
Influence peddling is mattiello's middle name.
Here is the link for the entire article:http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20161103/cranston-mayoral-hopeful-lashes-out-at-fellow-democrat-mattiello
Friday, November 4, 2016 Report this
DavidWilliams2
I was surprised by your endorsement of Nicholas Mattiello for District 15 representative. Mattiello was a key operative (or non operative depending on one's viewpoin)t in the 38 Studios Fraud (Raimondo's term for 38 Studios). As the House majority leader at the time, either he approved of adding $75 million to the already $50 million in the EDC budget, he either knew what the additional $75 million was for or never questioned why the EDC needed that much more in its budget. Either rationale is totally unacceptable. He not only let it happen, he brought the entire majority of the House along to make it happen. Representative Mattiello, who became Speaker when Representative Fox resigned shortly before moving to an out of state federally gated community, then determined that the taxpayers should make good on the deal rather than having the insurance company pay up as the insurer of it. We all know insurers investigate thoroughly before paying anything and certainly a $75 million payoff would have been investigated. Mattiello, the lawyer, knew this too, and insisted that the taxpayers foot the bill to avoid an investigation by an outside (non-government political entity) uncontrollable by the insiders responsible for the fraud. And, insurers do not pay fraudulent claims. What really surprised me was how the Beacon and the Herald was so amenable to doing business with Mattiello prior to endorsing him. Mattiello's finance reports list payments of $500 and $7,689.50 to Beacon for advertising. It makes me wonder, and no doubt others like me, if Mattiello bought the endorsement by the Herald and Beacon for a total of $8,189.50 as of the last campaign report. He also paid GoLocal $9,000 for advertising. GoLocal chose to endorse Mattiello. And the Providence Journal did likewise after many condemnations of Mattiello's actions as both the majority leader and Speaker. Mattiello made the truck tolls happen. Mattiello made "straight time" instead of overtime for Sunday work at Twin Rivers. Mattiello made private grants using taxpayer money to favored groups. These were "deserving" groups and consisted of voters. Want to buy a bridge? Mattiello sponsored the pension overhaul in the legislature. Sprawler is right on the money. The State was $4 BILLION in arrears to the pension fund a year before an upcoming election year. His interest was not in saving the pension fund, it was hiding the malfeasance of the State in not making its required payments as an employer. Consider your readers experiences if their employers failed to make the necessary payments to Social Security as required. Independent forensic investigations over the last several years have concluded that the pension fund has lost even more money and sooner or later, Mattiello will be requiring the taxpayers to pony up to bail out the state just like 38 Studios. Did you ever wonder why the roads and bridges fell into such emergency repair despite all the taxes and fees motorists pay? More neglect by the state. And, who is going to bail out the State for its malfeasance? Mattiello says the truckers, but we know better than that, don't we? Why has the legislature never discussed "Payday Loan Interest", "Term Limits", and a host of other bills submitted by our representatives in the House? DOA at the insistence of Mattiello. Mattiello, for 10 years, has said we do not need an ethics bill. The General Assembly can "police itself". He has repeatedly beaten back all of the ethics bills before the General Assembly, until AFTER all of his cronies got caught with their pants down in a variety of unethical practices. And this is the person the Beacon and Herald wants to return to the House? Really? Are you serious? Or, did $8,189.50 have anything to do with it?
Friday, November 4, 2016 Report this