Rhode Island government desperately needs the kind of good-government measure that Sen. Leonidas "Lou" Raptakis (D-Coventry) has introduced at the request of Operation Clean Government. The only question is, does it go far enough?
The state's reputation for public corruption is well deserved and ongoing. So it makes a lot of sense to propose, as Senator Raptakis has, the creation of a state inspector general to ferret out fraud, abuse and mismanagement in government. The inspector would serve a single five-year term, and thus never have to worry about being reappointed.
That's a great first step. But it doesn't get at the roots of the problem. For example, by its very nature, the part-time legislature creates conditions that are conducive to malfeasance.
The state's elected representatives do not sever their business ties once they enter the General Assembly, because they need to keep their "day jobs" in order to earn a living.
Thus, Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano does legal work for West Warwick and then pushes through legislation about the proposed Narragansett Indian Casino that stems from that legal work. That is a dictionary definition of conflict of interest.
It is time for the state to consider whether it is in the public interest to have a full-time legislature, whose members walk away from their previous businesses for as long as they are in office. It might cost the state additional money for salaries, but it could save the state millions of dollars by curbing corruption.
Corruption not only exacts a direct cost, but it also saps the vitality from an economy.
It is time for the state to put all its energy into moving forward, not treading water in the same old stagnant pool.
