Crisis and opportunity
An old Chinese proverb holds that in crisis, there is opportunity. So will the state’s $450 million budget deficit prompt a long-overdue reinvention of how state government operates in Rhode Island?
The early results make you wonder. On separate occasions, Republican Governor Donald L. Carcieri and Representative Steven M. Costantino (D-Providence), chairman of the powerful House Finance Committee, each used the most ambiguous of details to outline initial plans to enhance efficiency in government.
While the governor moved ahead with a reduction by hundreds of the state workforce, the fate of Costantino’s recently unveiled concept (similar to Carcieri’s) to merge human-service agencies remains unknown for now.
The typically upbeat governor continued to talk a good game whenever he got the chance, pointing to heightened educational standards, economic investment, and his lonely fight, as he puts it, against the political status quo. Yet as Carcieri approached the end of his fifth year in office, the question of whether he has learned how to manipulate the levers of government power was increasingly present in 2007.
“The governor understands the power of the bully pulpit,” says Brown University political science professor Darrell West, who expects 2007 to be an incredibly difficult year for the state, because of the painful cuts that will be required to balance the budget. “He’s good at getting media attention for the message that he wants to deliver. The problem is actually getting things through the Democratically-controlled General Assembly. It’s tougher — more of an inside versus an outside game — and it’s really been his biggest obstacle.”
At the same time, as West notes, Carcieri has diluted his message while taking part in side battles over issues like state-funded interpreters and the relative personal responsibility of single mothers. While these stances appeal to the governor’s supporters, they win less favor from other Rhode Islanders and can get in the way of focusing on the budget.
For a taste of how state officials handled a challenging, yet less serious budget deficit this year, consider the move to try 17-year-olds as adults. The General Assembly undid the approach when it became clear that the initial change offered not just what critics condemned as a dubious policy, but also greater costs for taxpayers. Just as troubling was how, before putting forward the proposal, the Carcieri administration didn’t consult with Department of Corrections director A.T. Wall — the state official most able to offer an informed viewpoint about it.
The Democratic-controlled legislature also deserved a share of the blame for the state’s ongoing budget woes. Displaying a renewed fondness for questionable one-time fixes, the General Assembly helped underscore the lack of long-term planning that got us into the problems posed by a staggering structural deficit.
The good news, such as it is, is that the looming budget deficit will force state officials to make hard choices, potentially consolidating government and making changes that will save money down the road. Yet the difficulty, says West, “is that a lot of the savings from those types of activities come in the out years, so it doesn’t help them with the immediate [budget deficit] problem,” making broader changes somewhat less likely.
Scott Wolf, director of the anti-sprawl group Grow Smart Rhode Island, has made the case, pointing to an array of state assets (historic charm and quality of life; infrastructure improvements, including investments in health-care and tourism; a large and vibrant higher-educator sector; and a thriving marine and financial-service companies, among others) that Rhode Islanders shouldn’t be overcome by an exaggerated sense of doom and gloom. The state needs to focus, as he argued in a recent Providence Journal op-ed, on capitalizing on its strengths while dealing with its weaknesses.
This is true, of course, but also something of a perennial refrain; upon taking office in 2003, Carcieri, for example, talked of his desire of turning Rhode Island into the gem of New England.
Five years later, some supporters of the long-struggling Rhode Island Republican Party can only wait and hope that the state’s budget problems will deliver a reordering of the political landscape.
In 2010, the state’s budget difficulties could potentially help a self-styled reformer like former Cranston mayor Steve Laffey to claim the governor’s office. On the Democratic side, a busy field is assembling, with the presence of prospective gubernatorial candidates Frank Caprio, David Cicilline, Patrick Lynch, and Elizabeth Roberts. In one way or another, the painful cuts of 2008 can be expected to cast a long shadow.
