In & out of 2016 election lineup

Trillo: Time to cut back the stress

By John Howell
Posted 6/28/16

Joe Trillo is an anachronism. He is a Republican, who keeps getting elected in a state dominated by Democrats.

For starters, 16 years ago he beat a highly popular Democrat who came close to being …

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In & out of 2016 election lineup

Trillo: Time to cut back the stress

Posted

Joe Trillo is an anachronism. He is a Republican, who keeps getting elected in a state dominated by Democrats.

For starters, 16 years ago he beat a highly popular Democrat who came close to being the Speaker of the House for the 26th District seat comprised largely of Potowomut and Cowesett. Then he continued to get elected and some years ran unopposed. Running unopposed seemed odd, as Trillo has a way of saying what he thinks that frequently differs with the leadership. Wouldn’t the Democrats like to get him out? Wouldn’t they find someone to challenge him?

This year a Democrat, attorney Evan Shanley, is running for the seat. Shanley has strong support from the unions, started his campaign early, and has already raised $36,000.

Trillo was ready for a fight. He had listed $61,000 in his most recent filing report. He had done a lot of his research and he had gained recognition at the state campaign chairman for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

But hardly 10 days ago, as this session of the General Assembly drew to a close, Trillo took himself out of the race. Does that mean Shanley will be handed the seat unchallenged? Trillo doesn’t want to see that happen. He’s talked to people who have indicated over the years they would be interested in running if he weren’t. As of an interview Thursday, Trillo hadn’t connected with that person. The period of declaration starts this week with the deadline for filing tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Trillo said his decision to reduce the pressure on his personal life and not seek re-election was created by numerous calls and emails.

“The phone blew up on Friday,” he said. He said many callers expressed disappointment in his decision, saying they had counted on him as a watchdog.

“Well, they’ll have a new watchdog,” he said.

While a minority, he believes the Republicans have a strong opposition voice, listing off Blake Anthony Filippi (actually an independent), Sherry Roberts, Doreen Costa, Justin Price, Michael Chippendale, Robert Lancia, Patricia Morgan and minority leader Brian Newberry.

A key player in what comes out of the General Assembly, he said, is not even a legislator but rather Providence Journal reporter Katherine Gregg.

“She’s a pit bull,” he says of Gregg, “and not intimidated by anybody. It’s what I respect her for.”

Trillo became known as the fire code pit bull. It’s a role he’s proud of playing. In the wake of the Station nightclub fire that killed 100, legislators enacted fire codes directed at ensuring a similar tragedy never happened again. The new laws placed costly requirements on businesses and government, which Trillo argued was overkill. It was over the top. Over the years he has been successful in amending the laws, which has helped businesses to be more competitive. The worst offender of the new regulations, he notes, continues to be government entities that have failed to meet even less restrictive codes. He points to a recent news story about two of Providence’s fire stations failing to meet the standards.

“The city of Providence still hasn’t conformed with it,” he said.

Trillo gets equally worked up over truck tolls. He fought the legislation when it surfaced and he argues, had she wanted to, Gov. Gina Raimondo could have found the money in the budget to address road and bridge repairs. He feels the tolls will economically hurt the state, nudging up consumer costs and opening the way for an extension of the tolls to cars. If tolls were the only way, Trillo said he would have had only one toll on Route 95 at the Connecticut border for all vehicles that would have had a preferred rate for frequent users.

The fiery legislator polls his constituents on eight to 10 major issues annually, getting more than 400 responses that are frequently signed and include additional comments. It’s a practice that perhaps best explains why as a Republican he keeps getting re-elected and has run unopposed.

Trillo leaves his office – a gallery of family photos, framed political cartoons and pictures of various powerboats he has owned – and returns with a sheath of poll responses. He scans a summary sheet, pulls out his cell phone, and starts calculating percentages. Sixty-two percent said “no” to increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, 77 percent were against the truck tolls, and 85 percent think unions have too much influence. He included a question on the presidential race (the poll was taken after Trump had been declared the preferential GOP candidate) finding 34.5 percent of the respondents favored Trump, 6 percent for Bernie Sanders, 15 percent for Hillary Clinton, and the others undecided.

Trillo responds to those who have either mailed in or emailed poll responses.

Trillos wife, Marilyn, is one of his greatest allies. He said, “She loves being on the periphery of what’s happening. This [his decision not to run] is one of the biggest disappointments to her.”

So, why get out?

At the age of 74, Trillo says he’d like to take some of the pressure off. He is looking forward to spending more time in Florida during the winter months and cutting back the pace. He has sold his alarm business but maintains an office on East Avenue in Warwick, where he also has his study for the monthly cable show he hosts and produces. He plans to continue the show that features timely issues and most regularly elected officials from both sides of the aisle.

In his tenure, he’s served with four House Speakers: John Harwood, William Murphy, Gordon Fox and Nicholas Mattiello. Asked to rate them, Trillo takes a moment to frame his answer that is based on the agendas and how each of the men led the House. He rates Fox as the worst and Mattiello as the best. He points to Mattiello’s removal of the master lever, an action he never dreamed would happen given opposition from so many Democrats.

“It’s a good thing he’s done,” said Trillo. In the recent session, he credits Mattiello with holding off pressure to increase the minimum wage to $15 and extending driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

So, as a gadfly who has accused his Democratic colleagues of picking the pockets of the taxpayers and leaving their personal opinions and plugging into the master brain [of the leadership], how does he get along with legislators?

As a businessman, Trillo said he’s been lied to and cheated. It’s different in politics.

“The only way to survive,” he said, “is to respect everybody’s opinion. To look them in the eye and see whether this person really believes in the crap they are saying. Whatever snake oil they are selling, they believe it. You have to work with everybody.”

Yet, Trillo doesn’t hold out hope for real change until the leadership stands up to the unions. He is disappointed with the governor for not digging into the budget and demanding accountability, and for that matter coming up with the money to repair roads and bridges without turning to tolls. He terms the roads and bridge legislation as purely a union bill.

In the bigger picture, Trillo says for good government there needs to be a true balance of power.

The real elephant in the room is that there are too many Democrats.

With Trillo’s departure, there may be one more Democrat.

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  • jfraser

    God riddance!

    Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Report this