Kathleen Fogarty – RI Future

As Americans celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act Thursday, Governor Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea observed the historic Act’s passing in their own way – by signing into law legislation that will update Rhode Island’s voting equipment for the first time in 20 years.

Bills S999 and H6312, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Coyne (District 32) and Representative Kathleen Fogarty (District 35), gives the Secretary of State the power to purchase new voting equipment, a duty that was formerly carried out by the Board of Elections.

“Back in 1997, when the last purchasing bill was done, it was set up so that it would revert over to the Board of Elections,” Secretary Gorbea explained. “So, for the last 17 years that’s where it had rested, and the legislature, in this past session, saw fit to turn that around. Now, of course, the Board of Elections is an instrumental part of this, and is working with us on this process.”

She added that voting equipment is part of a democracy’s infrastructure, and that citizens in a democracy depend on that equipment to “deliver fair, fast, and accurate elections.”

Gorbea has ordered the creation of a Voting Equipment Task Force, to inform the Department of State’s process of researching and buying new equipment, which has not been updated since 1997. John Marion, the executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, is a member of the task force, said the Board of Elections was not moving into the 21^st century fast enough when it came to voting infrastructure, so the new legislation is a good way to move forward, even though it may be less transparent.

“The Board of Elections process could have been more transparent, because in the end the Board would have to vote in a public session on the purchase of the new machines, and now the Secretary can make the decision. The Secretary is not a board that has to have a public session,” he said. “But, fortunately, the Secretary convened a task force, to give input, and it’s a very expansive task force that brings in a lot of different people in the community. So, I think she is being as transparent as she can be, given the circumstances.”

Marion also said that the task force will be looking at what other states have done to influence how they will go about acquiring new equipment. Common Cause as a whole, he said, is also interested in making voting more accessible to Rhode Islanders. Senator Coyne shared that sentiment.

“The signing of this legislation is crucial to not only ensuring our elections are fair and accurate, but also to bringing the state’s voting machines into the 21^st century,” she said. “In addition, modern equipment will make the voting process easier for Rhode Islanders, which will hopefully result in more people becoming involved in the democratic process.”

Governor Raimondo added that the main goal is to ensure that government works for everybody.

“This is a bill that I supported. I think the Secretary of State will do a good job. It will be efficient, and as I mentioned in my comments, really performance based. We want to make government effective and efficient, and the best use of tax dollars, and I think this does that,” she said.

An interesting side note about this bill that was mentioned at the signing is the fact that all the main stakeholders in its passage are women. Representative Fogarty, of South Kingstown, said that this proves that women create good legislation, which leads to good government.

“It was not something that was planned,” Gorbea said on the subject. “It was just something that happened organically, and I was pleased to see it happen.”

Unless you live in the area, you’re probably not paying much attention to the primary race between incumbent Representative Spencer Dickinson and South Kingstown Councilwoman Kathleen Fogarty in District 35.

I wasn’t, until I was randomly perusing Anchor Rising, and saw this series on Mr. Dickinson’s five-page mailer to constituents outlining the issues he sees in the State House, and specifically those under the reign of Speaker Gordon Fox. Merely due to formatting issues, I recommend reading the unmodified PDF version.

Mr. Dickinson, according to his Wikipedia page, previously served from 1973 to 1980, attaining the post of Deputy Majority Leader. So when you read the letter, it’s important to keep that in context. Mr. Dickinson isn’t some political neophyte shocked at what they’ve discovered; he is describing a system that does not have to exist, and has first hand knowledge of an alternative.

There’s a lot to unpack in the letter, but notably that Kimball Brace, the consultant behind the recent redistricting process, was also involved in a 1982 redistricting process that triggered a suspension of election for the Rhode Island Senate. Why? Because they were found to be attempting to remove a political opponent through gerrymandering, which Mr. Dickinson alleges Speaker Fox is trying to do to not only him, but also Representatives Rene Menard and Robert DaSilva.

DaSilva decided not to seek reelection, and instead to challenge Senator Daniel DaPonte for the Democratic primary. That race could be considered a proxy battle between the opposing sides in the battle over state worker pensions.

The primary race in District 35 appears to not be as lofty. In Mr. Dickinson’s telling, the reason is purely to provide a pliable legislator for the House leadership, something that Mr. Dickinson has incidentally decided not to be. It shouldn’t be called corruption (suspect redistricting process that lopped a hefty proportion of Mr. Dickinson’s supporters out of his district aside), but it is political maneuvering.

Mr. Dickinson may have just emerged as the most clear-spoken critic of Speaker Fox and leadership. He’s doubly powerful, not only because of his affiliation as a good Democrat, but also from the vantage point of his time as a Deputy Majority Leader. In a great many ways, Mr. Dickinson appears to have taken the blunt “throw all the bums out” refrain when discussing the failures of the General Assembly and sharped it.

What Mr. Dickinson is describing is an institutional culture problem. Rhode Island’s is particularly bad, because it stretches back centuries; those corrupt Democrats of years past learned all about corruption from the Republicans who’d practiced it on them before (the state GOP garnered the “for sale, and cheap label” so often quoted about RI’s corruption problems). But it’s not just corruption that we need fear. Good people can be placed in bad institutional cultures and then do bad things.

This should be a fear of every progressive, or anyone who believes in that there are principled legislators in the General Assembly (full disclosure: I do). An institutional culture can co-opt even good people. Rookie legislators come in, learn the system, and then practice and refine it on others. It’s easy to bargain away the good. ‘I’m just doing this to get my good bill passed,’ a legislator may think, ‘if I don’t play ball, it won’t ever see the light of day.’

It’s an understandable way of thinking. It’s also wrong. I believe Matthew 16:26 puts it succinctly: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

We need more Spencer Dickinsons in office, it appears; people unafraid to keep their souls. At its root, that should be the foundations of a credible opposition. There are two ways to take power: by gaming the system, greasing the right palms, and working your way to the top; or; by smashing through, criticizing, working with other opposition members until the electorate hands you a bunch of like-minded people and you can take power after doing your time in the wilderness.

Anyhow, I could go on, but if you read Mr. Dickinson’s letter, and felt it was good, and wish more people would speak up about their experiences in the legislature like this, his contact info is on his website. On September 12th, win or lose, give him a call or send him an email and tell him about your response to his mailing. Personally, I wish more of our legislators had the courage to express their feelings like this.

P.S. A television camera in the Speaker’s office would be brilliant!

Tag: Kathleen Fogarty

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