That’s just what I needed on the
heels of announcing my intention to run for re-election.
This columnist wrote that line
at the beginning of a piece he wrote on my 11 year effort, so far unsuccessful,
to get a law passed that would require magistrate judges to be picked based on
merit, rather than being political appointees. For 11 years, in both the House
and Senate, I have introduced that bill and worked with Common Cause for its
passage.
Each year, the bill eventually
died in committee “pending further study.”
Once I got over being miffed at
the “Lifetime Non-Achiever” title, I realized that the only way to get anything
truly important and meaningful done was to accept that it will not be easy and
probably will not be quick.
If you expect to walk into a
room, in this case the chamber of the House of Representatives, and to sweep
everyone off their feet with your powers of persuasion, earning their cheers
and their yes votes, you are going to be disappointed.
My legislative priorities tend
to fall into the categories of the economy, the environment, and ethics. These
are all hard issues but they are vital not just to my constituents in District
36, but to people across the state.
I approach each issue
understanding that I may have to keep coming back, year after year, until they
finally pass. For example, one of the environmental initiatives I have fought
for is product stewardship that would require the manufacturers of products
that are difficult to manage to take responsibility.
This year, after several years
of trying, the General Assembly passed my paint recycling bill which will
require paint companies to finance the state’s efforts to re-use and recycle
old paints, rather than have to deal with them as an expensive household
hazardous waste.
I have been promoting a broad
range of legislation to help our economic recovery. Patience and determination
pays off. This year, my legislation to streamline reporting requirements on
small businesses ended up being incorporated into the new budget. It didn’t
matter to me that the bill with my name attached was folded into the budget –
getting some relief for small businesses is what counts.
For the past several years, I
have been working closely with the Rhode Island Farm Bureau to advance a number
of bills to help save family farms and promote Rhode Island agriculture. As any South County
resident knows, farming is an important part of South County
Bit by bit, one by one, those
bills are making their way into law. While I was disappointed that my top
agriculture priority, reforming the state estate tax so farms are taxed as
farms not as potential residential developments, did not pass, I intend to keep pushing until it does.
Nothing worthwhile comes easy.
Any person who wants to run for office should go into it with the determination
to fight for what they believe in, no matter how hard it is or how long it
takes.