Mayor Has Too Much Power, Charges Veteran Councilman
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Taveras administration has too much control over the Providence City Council, the longest-serving member of the Council charged Tuesday.
Ward 3 Councilman Kevin Jackson, an early supporter of Taveras during his 2010 run for Mayor, said the cozy relationship between Council leadership and the administration has resulted in retaliation against Council members who speak out against certain proposals.
“Everything with this administration is, ‘we’re going to hurt you,’ ‘we’re going punish you,’” Jackson said. “That is not politics. That is a dictatorship.”GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
Jackson cited the efforts to remove outspoken Council finance chairman John Igliozzi as one example of Council leadership and Taveras working together to punish a Councilman who doesn’t always agree with the status quo. On Thursday, Council President Michael Solomon will appoint Council members David Salvatore, Sam Zurier, Sabina Matos, Terry Hassett and Luis Aponte to a special Ways and Means committee to essentially bypass Igliozzi’s finance committee.
Jackson’s comments came a day after a special meeting to vote on a $40 million bond proposal to help improve the city’s roads and sidewalks was canceled due to a lack of quorum. The proposal passed out of committee would divide roughly half the money among the city’s 15 wards and leave the rest for the administration, but Taveras has threatened to veto the plan because he does not believe dividing the funds by ward is efficient.
A majority of Council members were believed to have supported the plan passed out of committee, but it appears several members had a last-minute change of heart and decided to skip the Monday meeting. On Tuesday, the third consecutive finance committee meeting was canceled.
But Jackson’s gripe with the administration and Council leadership goes beyond sidewalk politics. The East Side Councilman, who until recently was shut out of all Council Standing Committees, said Taveras seems to only get involved in Council issues when it benefits his administration.
When Jackson led an effort to oust Majority Leader Seth Yurdin this spring, Taveras stepped in the calm the situation. But when several Councilmen, including Davian Sanchez and Michael Correia complained they were being treated unfairly during the city’s redistricting process, Jackson said the Mayor was nowhere to be found.
“You can’t be half pregnant,” Jackson said. “You either involved in Council politics or you’re not.”
Jackson is also unhappy with how efforts to move to an elected school board have played out. Taveras, Solomon and Yurdin are all vehemently opposed to the idea of letting voters decide whether to switch to an elected board, but the overwhelming number of Council members support the proposal. Taveras will likely veto that plan as well.
“In my 18 years as a Councilman, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jackson said. “They say they want to be transparent. Even [Buddy] Cianci and [David] Cicilline never stifled us like this.”
Jackson said he still supports Taveras, but he doesn’t believe the Mayor has followed through on a commitment to work with the entire Council.
“I would say I still support him, but I’m confused, I’m upset,” Jackson said. “They say they want to work with all Council members, well, that’s not happening right now.”
The Taveras administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Dan McGowan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @danmcgowan.
