Two former Presidential candidates visited the RI delegation at breakfast this morning as the group was still reflecting on the historic nomination of Hillary Clinton. Before Sen. Bernie Sanders stopped by, Gov. Martin O’Malley paid a visit and offered his thoughts on the convention and the need for unity going forward.

“Watching every night of our convention unfold, people have seen a real party, a diverse party, with competing interests, competing ideas, but at the end of the day, people that are very united in our belief that our diversity is our greatest strength,” O’Malley said.

Speaking about the general election, O’Malley said, “Of course we’re concerned. The specter on the other side is a real menace to the country. But the answer to defeating Donald Trump is not to vibrate at his frequency but to vibrate at a higher frequency. I think Dr. King said it well when he said that you can’t drive out hate with hate or violence with violence, only light and love can do that. So let’s make sure we come together in this next 48 hours so that we leave this city of brotherly — and sisterly — love resonating at that level and offering a better vision forward for our country.”

And O’Malley had some words for the Sanders supporters. “To any of you that were involved with Sen. Sanders campaign, congratulations on being able to bring to our party for the fall the most progressive Democratic platform we’ve ever had. It would not have happened were it not for that primary contest, and y’all should be proud too.”

The delegation was still abuzz over the historic nomination of Hillary Clinton as the first woman to lead a major party ticket.

House Speaker Nick Mattielo Mattiello said it was “an honor” to have been part of the nominating process. “I think it will be great for the country to have our first female President. I think she’s very qualified, I think she has a unique perspective, and I think she’s just going to be a great president at the right time. I’m very excited about the process, and I was very appreciative of being able to play a small role in it.”

RI Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed shared that sentiment. “It was great to be a part of last night — and the night before. Michelle Obama’s speech was absolutely what the party needed in terms of unifying the party, bringing the party together. As a woman elected official, I certainly share the excitement that was in that room last night and the possibility of the first woman President.”

Rep. Grace Diaz said that it was a “privilege” to have been part of the process. “History comes to your mind, and you say, ‘I can’t believe it, I’m experiencing this! I’m living this!’ It put tears in my eyes. I’m the first Dominican-American in the history of the United States elected to the state level, and I know the feeling inside — a big responsibility, because you cannot fail. You cannot have the luxury of not accomplishing what you’re supposed to. I think that’s what must be in Hillary’s mind now.”

Said Jamestown Rep. Deborah Ruggiero “It was electrifying. It’s every little girl’s dream. And when they showed every single President, beginning with George Washington and stopping with Obama, and the glass ceiling shattered and there was her face — it was, ‘wow!’ It’s real. And all the little girls sitting around her saying, I may be just the first one, but one of you will be the next one. It was just a great message for women, for boys, for men, for everyone. It’s just where our country needs to go. America is great. We’ve got to keep it great. We’ve got to keep it moving and Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are going to do that for working people.”

Being part of the delegation, Ruggiero said, was “pretty cool.” She added, “It’s really neat to stand up there and to know that you’re framing part of history. To know that your values are such that you want to see a person who believes in what’s right for working people, making sure that we raise the minimum wage, that we have healthcare for everyone, that we support education, all of those values are Democratic values. And to be able to be there to nominate not only the right candidate, but the smartest candidate, the hardest-working candidate, with the most heart, who just happens to be a woman.”

Former representative and gubernatorial candidate Myrth York agreed with the sense of history the delegation had just witnessed. “It was incredibly exciting. And I know the historic significance of it, and the work is still to be done, it’s one step forward, but even just on a personal level, for her, and having just a tiny sense of what she’s done and committed to to make this happen is extraordinary. The glass cracking? It was hokey, but it was fabulous. I didn’t see it coming, I just thought there would be her photo next. That was a brilliant piece of stagecraft.”

At the roll call vote in Philadelphia this evening, the Democratic National Convention formally nominated Hillary Rodham Clinton as their candidate for president. The votes of Rhode Island’s 32 delegates were announced by Speaker of the House Nick Mattielo, who, in the tradition of nominating speeches, took the opportunity to sing the praises of the state.

