UPDATED: Half of Charlestown will be getting a new state senator – how to pick the right one
UPDATE, Nov. 3: After endorsing incumbent Frank Maher in his previous two elections, the Westerly Sun editorial board has given its 2012 endorsement to Cathie Rumsey. They cite Cathie's managerial experience and positive attitude, contrasted with Maher's resignation that, as part of the minority, he's not in a position to do anything. Said the Sun editors: "We see Cool Rumsey as a business-oriented, moderate Democrat who
can work for change within the majority party — change that the state so
desperately needs."
Sen. Dennis Algiere (R-Westerly) used to represent most of Charlestown until the maps were redrawn after redistricting this year. The part of Algiere’s district in Charlestown shrunk drastically and is now, except for a small sliver, all South of One.
Sen. Dennis Algiere (R-Westerly) used to represent most of Charlestown until the maps were redrawn after redistricting this year. The part of Algiere’s district in Charlestown shrunk drastically and is now, except for a small sliver, all South of One.
Incumbent State Senator Frank Maher (R) expanded his district so that now District 34 covers almost all of Charlestown North of One. One of Frank Maher’s few “achievements” during his four years in office was to get himself on that redistricting commission that made that map change.
If you look at Frank Maher’s record, he has done almost nothing to improve the lives of Rhode Islanders and certainly nothing that has helped Charlestown. The only Frank Maher-sponsored bill that passed the legislature last year was a bill to reduce criminal penalties on felons who commit violent crimes using crossbows. More on that later.
Fortunately, he has a solid opponent in Cathie Rumsey (D), who, among many achievements, was one of the key members of the team assigned by Governor Lincoln Chafee to straighten out the mess at the DMV. She set up new customer-service training and redesigned the technology that cut waiting times and made the DMV so much easier to deal with.
The next time you have to go to the DMV and breeze in and out of there in under 30 minutes, thank Cathie Rumsey.
By sharp contrast, Frank Maher has some very peculiar priorities and was challenged about them when he was interviewed for the Westerly Sun.
In that October 24 interview, Maher cloaked himself in the mantle of the Second Amendment when asked to explain about his bill that drastically reduces criminal penalties for felons who commit violent crimes with crossbows.
Maher claimed he had been asked by the RI Department of Environmental Management to introduce the bill to make it easier for handicapped archers to use crossbows when they hunt game on state lands.
Except there are two problems with Maher's explanation. One problem is that the DEM legislation (RIGL 20-15-4) to allow handicapped archers to hunt using crossbows in state forests had already been enacted in 2004 - four years before Maher took office - and had not been touched - not amended, not changed by him or any other legislator.
The second big problem with Maher's answer is that Second Amendment defenders - the NRA and others - would hardly be called "soft on crime." Indeed, while they argue for as few restrictions as possible on weapon ownership, they also generally favor throwing the book at criminals who use weapons in the commission of crimes.
So let's take a close look at S2983, Maher's crossbow bill, which passed this year on its second try.
Under Maher’s bill, if you commit a crime of violence (murder, assault, rape, armed robbery) or a drug offense, and use a crossbow instead of, for example, a pistol, you will not be charged with the more serious offense of committing the crime with a firearm.
Maher’s bill removed crossbows from the list of weapons defined as “firearms.”
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| Brendel family, slaughtered in 1991 |
Rhode Island was the setting of two heinous crimes that received nationwide attention during the 1990s. In 1991, Christopher Hightower slaughtered the family of Eric Brendel in Barrington after first killing Brendel with several crossbow shots to the head. The bodies of Eric and Alice Brendel along with their eight-year-old daughter Emily were found in a shallow grave. Hightower was convicted of those murders.
In 1994, Donald Graham killed Attleboro emergency medical technical Michael Blodgett in a road rage incident. When the two vehicles stopped, Graham pulled a crossbow from the trunk of his car and shot Blodgett in the chest and drove away. Graham was convicted of that murder.
