House panel vote would open floodgate on magistrate jobs

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A key House committee has approved a bill to allow the chief judge of the District Court to hand out an unlimited number of new $148,460-a-year magistrate jobs. 

A year ago, the state Senate confirmed the appointment of three new politically connected magistrates in the state court system, including a former state representative, the House speaker’s legal counsel and a legal adviser to the governor with family ties to the Senate leadership and the Laborers International Union.

The appointments sparked anew the debate over the manner in which magistrates — who get to wear the same black robes as judges — are chosen without having to go through the same public screening as judges.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted 14-to 2 for a bill to allow the District Court, which currently has two magistrates, to create jobs for an unlimited number of new magistrates, with the number subject only to the amount of money the court system can wrest from the legislature. The only nay votes came from Reps. Jeremiah O'Grady. a Lincoln Democrat who is not seeking reelection, and Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, who has left open the possibility that he too may bow out after this session.

“Chief Judge [Jeanne] LaFazia feels strongly that the District Court has been understaffed with judicial officers for years,″ said court spokesman Craig Berke. “Some of the District Court calendars have 40 to 140 cases daily, which adds to the courts’ security challenges, especially in Providence.”

The odd thing: Berke said “the chief judge made it clear in her Senate testimony that she was seeking only one new magistrate. She agrees the bill [as written] does lift limits on the number of magistrates, but any move for an additional number would put budgetary considerations in the forefront, as the current request does.”

The bill now heads to the full House for consideration.

But it remains unclear if the District Court has enough courtrooms for the 12 judges, two judicial openings, and the two magistrates it has now. There are 12 courtrooms, including the six in Providence, four in Warwick, one each in Wakefield and in Newport. The court also recalls retired judges, from time to time, paying them a "per diem'' that makes up the difference between their retirement pay and the salary paid a full-time judge.

Asked what the court does when it run out of courtroom rooms, Berke said there are other spaces available in the courthouses for judges presiding over "part-time" calendars, such as the "veterans calendar."

The sponsors of the House bill, H7912, include House Judiciary Committee Chairman Cale Keable, and fellow lawyer-legislators Carol McEntee, Christopher Blazejewski, Jason Knight and Joseph J. Solomon Jr.

Most of the controversy surrounding the magistrates goes to the manner in which they are chosen, and the fact that the overwhelming majority are former lawmakers, their relatives or their top staff.

That selection process drew criticism from Cranston Mayor and GOP gubernatorial candidate Allan Fung. "There is an unusually high correlation between being good friends or family members of legislators, or being a former legislator yourself, and being named a magistrate," he said, adding, "in order to peel back our 'I've got to know a guy' culture, we need to start making profound changes in the way Smith Hill operates."

The creation in 1994 of a Judicial Nominating Commission to publicly screen candidates for judgeships was supposed to squeeze some of the lobbying, politics, and behind-the-scenes deal-making out of the selection process. But then something curious happened. The number of magistrates chosen by the chief judges of each court without any public vetting jumped since 1994 from zero — the lone “master,″ John O’Brien, had not yet been given the title “magistrate” — to 22. The base salary for a magistrate is $148,640, but with longevity pay, most get more.

The list includes former House Speaker John Harwood’s wife, Patricia Harwood. Several — including former Senate President Joseph Montalbano and Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey’s sister and brother-in-law — started as magistrates and then won appointment as full-fledged judges.

— kgregg@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @kathyprojo