News & Editorials

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, January 9, 2010 Providence Journal

For years to come, Rhode Island communities will have to trim costs and eliminate waste if they hope to make ends meet. Special interests should not be empowered to stymie and overrule elected officials who make such tough and courageous decisions on behalf of the common good.

Thus, it is encouraging that Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Lanphear, one of the more thoughtful members of the state bench, struck down a union attempt to block North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi from closing one of the town’s four fire stations. While the union could continue the fight, Judge Lanphear noted it had not demonstrated a “reasonable likelihood” for success.

The town’s firefighters union maintained that the public would be endangered and that closing a station represented a change in working conditions that would have to be first negotiated in a contract. Judge Lanphear rightly saw through that nonsense.

Under the town’s charter, he determined, the mayor has the authority to make such decisions in the public interest. (If the public feels it is not being adequately protected, it can elect people who will spend even more tax dollars on public safety.) Further, the judge noted that the union never established that the public would be threatened in a meaningful way by closing the station.

“Rather, the evidence established that the town has one of the fastest response times in the area, and will continue to have a prompt response time, consistent with national standards,” Judge Lanphear wrote.
Vincent Ragosta, a prominent labor lawyer representing the town, pointed to a Maryland consultant who found that the town could close the station without adding more than 20 seconds (!) to the average response time to emergencies.

This important ruling should strengthen representative democracy in Rhode Island, by making it clear that elected leaders (answerable to citizens) — not union leaders — control the purse strings and have the power to make key management decisions.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 Providence Journal

Rhode Island’s citizenry won a major, precedent-setting victory in court the other day. Superior Court Judge Bennett Gallo ruled that there are basic management rights that simply cannot be negotiated away to the teachers unions.

The case centered on Exeter-West Greenwich schools’ creation of a new Department of Fine Arts, responsible for art and music education for grades 7-12. The Exeter-West Greenwich Education Association, tied to the National Education Association, protested, saying that the school district was barred from creating such a department without the union’s permission, even though a union official conceded under oath that the new department was a good idea.

Incredibly (or maybe not so incredibly, given the way such hearings often go in the Ocean State), an arbitrator ruled for the union. The district’s labor lawyer, Vincent Ragosta, then took the matter up in Superior Court, arguing that “the union was holding the school district hostage.”

In a thoughtful, well-argued opinion, Judge Gallo ruled that no contract can give a union veto power over decisions of a school board that govern the “essence of the educational mission.”

That was not only a victory for the school committee and Mr. Ragosta but for the citizens of Rhode Island in general.

Since taxpayers pay the freight, and created the schools in the first place to benefit young people, citizens should have the ultimate say in how their public schools are run. In most communities, they do so by electing representatives to their local school committees to set policy. It’s called representative democracy. (Providence is an exception: The mayor appoints the school board.)

Union leaders should not be dictating education policy, even if they can pressure weak-willed board members during contract negotiations to give away essential management rights. Nor should a union arbitrator be empowered to veto new approaches that help students.

Rhode Island’s public schools have some of the highest per-student costs in America and yet generally perform in a mediocre way (with some heartening exceptions). A re-emphasis on serving the students, and letting managers actually manage the schools, seems long overdue.

Citizens should be grateful that Judge Gallo recognized that the law is on their side. While teachers unions have every right to fight for the interests of their members, there are some aspects of public education that they have no business controlling.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR)
Closed Captions

With nearly one week to go before the trial of Providence Police Sgt. Joseph Hanley, a judge has denied the officer’s ability to collect a paycheck and benefits.

Judge Alice Gibney, Presiding Justice of Rhode Island’s Superior Court, denied Hanley’s petition for a stay of suspension without pay, saying in part “he contributed to the delay in his criminal proceedings.”

Hanley is accused of punching, kicking, and kneeling on the head of a handcuffed man last April. He was charged with assault in May and pled not guilty.

A police-worn body camera video of the arrest was made public in November by the former head of the civilian Providence External Review Authority against the board’s wishes.

Hanley was notified by the city that he would stop receiving his pay in October, because more than 180 days has lapsed without a disposition of the criminal charge, under the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBOR).

The officer argued that COVID-19 had delayed court proceedings and other delays were outside of his control.
Attorneys for Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare and Police Chief Hugh Clements claimed Hanley filed both late discovery and a motion, on top of taking a New Hampshire vacation while the clock ticked away.

“One of the takeaways of this case overall, sort of comes back to the common themes of criticism of LEOBOR, is that it financially insulates police officers and financially burdens the public,” said attorney Vincent Ragosta, for the city.

An attempt to reach the officer, through his attorney, was unsuccessful.
Hanley’s trial is scheduled for Wednesday Feb. 10.