“Rhode Island is the proud home of the great Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressmen David Cicilline and James Langevin,” said Mattielo. “Home of outstanding beaches and coastlines, some of the best in the world. Great companies such as CVS, Textron, Hasbro, and now GE. A state that has recently proudly elected the first female governor, Gina Raimondo. The smallest state in the union with one of the biggest hearts. Home of the best restaurants in the country, great quality of life, great people. Rhode Island proudly casts 13 votes for Senator Bernie Sanders, and 19 votes for the next President of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

When the roll call vote concluded, attendees in the Wells Fargo Center went into a prolonged celebration, cheering and waving Hillary placards.

“It was so exciting to be in this convention hall,” Langevin said, “When it became official that Hillary Clinton is the first woman to be the Democratic nominee, of any major party, for President of the United States. I’m glad it’s under the Democratic banner. I’m so proud to be a long-time supporter of Hillary Clinton, and I look forward to working so hard for her throughout the election cycle.”

Democratic Party Chair Joe McNamara echoed those sentiments.

“It was great to see the delegation come together and a tremendous experience,” he said. “I’m very proud of every single member of our delegation. The speaker did a great job promoting the positive attributes of Rhode Island versus the negative speech that happened last week in Cleveland, Ohio. He got the coastline, he got our corporations, he got GE moving in — it’s all about jobs and the economy and quality of life, and I think it came across very well.”

House Speaker Nick Mattiello and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed said they are pleased to add new layers of transparency to the community service grants and are satisfied with the existing layers of transparency with the legislative grants.

Paiva Weed said one reason not to address the smaller legislative grants is they were overhauled under the direction of former state Senator Michael Lenihan. Mattiello said another reason is legislative grants are often smaller.

But not always.

The speaker gave two legislative grants to the Cranston Police Department for $46,000 and another $25,000 grant to “Justice Assistance” in Cranston, according to this list of legislative grants.  Mattiello said Cranston didn’t receive the additional funding because it is in any greater need than any other police department in the state, but rather because it was the only department to ask for a grant.

“I have never rejected an application” for a legislative grant, Mattiello said. “Everyone says the speaker utilizes them to give out and curry favor. It’s not what we use them, it’s not my practice.”

Other than the legislative grant to the Cranston police, most of these grants are much smaller. There are some $2 million worth of legislative grants given out each year. There were $11 million worth in community service grants and legislative leaders said that total will be cut by several million. The remaining grant money, they said, will be given to state departments to award in a competitive bidding process to organizations that will be subject to state audit.

Critics of the grant programs say legislators use them to curry favor in their districts. The grant programs became more politically toxic when former Rep. Ray Gallison, who recently resigned amid a a state and federal investigation of him, was found to ask for a community service grant for an organization, whose work is unclear, that employs him.

There are separate bills before the General Assembly that would legalize production of marijuana and hemp, which brings us to the only difference that matters on Smith Hill. Bill Murphy, a former House speaker and close personal friend of current Speaker Nick Mattiello, is a paid lobbyist for hemp, and not marijuana.

“I support the hemp legislation because it has potential to create a new industry, develop jobs and boost our economy,” Mattiello told RI Future. “This is not marijuana. The product is not used for illicit drug purposes.”

Indeed, last week the House passed the hemp bill but took no action on the marijuana bill. It was introduced by Rep. Cale Keable, a close ally of Mattiello’s, who told the Providence Journal he introduced the legislation, at the behest of Murphy, without first formulating an opinion on it. “Bill and I talked about the merits of hemp and the things it could be used for … He asked me if I would be willing to introduce this, and I said I would,” Keable told the Providence Journal. “I don’t really have an opinion on it. I don’t know if it’s a great bill, a good bill or a bad bill.”

With the Senate poised to consider the hemp bill this week, Jared Moffat, director of Regulate Rhode Island, a group that has lobbied hard for Rhode Island to become the first East Coast state to legalize marijuana, thinks the General Assembly is moving the wrong bill.

“They are on the right path, but they are using the wrong vehicle,” he told RI Future. “Meanwhile, the right one is sitting idle.”

The tax and regulate bill also allows for hemp farming, Moffat said. It “presents a more comprehensive and effective alternative to prohibition for Rhode Island. It is primed and ready to move forward,” he added. “The key to getting it running? Speaker Mattiello, who simply needs to call it for a vote.”

