Left and center: members enjoy Rotary After Dark at the Flatbread Company. Right: DGE Kris David supports the Pats at Hat Night, part of the Rotary Zone Meeting she attended in Toronto.
Nondas Voll invited two highly respected Rhode Island thought leaders to give their very different views on the ballot question asking voters if the state should hold a Constitutional Convention.
Speaking first, for the affirmative, was Gary Sasse, longtime executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council and currently head of the Institute for Public Leadership at Bryant University. A constitutional convention is, in Sasse’s words, “indispensable to restore confidence in state government” because the General assembly is reluctant to make needed changes. He suggested that a convention would consider such important issues as stopping things like 38 Studios, ending “midnight surprises” at the assembly, restoring Ethics Commission authority over legislators, giving the governor a line-item veto and others. He emphasized that the people would ultimately decide the merits of convention-approved amendments.
For the negative, Rhode Island ACLU director Steve Brown said indispensable human rights should not be subject to a popular vote, and we should remember the past to avoid repeating it. The 1986 convention he said, was no different from the General Assembly process and was controlled by the House Speaker. He said the abortion issue, not government reform, dominated that convention, and the few reform amendments that passed were so watered down that the voters rejected them. He suggested that outside interests were “salivating” at the thought of being able to pour money into Rhode Island to advance their social issue agendas. Better than a constitutional convention, Brown concluded, is to elect better people to the General Assembly.
Happy Bucks
Cap Willey-“Man-aging” director of his firm was quoted in the Wall Street Journal
Michelle Berard—for Richard Leone’s work on her car
Steve Hug—Santa’s Walking School Bus
Lots for delivering dictionaries to third graders, bell ringing and the holiday party for Sophia Academy and San Miguel
Barbara Harris for reminding us that the Dictionary Project started with Randy Dittmar’s presidency and for her husband’s quote in the Economist
Richard Applebaum for John Folan’s chairing the coat drive
Rotary Club of Providence, 27 Dryden Lane, Providence, RI 02904
Speaking first, for the affirmative, was Gary Sasse, longtime executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council and currently head of the Institute for Public Leadership at Bryant University. A constitutional convention is, in Sasse’s words, “indispensable to restore confidence in state government” because the General assembly is reluctant to make needed changes. He suggested that a convention would consider such important issues as stopping things like 38 Studios, ending “midnight surprises” at the assembly, restoring Ethics Commission authority over legislators, giving the governor a line-item veto and others. He emphasized that the people would ultimately decide the merits of convention-approved amendments.
For the negative, Rhode Island ACLU director Steve Brown said indispensable human rights should not be subject to a popular vote, and we should remember the past to avoid repeating it. The 1986 convention he said, was no different from the General Assembly process and was controlled by the House Speaker. He said the abortion issue, not government reform, dominated that convention, and the few reform amendments that passed were so watered down that the voters rejected them. He suggested that outside interests were “salivating” at the thought of being able to pour money into Rhode Island to advance their social issue agendas. Better than a constitutional convention, Brown concluded, is to elect better people to the General Assembly.
