Westerly Sun Editorial July 8, 2005:

DEATH OF WESTERLY'S BID FOR NON-RESIDENT VOTING REFERENDUM A LEGISLATIVE DISGRACE

Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri continues to sign bills approved by the General Assembly during its 2005 session that came to the usual chaotic finish last week. And the Assembly still faces an override session to take up measures that Carcieri has chosen to veto.

Yet, many important pieces of legislation never made it to the House or Senate floors in the closing minutes of the session. And one of the items sadly left on the legislative scrap heap was a proposal that should have given Westerly voters a chance to take a bold new step in the name of local taxpayers.

The House approved a bill submitted by Rep. Matthew McHugh, D-South Kingstown, that would have given Westerly voters the chance to decide, on their own, whether non-resident property owners and taxpayers should have the right to vote in financial referendums. And the Senate approved a similar measure filed by Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere, R-Westerly. But the House never passed the Senate version and the Senate never approved the House version - despite the fact they were virtually identical, Algiere said later. As a result, the measure died silently in both chambers. That's business as usual for Rhode Island's General Assembly - but it's nothing short of a disgrace.

The shame of this intentional dropping of the ball by the Assembly isn't that it obviously pushes back any move to allow non-resident taxpayers to vote. Various officials in different communities have legitimate questions as to whether that system is necessary or would prove viable in their cities or towns.

The shame is that voters in Westerly - where non-resident voting has become a significant issue, and where outside property owners contribute heavily to the tax base - won't get the chance for at least another year to make that choice for their home community. It's hard to believe that all seven Town Council members support non-resident voting, yet the council voted unanimously to seek legislation that would at least allow town voters to make that decision. It's also rare that Algiere, McHugh, and Reps. Peter Lewiss and Brian Patrick Kennedy - Westerly's four Assembly voices - agree on anything, let alone a controversial issues such as this. Yet they, too, all supported the idea of holding a Westerly referendum - and the Assembly still had the gall to let the proposal die.

Why did the Assembly deny Westerly residents the chance to make this important choice? That's easy: Lawmakers are obviously afraid that a Westerly vote would set a precedent that could send this revolutionary idea across the South County coast and beyond.

Many Assembly members - such as vocal non-resident voting foe James Sheehan, the Democratic senator from North Kingstown - are fearful that giving non-resident taxpayers the vote would doom local referendums for projects such as new schools, infrastructure repairs and the like. But one need only to look at nearby Stonington - which allows anyone holding more than $1,000 worth of property to vote in financial referendums, yet approved eight-figure projects for a new police station a high school addition within the past six years - to see that argument doesn't hold water.

There is, of course, a more basic reason: Fear.

By failing to advance this referendum proposal, many Rhode Island Assembly members have admitted they're afraid of the voters, that they don't think voters are smart enough to make the right choices for their own communities - and that they, not the voters, know what's best for their cities and towns.

That's a frightening message to send. And it's one voters in Westerly and elsewhere should not tolerate.

It's also one that voters across the state should never forget.