UPDATED: Watson Out as Minority Leader
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
The House GOP caucus has voted out Bob Watson as its leader, barely more than a week after he was arrested on a DUI charge and possession of a small amount of marijuana in Connecticut.
Watson has denied that he was impaired in his driving, but admitted to having the marijuana with him. He said he had used it to treat debilitating pain caused by his pancreatitis, but said he did not seek authorization from the state Department of Health.
The GOP caucus has now chosen former Minority Whip Brian Newberry, R-North Smithfield, to head it up. The new whip is Rep Joe Trillo, R-Warwick.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNewberry told GoLocalProv that the caucus had decided that it could not let its leader be someone who had admitted to illegally possessing drugs.
“You can’t have one of the most prominent spokespersons of the Republican Party being a guy who just got arrested for having illegal drugs and admitted to it,” Newberry said. “You can’t have your party leader and your floor leader being in the position he put himself in.”
Even if Watson is cleared of the DUI charge, that would not change the fact that he illegally had marijuana, Newberry noted.
GOP caucus wanted to buy time
The vote is a reversal of a vote of confidence caucus members held about a week ago.
Newberry said the caucus decided not to act then because it needed more time to sort through all the information—and did not have a plan for how to replace Watson. “Basically, we kept the status quo last week to buy us some time to think things through,” Newberry said.
Since that initial vote, Rep Dan Reilly, R-Portsmouth, said he and other House Republicans had received calls and e-mails from constituents in protest. “It was overwhelmingly negative that we made the wrong decision in keeping him as Minority Leader,” Reilly said.
Last week, GoLocalProv reported that former Attorney General and talk radio commentator Arlene Violet was among the first public figures in Rhode Island to call for Watson to step down from his leadership position.
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