To the Editor,

If gubernatorial candidate Nellie Gorbea’s actions as governor reflect what she is espousing as a candidate, Rhode Island is in deep trouble should she be elected.

When exhorted to issue an executive order overturning the state law prohibiting the use of public funds for abortions for state employees and Medicaid recipients, Governor McKee said that he “…cannot use an executive order to reverse the expressed prohibitions codified in statute.”

Of course, McKee is correct.  Our constitutional form of government with its three co-equal branches of government, prohibits any one branch from overruling another unless a judge finds a law to be unconstitutional.  While a governor can veto legislation, he clearly cannot decide on his own to reverse a legislative decision already signed into law.

Gorbea’s response to McKee’s explanation:  “Crickets.”

If this is what Gorbea thinks of our constitutional process, then Rhode Island is in big trouble if she is elected governor.  

Lonnie Barham

Warwick