Ruggerio’s gain may be Raimondo’s loss
Senate’s shift in power costs governor an ally
PROVIDENCE — The rise of a self-described moderate, Dominick Ruggerio, to lead the Rhode Island Senate is reshaping the political calculus of a state where being a Democrat — as most politicians are — only tells part of the story.
At stake is the agenda of Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo, whose challenging relationship with Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, of the party's conservative wing, is now compounded by the loss of a close Senate ally in Ruggerio's predecessor, Teresa Paiva Weed.
"It makes things slightly more difficult for the governor," said Joseph Cammarano, a political science professor at Providence College. "Mattiello and Ruggerio are basically in the same wing of the Democratic Party. Paiva Weed had always been a little more of a progressive, a little more of a reformer and close to the governor."
What the Senate changeover means to Raimondo "probably is a death knell for her plan for free tuition for the final two years of college," Cammarano said. Others dispute that contention, including Ruggerio, who said he supports the idea but wants "to look at where the money's coming from."
Ruggerio's fellow senators on Thursday unanimously elected the North Providence Democrat and the chamber's longest-serving member to be the new Senate president. The longtime administrator for a construction industry labor group replaces Paiva Weed, a Newport Democrat who was the first woman to hold the position when she took the presidency in 2009. She is leaving to direct the Hospital Association of Rhode Island.
Ruggerio said in a speech after the election that his focus is "first and foremost on supporting job creation and economic development," which aligns him with the goals of both Raimondo and Mattiello. He said other priorities include safe roads and bridges, quality education and access to health, describing all as issues that don't fall on partisan lines.
Ruggerio gave a boost to marijuana proponents last year when he co-sponsored a bill to legalize recreational pot, but has since expressed caution about moving too quickly.
Former Republican state Sen. John Pagliarini, of Tiverton, said he doesn't expect much of a policy shift from Ruggerio, saying he "was always open to ideas to make legislation better" regardless of ideology. Ruggerio might be less aligned with Raimondo than Paiva Weed was on social services policy, but more so on economic development, Pagliarini said.
Ruggerio's ascension is worrisome to liberal Democrats, as is the rise of Warwick Sen. Michael McCaffrey to replace him as the new Democratic majority leader. Both were endorsed by fellow Democrats in a party caucus meeting Thursday, but two of the Senate's most liberal members skipped the meeting in protest. One of them, Warwick Sen. Jeanine Calkin, also refused to attend the Senate floor vote, citing "the lack of transparency and the speed at which it happened."
The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats, a group that has sought to oust incumbent Democratic lawmakers it considers too conservative, expressed dismay at the selection of Ruggerio and McCaffrey because of their views on abortion and guns and their votes opposing same-sex marriage when the state, in 2013, became the last in New England to legalize it.
"They're two of the most extreme far-right members of the chamber. They are not consensus picks," said the group's Samuel Bell, who said that for progressives, the Senate's top Republican "would make a better" leader of the chamber than either Ruggerio or McCaffrey.
Bell said Ruggerio's history of ethical troubles — including a 1990 arrest for allegedly stealing condoms and a 2012 drunken-driving arrest — is also "deeply concerning." In both cases, charges were dropped.
"Everyone makes mistakes in life," Ruggerio said Thursday. "I want to move forward. I want to move the Senate forward."