PROVIDENCE – By the time she became Rhode Island’s first female governor in 2015, Gina Raimondo was already viewed as a rising star in Democratic power circles.
Her national connections to politicians and business leaders made her the greatest fund-raiser the tiny state had ever seen, and she later parlayed those relationships into a stint running the Democratic Governors Association. Earlier this year, her sterling reputation as a moderate, pro-business governor landed her on Joe Biden’s shortlist for vice president.
But even as Raimondo’s political stock has soared nationally, one important lever of influence has largely eluded her locally: control of the Rhode Island Democratic Party.
That power lies in the hands of the speaker of the state House of Representatives, whose ability to steer party endorsements and resources toward supporters and away from critics is among the central reasons why the office is considered the most powerful positions in the state.
Politics are just the start. From control over what gets included in and excluded from the $10 billion state budget right down to the hiring and firing of low-level legislative staff, the speaker has a say over nearly every facet of life in Rhode Island government – leading some to suggest the position has become too powerful for any one person to handle.
Now, as House Majority Leader Joseph Shekarchi appears likely to take the gavel in January from House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, who lost his reelection bid Tuesday, critics say he should consider a series of reforms to empower more lawmakers and change the perception – or reality – that nothing can happen without the speaker’s blessing.
“There’s a need to decentralize power and put it in the hands of committee chairs and rank-and- file members so that it’s not one person who is elected by 1/75 of the state who is making decisions for the whole state,” said John Marion, the executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a good government group.
While there is no definitive study on the power of House speakers across the country, there is at least some research that appears to back up Marion’s point.
A 2011 study from researchers in California showed Rhode Island was one of eight states with a majority “roll rate” of zero, which meant that the majority party (Democrats in this case) never lost a vote. In 2014, PolitiFact determined that then-Governor Lincoln Chafee’s statement that Rhode Island’s legislature was the “strongest in the country” was true.
“No piece of legislation goes to the floor without the speaker’s approval,” Marion said.
When it comes to hardball politics, there are few state representatives who manage to continue holding office if they cross the speaker. In September, Representative Moira Walsh, a Providence Democrat who was a frequent critic of Mattiello, lost a primary after the speaker backed her opponent and allowed staff to help the campaign.
Another Providence lawmaker, Representative John Lombardi, has managed to keep hold of his seat representing the city’s Federal Hill neighborhood despite clashing with Mattiello and the previous speaker, Gordon Fox.
Lombardi said the speaker has the ability control whether lawmakers get office space in the State House, where the parking spots are located, and most importantly, their ability to move legislation.
“No speaker or majority leader has ever asked me my opinion on anything with regard to governance or statutes in the eight years I’ve been here,” Lombardi, a Democrat who previously served as president of the Providence City Council, said.
Lombardi also said the speaker’s control of the Joint Committee on Legislative Services, which has a budget of more than $45 million, means that he has can hire whomever he wants. In 2019, The Public’s Radio reported that at least 34 individuals who live in Mattiello’s district in Western Cranston had been hired since he became speaker.
“The speaker is too powerful, and that’s why need term limits,” Lombardi said. He has proposed term limits for all lawmakers, but said enacting them for leadership positions would give the House a chance to be more inclusive.
But those who have served as speaker say the perception that they’re too powerful is overblown.
William Murphy, an attorney and influential lobbyist who served as House speaker between 2003 and 2010, said he has always believed the governor is the most powerful politician in Rhode Island. When he led the House, Governor Don Carcieri was a Republican and often needed to work closely with Democrats in order to get any laws or budgets passed.
Murphy said the governor controls most departments across government and handles most appointments to commissions and boards. While the state budget requires legislative approval, he noted that it’s the governor who gets to make a first proposal each year before the House begins its review.
But Mattiello, the outgoing speaker, has repeatedly acknowledged that being speaker is similar to a statewide elected office. During a radio interview this week, he said it can be difficult trying to manage every member’s interests while trying to focus on the state’s needs.
“The speakership’s a bad job because you represent the state and you represent your own district,” he said. “So it’s a difficult job.”
The House won’t formally vote on Shekarchi to be speaker until January, but he has already won the support of more than two-thirds of the 75-member chamber. He hasn’t yet proposed any rule changes for the House.
And while Murphy rejected the notion that the speaker is too powerful, he joked that there is one thing Shekarchi should know about the job.
“Before I became speaker, I could count my enemies on my left hand,” Murphy said. “When I left, I needed a calculator.”
Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.