Last March, Providence police charged 27-year-old Kosal Ek for firing a crossbow that hit 10-year-old Saila Sao in the eye.
There are hundreds of crossbow crimes in the US, some premediated acts like the slaughter of the Brendel family, others spur of the moment, like the killing of Michael Blodgett and others that are acts of negligence such as the wounding of Saila Sao. Under Frank Maher’s legislation, the perpetrators face far more lenient treatment from the justice system.
How is the world, Rhode Island, Senate District 34 or Charlestown a better place because of this bill?
And with all the troubles we face in Rhode Island and have faced over the four years that Frank Maher has been in the Senate, is this the best he can do? Allow criminals who use crossbows to commit crime to receive lesser penalties?
If this was the only example of Frank Maher's eccentric view of serving the community, you could chalk it up to...whatever you want to chalk it up to. But Maher's two terms in the State House are largely a record of screwy priorities that make no sense given Rhode Island's genuine needs.
Let’s take a look at Frank Maher’s record since he took Senate District 34 in November 2008. If you want to look up his record, or for that matter, the record of any member of the General Assembly, click here for the database that allows you to do that.
Here's another example of one of Maher's few legislative triumphs. If you find yourself in a professional boxing match and you’re getting the crap beat out of you but the referee won’t stop the fight, thank Frank Maher. One of only four “substantive” pieces of Maher’s legislation to be enacted during his legislative career was a bill to ban the three-knockdown rule in boxing.
If this was the only example of Frank Maher's eccentric view of serving the community, you could chalk it up to...whatever you want to chalk it up to. But Maher's two terms in the State House are largely a record of screwy priorities that make no sense given Rhode Island's genuine needs.
Here's another example of one of Maher's few legislative triumphs. If you find yourself in a professional boxing match and you’re getting the crap beat out of you but the referee won’t stop the fight, thank Frank Maher. One of only four “substantive” pieces of Maher’s legislation to be enacted during his legislative career was a bill to ban the three-knockdown rule in boxing.
In 2009, he was the prime sponsor of 14 bills. Five of them were symbolic or personal, such as allowing a person to perform a wedding, congratulating an Eagle Scout, special license plates, etc. Three were municipal bills requested by local towns in the district. Six were kind of substantive, although I use that term loosely. Two bills, S330 and S283, were passed.
S330 loosened the licensing rules for plumbers. S283 eliminated the "three-knockdown rule" in boxing matches held in RI. Maher's bill S284, which would allow distribution of free tickets to boxing and wrestling matches, failed (can’t imagine why).
In 2010, he introduced eight bills, of which four were symbolic, one was municipal and three had some substance, loosely defined, but none of those passed. One bill that failed would have allowed the sale of raw milk in Rhode Island.
In 2011, he introduced 18 bills, his record. Five were symbolic and of those, my favorite was declaring a "Ronald Reagan Day." Five bills were municipal. Eight were loosely substantive.
Of those, only S446 passed, a bill that expands hunting license requirements to include all stocked game birds and not just pheasants. He introduced S646, his first attempt to deregulate crossbows, which failed.
Of those, only S446 passed, a bill that expands hunting license requirements to include all stocked game birds and not just pheasants. He introduced S646, his first attempt to deregulate crossbows, which failed.
He introduced two anti-immigrant bills that went nowhere – the cornerstone of Maher’s platform on the economy is now that it’s all the immigrants’ (and the Democrats’) fault. Despite Maher’s belated discovery that the state has economic problems and his mistaken theory that it’s all the fault of illegal immigrants, he hasn’t actually done a damned thing about it. As you can tell from his actual record, as opposed to his campaign rhetoric, Maher has very different priorities.
In 2012, Maher introduced 13 bills – six symbolic or silly, four municipal and three semisubstantive.
Based on Frank Maher’s record, I think it’s time for the referee to invoke the three-knockdown rule and send Maher to the locker room.