Moffat said legislators are doing wrong by Rhode Island’s economy ignoring the tax and regulate bill this session.

“Our leaders in Providence continue to stress the importance of focusing this session on economic development and job creation,” he said. “Regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol would foster the growth of new businesses that would create countless new jobs and utilize the products and services of other local businesses. Passing the law this year would also allow Rhode Island to better position itself as a regional leader in this emerging market and more quickly begin raising tax revenue on the marijuana sales that take place every day in every city across our state.”

I didn’t vote for him. Chances are you didn’t either. He ran unopposed in his district (won with 1,145 votes). He wasn’t elected to be Speaker of the House by the people. He was elected by a frightened RI House of Representatives. You know who I’m talking about.

Nicholas Mattiello is the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives  for about five minutes. He was “elected” by the other state reps following the abrupt down-in-flames resignation of Gordon Fox. It was a battle fought for about two minutes, with some of the blame going to the Providence Journal for tweet-reporting that the “election” was sewn up before the votes were actually counted.

But Mattiello doesn’t have to be The Speaker. He can become the “Former Speaker.”

Power not derived from the people

Last time I checked, Rhode Island was still considered a democracy. We elect our representatives to serve us at the state capitol.

In the past, sometime prior to the start of the session, they gather in a back room and “elect” a new speaker. There are 75 representatives, so it only takes 38 votes to dominate the state for the next two years. Promises are made. Threats are made. And then the person who’s been called the most powerful politician in the state emerges bathed in glory.

The first order of business is the approving of the Rules of the House, and as soon as that’s done, our duly elected representatives give away all their power to The Speaker, and beg his highness for favors. Then they do what The Speaker says, or else they’re exiled.

Then The Speaker holds a fundraiser and becomes the richest legislator in the state. He controls the calendar. He controls the purse strings. He makes the Governor dance and twitch. He wants something to pass, it passes. He wants a bill to die in committee, it dies. He da man!

This is not democracy. This is an anointed dictatorship. 

Dump Mattiello

It doesn’t have to be that way. From now until the opening of the legislative session, there is a brief moment when the way things have always been can change. The rules can change. And The Speaker… can be someone else.

During the brief “race” for the current Speaker, I seem to recall Michael Marcello saying that he felt that The Speaker didn’t actually have to win every vote… GASP!

Yes, it may be comforting for a state rep. to delegate all his or her power to someone else. And yes, all the lobbyists on Smith Street know where to funnel their efforts and cash.

But does it really benefit Rhode Island to have an anointed dictator in charge?

• 38 Studios can be directly attributed to the power of The Speaker.
• Payday Lending? Why is that even legal? Oh, right a former Speaker is the lobbyist.
• Sudden reversal on high stakes testing because The Speaker changes his mind. (I happen to like this outcome, but the process stinks.)
• All those last-minute late night bills that pass can only happen when The Speaker suspends the rules.
• And on and on…

State Reps can change the cycle of abuse

To all the state reps out there. We just elected you.

You were elected to serve the people. The power of The Speaker undermines your power as a Representative. All the plans you have, the things you want to get done… What if they could happen with out having beg and plead or to bend over and give favors in return?

Whatever promises or threats have been made to you, they’re all smoke right now. Whatever promises you’ve made, revoke them.

Don’t give away your power. Don’t be intimidated by bullies. There is a moment of possibility here.

Un-Speaker Mattiello. Dump him. Make him “Former Speaker.” Elect a new speaker who will listen and work for the citizens rather than the lobbyists. Change the rules of the house.

And then govern well.

P.S. If you’re not a state rep, you can call or email your newly elected or reelected State Rep and say, tell her or him #No Mattiello

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post said “The last three speakers were either indicted, convicted or are currently under investigation.” This is incorrect and has been removed.

“The newly elected speaker of the house told a roomful of business people Thursday that fixing the state’s fiscal problems is his priority.”

I didn’t vote for Mattiello for speaker, nor did you. He was “elected” by a bunch of frightened representatives after just a few days of discussion. There was no political campaign, no public discussion. Yet he’s the “elected speaker”?

And he’s talking to a group of “business people” at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the Kirkbrae Country Club. He’s reassuring them. Why? Because he’s counting on their contributions to his campaign and any political action groups he might be setting up in the wake of Gordon Fox’s resignation.

