Mattiello Takes Control of the House
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
"The king is dead, long live the king" has never been more apropos than on Tuesday's coronation of Nick Mattiello as Rhode Island Speaker of the House.
By mid-morning last Friday, Speaker Gordon Fox's life was in turmoil. Federal investigators were raiding his office. By 12 noon, his Majority Leader, Nick Mattiello, was already lining up votes. As GoLocal's news team Tweeted at 2 pm -- just four hours after the raid on the State House's Third Floor began -- "Multiple members of the House have confirmed that Fox is out and Mattiello will have the votes."
It was that quick - the changing of the guard took just hours.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAt the rise of the House on Tuesday, Mattiello swept to victory, pilling up the votes and crushing Representative Mike Marcello 61 to 6. Six abstained and two members failed to vote.
"I commend the Rhode Island House of Representatives for ensuring that government continues to move forward and remains focused on key issues. By persisting in our efforts to support education and workforce development, build infrastructure, help cities and towns, and lower energy costs, together we have developed the necessary momentum for Rhode Island’s recovery," said Governor Lincoln Chafee minutes after the House vote.
The Mattiello victory was sweeping and sets forth a new agenda for the House of Representatives. GOP members teamed with Mattiello, and Fox's legacy -- and loyal progressive -- were poised to be sent to the back bench.
Reaction to the New Leader
From Mattiello leadership team members to top lobbyists to dissidents there was a consensus - Mattiello has a mandate.
Mattiello himself pledged a new day of inclusiveness in the House. Addressing the chamber on Tuesday, the new Spaker said, "Anyone in the House will be able to get a meeting with me in 3 days. If it's important, call my secretary, and we'll get you in that day."
The new Speaker later joked, "I just hope that I don't get 74 members looking to meet on day one."
Dissident Rep. John Lombardi said, "All eyes are on Mattiello. I'm glad he talked about economy and jobs, but what can you do in 3 months? That's a tall order. It''ll be about the budget, but the power is going to the Senate. We only have 3 months now."
"It's going to be busy starting tomorrow for sure. There's more organizing to do, we have 3 months left -- we have a lot in front of us. I think there's nothing negative to say from today. We're unified, we'll be working together. The Republicans will be supporting the new Speaker. I think you'll see a lot of good hard work coming for economic development....all of the Reps are interested in that," said new leadership team member Rep. Joe Almeida.
The theme of lack of time left in the session and the amount of work ahead of the new Speaker was echoed by former Senate Minority Leader and now super lobbyist, Bob Goldberg, "I'm very sad for Gordon Fox and his family, I can't emphasize that enough. With any change in leadership, it always brings change, everyone has their own style. The Speaker was very serious about doing what he can to improve the economy," said Goldberg. "He'll be open to new ideas -- but it is late in the game, we're almost at April 1."
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