Frank Williams: Rhode Island’s Enigma
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
In retrospect, it's not surprising that Judge Sarah Taft-Carter appointed Frank Williams as the Special Master in the state pension lawsuit.
Much of his career, both as a lawyer and later as a judge, rising all the way to the Chief Judge of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, has been dedicated to consensus building and finding ways to get individuals and entities to settle their disputes outside of the courtroom. With the interests of both the state and the unions more oriented towards settling the case than going to a trial, Williams was the perfect person to step forward to help facilitate that process.
Yet like so much of Williams' career in the public eye, the appointment was not without some degree of controversy. Williams will be paid $400 per hour for his work on the case, (according to a wpri.com report) and that fact led to criticisms on social media and talk radio.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWilliams’ ability to become a lightening rod has been confounding to both Williams and his friends alike.
All Roads Start With Lincoln
That aside, during a recent, wide ranging interview with GoLocalProv, Williams, now 74, explained that his inclination to seek compromise emanates from his lifelong, and well-known passion: the study of and devotion to Abraham Lincoln.
Williams points to a quote from Lincoln:
“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser – in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man . . . Never stir up litigation.”
Born with the Italian name Guglielmo, his father changed his it when he was a boy to avoid any prejudice against Italian-Americans that existed back then. It was at the age of 13, and as a student in Cranston Public Schools, that Williams decided he wanted a legal career, he says. Guess who inspired him to become a lawyer. (Answer: Lincoln.)
"And I never wavered either," said Williams.
Military Background
After graduating from Cranston East High School, Williams attended Boston University, and received his bachelor's degree. As an ROTC member, he was given a commission to travel to Germany, where he was stationed for 3 years. After that, he was sent to the Vietnam War, where he served as an Infantry Officer--initially as a First Lieutenant and later as a Captain.
After a 1-year tour of duty, he returned home in 1967 after receiving an honorable discharge. He applied to law school, again at Boston University and was accepted. He was one of the older students in his class at the age of 27, but it was an advantage, he believes, due to his maturity.
Thereafter, he began his work in the legal profession. He was a general practice lawyer, but had no trouble finding legal work for Rhode Island municipalities. Williams worked as a solicitor for several communities in Rhode Island, including Coventry, Hopkinton, Bristol, and Providence. Williams has literally done legal work for communities in every county and corner of the state. Therein began his long career in public service.
"I got around," said Williams.
Ability To See Both Sides
It was as a West Warwick Solicitor that he met Brian Mitchell, who is now a retired newspaper veteran that worked for several newspapers in RI and Connecticut, including The Connecticut Day. In the seventies, Mitchell was a young cub reporter working for a paper called the Pawtuxet Valley times when he met Williams. Williams was the town solicitor at that point.
When new to a community, there are certain officials or individuals that reporters naturally gravitate towards who understand the issues and can bring the reporter up to speed. For Mitchell, Williams was that type of person.
Mitchell said that even back then, he envisioned Williams as being a good judge because he always had an ability to explain and articulate both sides of an issue and bring him up to speed.
"Judge Williams is probably the most intellectually rigorous person I've ever met. The man always seems to have done his homework and always has such an impressive command of the facts," said Mitchell. "He's got this ability, and I've never seen it anyone else, to be both gentle and firm at the same time."
"Intellectually Rigorous"
Mitchell acknowledged that Williams has, at times, found himself amid controversy. But Mitchell said he doesn't understand why.
"To me, he's never been anything short of a straight shooter. Always up front and honest," said Mitchell.
Williams certainly does have a commanding presence. He speaks with a loud, clear, resonant voice that engenders respect and authority.
Sitting in the office that he still maintains in the Supreme Court, Williams always seems to find a way to work Abraham Lincoln's wisdom into a conversation. His office itself could be considered a shrine to the Civil War President. At least half the books there are written about history, a majority of which are about Lincoln.
"And you'll notice, the legal books are all at the end of my office," Williams says with a grin.
It's almost seems, at times, as if Williams doesn't understand how other people aren't as passionate about Lincoln as he is.
His office library is but a small fraction of what's contained in Williams' Richmond home, which many describe as practically a Lincoln museum. Williams said that he plans on leaving his Williams collection to one of the local colleges or universities in his will, so that future generations will have access to it.
Accessibility
Accessibility has always been important to Williams, he said. After having been appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2001, (just 5 years after being appointed to the Court as an Associate Justice, and previous to that he was a Superior Court Justice) he made public accessibility to the court one of his main goals. Williams would frequently spend his evenings traveling across the state in attempt to familiarize folks with the judicial process. He believes increased accessibility is one of his major accomplishments as chief judge.
The average person may not realize it, but the position of Supreme Court Justice is every bit as much of an administrative job as it is a judicial position. The court hires an administrator to oversee the court's day-to-day operations, but the buck stops at the desk of the Supreme Court's Chief Justice. The Chief Justice has final say.