In the article, Mattiello says that 38 Studios was one of the biggest debacles in the country’s history.” Really? Did he miss the Real Estate Bubble? The Dot.Com implosion? Stock Market Crash of 1929? Teapot Dome? 38 Studios has been and remains a huge sucking chest wound in Rhode Island’s economy, but it’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened in the US, not even in the state. Remember the Credit Union crisis?

But, having recently returned from a visit to the Bond Rating Folk in New York, Mattiello claims that we have no choice but to repay our “Moral Obligation.”

Let me reframe that little trip as a school yard scene…

Roger the Rocket wants a new video game! He doesn’t have enough money to buy the game, and Wally the Banker won’t lend him the money. But Little Rhody, who wants to be Roger’s friend, and thinks he’ll be able to play the game too, promises to pay Wally the Banker back if Wally will lend Roger the Rocket the money.

Wally loans Roger the money. Roger loses it on his way to the store. Roger can’t pay, but Wally says that Little Rhody has to pay.

Little Rhody doesn’t know what to do. Rhody didn’t have the money either! So Rhody goes to Wally the Banker’s friend, Bondy, who gives out grades of A, B and Junk, and ask them for advice. 

What do you think Bondy told Little Rhody to do?

Juvenile? Yes. Simplistic. Yes. Realistic? Startlingly so.

But the bad news is that the article keeps getting worse. Mattiello is telling these business people everything they want to hear. He’s going to lower corporate taxes. He’s going to raise the estate tax threshold.

One proposed bill, whose “nuances” he refused to discuss, would shift the way corporations taxes are assessed, from property, payroll and sales to just sales. In theory, this would increase revenue (presumably because they’d increase the taxes on corporate sales?), but in reality it looks like another big tax break for CVS. Think about it. What’s the biggest corporation in this state with the most employees and the most property?

Poor Little Rhody doesn’t know what to do. The rich kids all have so much money. Rhody wants to play in their playground. Maybe if Rhody will do whatever the rich kids say, then Rhody will be popular and have money too!

What do you think Rhody will do?

Coventry Rep. Scott Guthrie said he is supporting Rep. Nick Mattiello for speaker because “a couple people pissed me off.”

He said he initially contemplated caucusing with the group supporting Rep. Mike Marcello, but at the outset that group didn’t even know who it would put forward as the candidate for speaker.

“There was no one they had a name for,” he told me this morning. “If you have a name you can build a team around a name.”

He also said the group was “cutting deals here and there.”

“I like Michael but now it’s going to turn into silly season,” Guthrie said. “Do we have a smooth transition and do the people’s business? All this is is politics for the next election.”

South Kingstown Rep. Spencer Dickinson, another occasional ally to the progressive movement, said he too is supporting conservative Democrat Nick Mattiello.

“I began by supporting O’Neill or Lombardi, but lack of sign-on by the progressive wing made those choices unavailable,” he wrote on his Facebook wall. “I believe that if you had been with me for the last 72 hours, and seen what I have seen, you would have made the same choice.”

On my Facebook wall, Dickinson, a vocal critic of Gordon Fox and his leadership team, wrote: “Plausible intel that the Ucci Blazejewski team (that later grafted on Marcello as speaker) actually started out as the team of horses that was to keep [Frank] Anzeveno in power. Mattiello put a credible stop to that and that’s one reason why he will be the next speaker.”

Dickinson has long been at odds with the previous leadership group.

After this past session’s overwhelming victory for gun owners, the progressive caucus openly chastised – and literally had a screaming match with the Majority Leader (who is on our side), and Speaker Fox for failing to get the Assault Weapons ban passed as well as the other anti-gun legislation.

Representative Chippendale is calling it like it is.  Nominally a Democrat, House Majority Leader Nick Mattiello has an A+ rating from the NRA.  They’ve flooded him with thousands of dollars of campaign contributions–contributions that are probably illegal.

Chippendale also reveals that “70% of the House of Representatives knows, respects, and covets the NRA rating and endorsement system that occurs each election year.”

