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Union-lead coalition urges rejection of constitutional convention
Union-lead coalition urges rejection of constitutional convention
By now you should have received the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s 2024 Voter Information Handbook, as it was mailed to all registered voters before early voting started on Oct. 16. The Handbook includes an “explanation and purpose” of Question 1: Shall there be a convention to amend or revise the Rhode Island Constitution?
This ballot summary, paid for by taxpayers and written by a government official, is supposed to be objective. But it is biased against calling a convention because instead of merely explaining the question it takes the improper additional step of answering it by implying that a legislature can do anything a convention can at less cost and risk. It mimics three biases that convention opponents routinely make in their anti-convention advertising:
More: Taking sides: Where do RI leaders stand on constitutional convention question?
First, it doesn’t explain the unique democratic function of the periodic constitutional convention referendum in Rhode Island’s Constitution. Twenty-four American state constitutions provide the ballot initiative to allow the people to bypass the legislature. As an alternative legislature bypass mechanism adopted by 14 states, Rhode Island’s framers adopted the periodic constitutional convention referendum.
Accordingly, the ballot summary should have stated that the Rhode Island Constitution’s periodic convention referendum is the only way the people of Rhode Island can break the legislature’s monopoly gatekeeping power over constitutional amendment. The ballot summary also misleadingly implies that a convention’s − but not the legislature’s − constitutional amendment proposal power is unlimited, with the implication that such unlimited power is bad. But if a convention’s agenda could be limited by the legislature, it would be unable to fulfill its democratic function as a legislature bypass institution.
More: Hopes, fears and money go into campaigns for and against constitutional convention
Second, it lacks a simple explanation of the three public votes that constitute the convention process: 1) whether to call a convention, 2) if called, to elect convention delegates to propose constitutional amendments, and 3) whether to approve or disapprove each of the convention’s proposed amendments. Its focus on the first two votes supports its implicit narrative that a convention is riskier and less democratic than a legislature.
Third, it only attempts to quantify a convention’s potential costs, thus not only excluding its potential benefits but also violating Rhode Island “law.” It is standard practice in public policy analysis to provide a cost-benefit analysis, so only providing costs is clearly biased. In a submission to the secretary of state, I suggested one way to quantify benefits: estimate the break-even point for the percentage of government waste a convention would have to reduce to match its costs. Given the Rhode Island State Government’s $14-billion annual budget and $140-billion budget between convention referendums, a convention that reduced state government waste by only .1% (such as by mandating an independent inspector general, which the legislature has refused to do), would have a payback of 29,200% using the SOS’s highest convention cost estimate, $4.8 million. And this, mind you, when the public thinks that state government wastes 42% of every dollar spent.
I don’t endorse estimating either benefits or costs in a ballot summary because doing so requires heroic assumptions inappropriate for such a summary. But given the SOS’s insistence on providing a cost estimate, he should have balanced it with a benefit estimate. Cutting out the biased cost estimate would also have been consistent with the 2014 legal advice provided to the SOS by a former Rhode Island Supreme Court justice and the SOS’s own legal counsel. They argued that only Rhode Island bond measures should have cost information in their explanation. But no practical mechanism exists to enforce this law, and a law without an effective remedy isn’t really a law.
Surveys indicate that voter information handbooks provide the most used and by implication influential voter information on so-called low-information ballot measures such as the convention referendum. It’s sad, then, to see the SOS so recklessly abuse this power, even if he is not the first Rhode Island SOS to do so.
J.H. Snider is the editor of The Rhode Island State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse and author of the video “Question 1 – Constitutional Convention.”
Local News
A Rhode Island husband and wife in their 50s were identified as the two people killed in a Swansea car crash Friday night.
Carlolyn Carcasi, 54, and James Carcasi, 53, of Bristol, Rhode Island, were killed in the Feb. 27 crash, the office of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said in a press release Monday.
The crash occurred at the intersection of Route 136 and Route 6 in Swansea, Quinn’s office said.
Police in Cranston, Rhode Island identified the driver who allegedly hit the couple as Demitri Sousa, 28. Sousa allegedly shot and killed a man in Rhode Island nearly four hours before the crash, Cranston police said.
At around 12:18 a.m. Friday, Swansea police spotted Sousa’s Infiniti barreling down Route 6, Swansea officials said previously.