"It was like having my own platoon again," says Williams, reflecting on his military days.
That in mind, it's not surprising to hear Williams speak of his other accomplishments as Supreme Court Chief Judge also as administrative feats. Under Williams' leadership, he convinced the legislature and administration to open two new state-of-the-art courthouses--the traffic tribunal in Cranston as well as the Superior Court in Kent County.
Military Commission Review
Williams also said that he's proud of the steps taken to modernize the court system under his watch, mostly by implementing a new computer system and introduce electronic filing.
Williams also served the federal government in a judicial capacity. In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Williams to the United States Court of Military Commission Review. In July of 2007, he became the court's chief judge. The court mostly heard cases of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay. He left the court in 2009 when President Obama took office and decided to move to close Guantanamo Bay.
Asked about his biggest regrets in his career, Williams sighs and thinks to himself for about 20 seconds, which seems to take an hour to pass by. Williams then explains that he never did as good enough of a job on public relations as he wanted. But it wasn't for lack of effort, he explains.
Regrets
Yet for whatever reason, there were just certain media outlets, particularly The Providence Journal, to which he simply didn't seem to get his message across.
A perfect example, Williams explains, was his decision to retire in 2009. When Williams retired, he was eligible for a pension worth 75 percent of what he was making then, roughly $146,000 per year. Had he stayed on in the position for a couple extra years, he would have received a pension worth 100 percent of what he was earning.
Williams was perplexed, he said, that, instead of being lauded for saving the state money by retiring at a lower pension, he was instead subjected to widespread speculation that there was some scandal in the works that forced him out.
Williams maintains that by then he had grown weary, and to continue in the position solely to achieve a larger pension from the state would have been unethical.
"The truth is that we had accomplished all of the goals that I had set when I started in this position," Williams.
Controversy
Several months later, the parents of his Goddaughter were going through a bitter divorce and Williams name was mentioned in both court and press reports due to the amount of time he spent with the family.
Williams said he still takes offense to the fact that there was innuendo that he had done something untoward, when in reality, he asserts, all he and his wife ever did was try to be good Godparents to their Goddaughter, and help the parents reconcile. Williams still has a good relationship with his Goddaughter and the girl's mother. He helps the girl with her homework twice a week, he said.
("Chiefy", a nickname that's used sardonically by his critics, was coined by his Goddaughter. It's what she called him when she was still a baby.)
Williams also has never been shy about wading into public policy debates when they pertained to judicial independence. Williams had a good relationship with Governor Lincoln Almond, who appointed Williams to the bench, but he clashed with Governor Don Carcieri on occasion--most notably when Carcieri attempted to furlough all state departments back in 2006. Williams refused.
"It would not have been fair to the employees and secondly, the courts are supposed to stay open and be available to the public. At least that's how I read the state constitution," said Williams.
To this day, Williams keeps a full schedule. He awakes every morning at 3:30 a.m. He travels the country giving lectures on Lincoln. Last Friday, for instance, he was at Virginia Tech giving a talk to the students. He's also a talented amateur chef who keeps busy cooking.
Still involved
And he's still involved, believe it or not, and to no small degree, with the RI Judiciary. The Appellate Mediation program, started when he was Chief Justice, is administered mostly by retired judges. It is a method of resolving disputes that enter the Supreme Court before they go to trial.
"The Appellate Mediation Program is one last chance for the parties to reconcile their cases," said Williams, referring to the program he founded as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Williams is quick to point out that the program is offered at no additional costs to the litigants. Williams said that the program boasts a roughly 50 percent success rate - a big money saver for the invol parties and the state.
But the biggest money saver to the state, and the state's retirees and unions, Williams said, was the pension lawsuit settlement case that he's spearheaded. Litigation, he said would have cost both sides more money than they would like to imagine.
"We have averted 10 years of torture. Trust me. How do I know this? Because I've seen it before. DEPCO. The Lead Paint Case. And I think this one would have been worse," said Williams.
Williams sounds a lot like House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, with whom he is now working to shepherd the pension lawsuit settlement through the state legislature, when he bemoans the fact that Rhode Islanders tend to come across as negative. Williams compares Rhode Island political junkies and talk radio callers to a character from Kelly's Heroes, a WWII War comedy from 1970, with a negative attitude.
"Always with the negative Moriarty," said Williams.
Related Slideshow: RI Public Pension Reform: Wall Street’s License To Steal
See the key findings from Forbes' columnist Edward Siedle, who unveiled his investigative report into the RI pension system, "License to Steal," in October 2013.
"The Employee Retirement System of Rhode Island has secretly agreed to permit hedge fund managers to keep the state pension in the dark regarding how its assets are being invested; to grant mystery hedge fund investors a license to steal, or profit at its expense using inside information; and to engage in potentially illegal nondisclosure practices," said Siedle.
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