PROVIDENCE — Governor Daniel J. McKee’s State of the State address Tuesday night was overshadowed in part by a decision to block the public from the rotunda, where protesters had planned to gather, along with barring television news cameras from the House chamber where he made the speech.
The Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC planned to hold a “people’s State of the State” at 6 p.m., ahead of the 7 p.m. speech, to call on McKee to declare a public health emergency to protect individuals experiencing homelessness from the cold.
The rally-goers were met instead by stanchions cordoning off the rotunda, and Capitol Police officers and State Police troopers blocking each entrance. A sign said the rotunda was “reserved for the State of the State through the Department of Administration” from 4:30 to 10 p.m.
The rotunda, which is centrally situated beneath the State House dome between the House and Senate chambers, is routinely used for protests and rallies, particularly when major issues are being debated or discussed in the building.
The group of roughly 150 protesters instead gathered in a lower level area, and also marched and chanted on the first floor of the building during the speech.
McKee, a Democrat, also blocked television news stations from bringing cameras into the chamber during the speech, meaning the only broadcast camera was from state-controlled Capitol TV. Still photographers and reporters were allowed in the chamber.
“Both of these actions are very troubling from a free speech point of view,” said Steven Brown, the executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “It’s the people’s chamber. The media play an important part in covering it, and a state-run media outlet should not be the only one to video record it.”
He noted that it may have been appropriate to briefly block the rotunda so speech attendees could make it to their seats. But “to completely block it off for more than five hours when there is no apparent reason for that to happen other than to make this rally more difficult is extremely troubling,” Brown said.
Harrison Tuttle, president of the Black Lives Matter RI PAC, said McKee made an “unprecedented decision by asking the State Police to not allow Rhode Islanders, people who are unhoused on the streets of Rhode Island tonight to be able to exercise their First Amendment rights in the State House rotunda.”
“The governor is effectively determining where Rhode Islanders can use their voice talking about the issues that pertain to their lives,” Tuttle said. “This sends a message to any Rhode Islander who ever wishes to come to the State House that unless the governor agrees with your reason for organizing or using your voice he will not allow you in certain places in the building.”
Tuttle was later captured on camera by CBS affiliate WPRI-TV being escorted down the stairs to the first floor of the building by a trooper.
Reached by phone, Tuttle said he was threatened with arrest after he went up to the second floor of the building, where the governor was delivering his address. He left the building voluntarily.
“This is an action I would expect in a conservative red state,” Tuttle added. The governor’s office said he did not order police to arrest anyone for protesting or going to the second floor.
Shortly after the speech, McKee spokesperson Laura Hart told a Globe reporter, “The rotunda can be and has been reserved many times for events as it was for tonight’s State of the State address.” The rotunda was vacant during the speech.
Later, press secretary Olivia DaRocha said via email that cameras were banned due to a “miscommunication resulting from a transition in staff.” She did not explain further. The governor has had the same communications director, Andrea Palagi, since he took office.
“Next year, we will return to coordinating pooled access on the House Floor as we have in the past,” DaRocha said.
A spokesperson for House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said the speaker was not aware of the plan to ban television cameras from the House floor until a Globe reporter contacted him.
“We were never informed by the governor’s office that they weren’t allowing cameras in the room,” Larry Berman said. He noted that the speaker ceded control of the chamber to the governor for the event, and provided a letter dated Dec. 2 where the governor requested use of the chamber for the State of the State address.
“This is the governor’s show,” Berman said.
After the speech, Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, said he would not have roped off the rotunda or banned cameras from the State of the State.
“I think it breeds mistrust among the media and the advocates,” Shekarchi said. “I am very transparent. I try to run the House transparently.”
State Representative David Morales, a Providence Democrat who attended the “people’s State of the State” event, criticized McKee for blocking access to the rotunda.
“I found it absolutely shameful that the Governor’s Office would intentionally create barriers to prevent community members from exercising their right to advocate, especially during a time where our most vulnerable feel ignored by their government,” Morales said.
John M. Marion, executive director of good-government group Common Cause Rhode Island, noted that US Congress restricts camera use on the floor, but it was unusual to do so in Rhode Island.
“Cameras, in my experience, are always welcome on the floor when they’re in session,” Marion said. “The media needs to be able to report everything that happens, and that includes the reactions of the legislators in the audience and the other dignitaries in the room, as well as any protests that may happen.”
Tim White, the chief investigative reporter at WPRI, called the decision an “affront to a free press.”
“How an event is photographed or recorded is a news judgement that should be left to an independent press corps, not the government,” said White, who was a longtime board member of the New England First Amendment Coalition.
“If something happened in the chamber during the State of the State speech, like a protestor began shouting or a lawmaker stood up and turned their back on the governor, we can’t be assured the state-run television station would capture that moment,” White said. “The effect is a form of censorship, and the public pays the price.”
This story has been updated with comments from Governor McKee’s office.
Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado. Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.