This isn’t the first time Rhode Island’s tiny group of real Republicans has praised the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives for their right-wing extremism on guns.  Here’s Tea Party Representative Doreen Costa thanking Speaker Gordon Fox for being “very, very kind to us gun folks”:

One of the most interesting battles going on in the state house this year is over the fate of the “payday lending” industry. Payday loans are short-term loans, typically arranged something like this: I loan you $100 now in return for $110 taken from your next paycheck in a couple of weeks.

This sounds good, unless you do the math and notice that this works out to about a 260% annual interest rate.  If you don’t, it’s likely enough that in two weeks you’ll ask for an extension, and it only takes a couple of dozen like you and suddenly my business is booming.  And there are a lot more customers than that around here.

It wasn’t legal to charge interest rates that high until an exception to usury laws was carved out for check-cashing businesses in 2001. According to Margaux Morisseau, who is spearheading the effort to repeal this exception, payday lenders in Rhode Island now write over 140,000 of these loans each year, totaling $50 million, the bulk of which are written by Advance America, based in South Carolina, and Check ‘n Go, nominally based in Ohio, though it might be controlled by partners based in Texas or London. You can admire the process at rhodeislandpaydayloans.com. My favorite quote:

“When it is due date of your RI payday loan, the loan amount and the service charge will be automatically debited against your pay check. An extension of your RI cash advance is also possible by paying an extension fee.”

There are a couple of interesting points to the story (beside the lack of proofreaders for web content). First, it is consistently astonishing to me both how profitable it can be to exploit poor people — and how many financiers are eager to do so. After all, a huge amount of the financial carnage of the 2008 meltdown was built on liar loans and various kinds of mortgage fraud aimed at sucking wealth from low-income families who hoped to afford a home. (And no, the Community Reinvestment Act had nothing to do with this, as you’ll doubtless read in uninformed comments.)

Obviously there is a risk associated with these kinds of loans, but even assuming a generous loan loss provision, we’re talking about more than doubling one’s investment each year. These are returns investors in more, um, traditional businesses can only dream of.

There’s a bill in the Assembly that would repeal this exception and limit interest to 36% — still awfully high, but in the range that banks charge on some credit cards.  Morisseau has put together an impressive coalition to push it, and Representative Frank Ferri and Senator Juan Pichardo have been very energetic sponsors. Morisseau and Ferri found 50 co-sponsors out of 75 members for the House Version, and she and Pichardo got 25 out of 50 in the Senate. Sounds like a slam-dunk, right?

Wrong. On the other side, Advance America has retained Bill Murphy, the recently retired Speaker of the House.

So what can a retired Speaker do in the face of 50 house members who oppose him?  Sure he knows where a lot of bodies are buried, but what can he possibly hold over so many people?  How is this a fair fight?

Here’s how it works. Murphy’s services are not provided gratis to Advance America. They are paying him $50,000 this year, according to the Secretary of State’s web site. How much work will that entail?  A bunch of phone calls and a handful of meetings. Nice work if you can get it.

And you can get it if you try — so long as you’re a current member of the House or Senate leadership. If Bill Murphy can prove to Advance America that he’s worth $50,000 a year for almost no work, then Speaker Gordon Fox or Majority Leader Nick Mattiello or even Corporations Committee Chair Brian Patrick Kennedy can justifiably claim to be worth the same amount to lobbying clients who happen along after they retire from the House. In other words, killing a bill like this on Bill Murphy’s say-so is key to a big payday for them down the road. Preserving a system that benefits Murphy is the way to keep the trough full at which they might hope someday to feed.

Of course, there are lobbyists who do real work for their money — arranging testimony, doing research, preparing press campaigns — and some of those are even ex-legislators. But the real money is in having a name that can make things happen despite how many are on the other side.

Now in fairness, I have no idea whether Fox, Mattiello, or Kennedy hopes to cash in on their service in this way, and in all likelihood, neither do you. But a very compelling indicator of whether they do is if this bill — sponsored by two-thirds of the House — gets out of committee and onto the House floor for an actual vote. Are the people who control the agendae of the House and Senate interested in a democratically run General Assembly, or is their interest in preserving the system by which ex-legislators profit handsomely from what was, in theory, public service?

Appendix:

For comparison,

Dan Connors, former Senate Majority Leader

George Caruolo, former House Majority Leader

Stephen Alves, former Senate Finance Chair