So why is it that the business community is often suspicious of our General Assembly?
Take this incident at the closing moments of this latest General Assembly session. The University of Rhode Island sought to name the URI ice rink after Bradford R. Boss, a URI graduate who has contributed more than $1.5 million toward construction of the facility.
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Not only has Boss been supportive of the rink construction, he has been among our state’s most prominent businessmen, part of the family that built A.T. Cross into a widely respected international brand. For generations there were few high school or college graduates that didn’t find a Cross pen among their graduation gifts. And he has been philanthropic, visible and active over the years among a variety of Rhode Island non-profits.
The bill was filed late because URI president Robert L. Carothers said he wasn’t aware the university needed General Assembly approval to name the rink for Boss.
In the state Senate the bill passed easily, but not in the House, where Carothers couldn’t even get the time of day from House Speaker John B. Harwood, D-Pawtucket. Harwood reportedly was miffed because URI had not followed strict procedure, going first through committee then for full House approval.
It seems a minute matter in the overall scheme of things, where issues such as health care and fiscal management are dominant. But it talks a lot about attitude, about a level of arrogance that is unbecoming to the people’s government, and it is just pure and simple a slap in the face to a businessman whose contributions to Rhode Island go far beyond the dollars he has given to help build an ice rink.