The couple was driving southbound on Route 136 when the Sousa crashed into the side of a Subaru Ascent. Both cars had “catastrophic damage,” and the Subaru was engulfed in flames, Swansea fire and police officials said.
Both occupants of the Subaru were declared dead at the scene, Swansea officials said.
Sousa was transported to a local hospital, where he is being treated for serious injuries. He is expected to live and will be held in Cranston police custody until he is medically cleared, police said Sunday.
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CRANSTON, R.I. (WJAR) — Women’s Fund of Rhode Island and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed celebrated Women’s History Month in Cranston with a panel discussion on Monday.
The event was held at the Cranston Public Library at 9 a.m.
Reed and other leaders of WFRI hosted a panel discussion with women leaders in environmental and agricultural advocacy, education, community resilience, housing, finance, workforce development, and more, officials said.
Women’s Fund of Rhode Island and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed celebrated Women’s History Month in Cranston with a panel discussion on Monday. (WJAR)
“Women have played a critical role in this process, most often without any recognition,” Reed said. “Today’s panel brings together an extraordinary group of women who are addressing the challenged of sustainability from various angles and I want to thank you all for your great efforts.”
The panelists highlighted their experiences, shared insights and tips on lifting up women’s voices, provided strategies for sparking change and more.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (1)
According to officials, some of the panelists included Executive Director of the Rhode Island Food Policy Council Nessa Richman, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives at Rhode Island College Kim Bright, Newport Housing Authority Executive Director Rhonda Mitchell and more.
Local News
A Seekonk man is accused of murder after he allegedly shot and killed a man in Rhode Island before causing a car crash in Swansea that killed two people last week, police said.
Demitri Sousa, 28, is charged with murder, using a firearm while committing a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license, the Cranston Police Department said.
The shooting occurred Thursday night in Cranston, police said in a press release.
That night, Sousa allegedly arrived at the Cranston home of Javon Lawson, 35. Sousa began banging on the side door of the home, police said.
When Lawson approached the door, he was hit by gunfire from outside, police said.
First responders transported Lawson to the Rhode Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Cranston police said.
“Based on the preliminary investigation, the motive is believed to be a dispute between the suspect and the victim over a mutual female acquaintance. Detectives are continuing this investigation to gain more insight, as well as to collect and analyze evidence,” Colonel Michael Winquist, Chief of Cranston police, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Neighbors gave police video footage that “showed a male subject wearing dark clothing and a mask walking toward the residence moments before the shooting and fleeing immediately afterward,” Winquist said.
The suspect was also seen running to a white Infiniti sedan which then drove off, the Cranston police chief said.
Shortly after the shooting, a license plate reader captured the vehicle driving southbound on Route 10, and then later in Fall River and Westport, Massachusetts. The sedan’s license plate was registered in Sousa’s name, Winquist said.
At around 12:18 a.m. Friday, Swansea police spotted Sousa’s Infiniti barreling down Route 6, Swansea officials said.
Just moments later, Sousa allegedly “crashed into the side of another vehicle, a blue 2022 Subaru Ascent that had been traveling southbound on Route 136,” Swansea Police Chief Mark Foley and Fire Chief Eric Hajder said in a joint press release.
Both vehicles had “catastrophic damage,” and the struck car was engulfed in flames, the Swansea officials said.
The driver and passenger of the hit car — a man and a woman — were declared dead at the scene, they said.
“Swansea Police had been alerted to be on the lookout for the suspect vehicle. However, Swansea Police were not involved in the pursuit and were not pursuing the vehicle at the time of the crash,” the Swansea chiefs wrote. Swansea official have not announced charges related to the fatal crash.
Sousa had been driving the Infiniti and appeared to be suffering from serious injuries, Winquist said. Inside the car, police found a pistol and “additional .22 caliber ammunition was recovered” from Sousa at Rhode Island Hospital, Winquist said.
Police arrested Sousa and transported him to Rhode Island Hospital. Sousa is expected to survive, Winquist said. Sousa will be held in Cranston police custody until he is conscious and medically cleared, Winquist said.
“On behalf of the Cranston Police Department, I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Javon Lawson and the two individuals who were killed in the crash in Swansea,” Winquist said.
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