Line-item veto draws praise, criticism

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Ken Block, chairman of Watchdog R.I., told a special legislative commission Wednesday afternoon that a Rhode Island governor should have the power to make line-item vetoes in a budget passed by the General Assembly.

"We've seen the last-minute shenanigans," said Block, who ran for governor in 2014. "We don't like them."

In Rhode Island, he said, "extraordinary budget powers are concentrated in the hands of just a very few people." Only six states, Rhode Island among them, do not give their governor the line-item veto power. As a result, he said: "We have a lack of checks and balances."

Robin Muksian, the director of administration for Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung, called the line-item veto "a protection against any reckless entity."

Adi Goldstein, the governor's senior legal counsel, said budget decisions are often painful, but giving the government the ability to make cuts could bring transparency to something that can be "necessary for the public good." She said, "The electorate should have the opportunity to weigh in."

The bill, if passed, would let voters decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow the governor to make line-item vetoes.

The commission is made up of six legislators and five men from outside the General Assembly. They are retired Judge John Cappelli; retired URI professor Edgar Leduc; former state attorney general and federal prosecutor James O'Neil; Robert Mancini, president of the CPA Society of R.I.; and David Balasco, a lobbyist for Lifespan.

Leduc began grilling Block, asking him to cite details about polls showing up to 66 percent of voters favored the veto and challenging his implication of wrongdoing in the legislative process.

If an allocation "shows up in the last hours of the budget," Block answered, "and it benefits one person, I'm going to say that's corruption."

Leduc complained about a lack of organizations opposing the bill.

Lobbyist Christopher Boyle, who said he advocates for, among other groups, the 1,000 people rallying at that moment in the State House rotunda for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities and the people who care for them, cautioned the panel to be cautious about giving a governor more power. Boyle said, "There may be nefarious reasons that a governor may use this."

Nicholas Hemond, from the Hospital Association of Rhode Island, expressed concern for the budget process, which "gives everybody the opportunity to be heard." Hospitals are often "every governor's favorite place to cut," he said. "What we're afraid of is we go through that process, then at the stroke of a pen, our hard work is undone."

"I believe we have an appropriate balance of power" under the current structure, said Margaret Van Bree, president of Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children's Hospital.

Activist Randall Rose, of Rhode Island Rights, said the line-item veto would not make much difference either way, but he cautioned against giving the governor the right to change a measure's wording.

An override would require three-fifths of those voting, which Thomas Getz, of Pawtucket, said would bring "some kind of sunshine" to such spending as legislative grants, that are introduced in the dark at session's end.

— dnaylor@providencejournal.com

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