August 20, 2014 – RI Future

Liberal legislator Maria Cimini, who represents the Mt. Pleasant and Elmhurst areas of Providence, is being opposed in her bid for reelection not only by House Speaker Nick Mattiello but also by NEARI, the state’s largest teachers’ union.

“Our PAC committee determined her opponent, who strongly supports our issues, would have a greater impact on those issues in the legislature,” said NEARI President Larry Purtill. “Difficult decision but one we felt was in best interest of our members which is how I believe we should be making decisions.”

In the Democratic primary for House District 7, NEARI is backing Dan McKiernan, a lawyer in private practice.

Cimini administers the state SNAP program as a research associate at the University of Rhode Island, and as such she is dues-paying member of the NEA. More importantly, she says, she worked towards teacher-friendly education reforms as a legislator.

“I’ve been extraordinarily proud to support and champion issues related to supporting educators, administrators and students,” she said. “I’ve been proactive in researching issues of high stakes testing and teacher evaluations, I’ve been vocal in my opposition to some policies as well as supportive of reforms promoted by the NEA.”

She added, “I’m disappointed that as an ardent union supporter in my personal life and my professional and political career that the NEA has chosen to support my opponent.”

Mark Gray, president of the Young Democrats of Rhode Island, took issue with the endorsement.

“We have great respect for the members of NEA and their continued advocacy for children in our state, but we disagree with the NEA endorsement in House District 7,” he said. “Representative Cimini is a champion for Rhode Island workers—NEA members included. Last year, she successfully argued for over $12 million to be returned to the state budget to ensure we met our commitment to the pension fund for workers. She has consistently advocated for fully funding school districts and for ending the malpractice of high-stakes testing. Finally, she’s been a fearless advocate of our state’s most disadvantaged people: those who can’t afford child care, housing, or food for their own families. We feel that the interests of teachers, students, and young Rhode Islanders have been well represented by real Democrats like Maria Cimini.”

McKiernan could not be reached for comment. (I’ll update this post if I hear from him)

Both candidates address education on their campaign websites.

McKiernan says on his website:

“I will focus on the economy because it impacts ALL of us. A down economy makes it hard for those in private enterprise to make a living. It reduces tax revenues, stressing those who work for the government. This makes it harder for the government to fund other activities, including educational and social welfare programs. A down economy hurts all of us.”

Cimini’s website says:

All young people are deserving of a high quality education that prepares them to be successful in the workforce, in the community, and in life. Schools have a responsibility to develop the next generation of leaders, not test takers. Rhode Island needs a statewide school funding formula to ensure that all children have equitable access to high quality education. Schools must support young people not only academically but also by being safe places for social emotional growth both during the school day and after school time.

Legislative Impact

Increased higher education funding by $4 million

Serves on the Commission to Study the Affordability and Accessibility of Public Higher Education in Rhode Island

Co-sponsored the Safe Schools Act to direct RIDE to create and implement statewide policy on cyberbullying prevention

Passed legislation to create the RI Family Engagement Advisory Council. The Council, composed of teachers, parents and administrators, will make recommendations on developing policies to make families more active in the life of their children’s schools

At yesterday’s bi-partisan Preparatory Commission ahead of a report on “possible issues for consideration at a Constitutional Convention,” lawyer and Republican national committeeman Steven Frias, played the role of cross-examiner as he attempted to pin down the ACLU’s Steve Brown on the efficacy of the 1986 Constitutional Convention.

Noting that he was asking a “subjective question” Frias asked Brown “Have good amendments come of constitutional conventions in the past?”

Brown, who has only studied the 1986 convention in Rhode Island, answered, “Nothing that came out of the 1986 convention was worth it. No.”

“Not the Ethics Commission amendment?” pressed Frias.

“No, and that’s an interesting one,” countered Brown, “The Ethics Commission was one of the few, so-called ‘good government’ reforms that passed the convention and here we are a few years later, complaining… we need another convention in order to correct the language that was passed in 1986.”

Frias did not like Brown’s answer. “Would you agree,” he asked, “that the reason we are trying to change the language in the amendment is due to a [State] Supreme Court decision that was enunciated at the end of the last decade in regards to Senator Irons?”

“No,” answered Brown, “I would say it’s because of the ambiguity in the language [of the amendment] that was passed by the 1986 convention.”

Now visibly annoyed, Frias, who obviously feels that the Supreme Court decision was a case of judicial overreach and not a problem inherent in the language of the amendment, concluded, “Okay, thank you. It’s a legal interpretation.”

You can watch it here:

Also of interest was Brown’s description of the “bundling” of amendments. The 1986 Con-Con ultimately approved 25 amendments for consideration by voters. Because that many questions could not fit on the ballots, some amendments were bundled together, meaning that they had to be approved or rejected as a group. Of course, since the delegates to a Constitutional Convention are entirely self-directed, there are no limitations on the number of amendments that can be proposed.

Day: August 20, 2014

NEARI backs Maria Cimini’s primary opponent

ACLU’s Steve Brown: Nothing good came out of the 1986 Con-Con