Rising Star of Rhode Island GOP, House Minority Leader Filippi Won’t Run for Reelection

Rising Star of Rhode Island GOP, House Minority Leader Filippi Won’t Run for Reelection

Blake Filippi — the House Minority Leader — and the Rhode Island Republican party’s top star announced Thursday night that he will not seek reelection.

Just months early, top Republicans in Rhode Island and at the national level were urging Filippi to run for governor, but he refused to jump into the race.

Filippi, a lawyer by training has been leading the effort to try and force the Rhode Island General Assembly to be more transparent.

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He is the lead plaintiff in a major lawsuit tied to the effort to force transparency on the legislature’s Joint Committee on Legislative Services.

 

Filippi wrote the following message to supporters:

 

To the People of Block Island, Charlestown, South Kingstown and Westerly: 

 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your State Representative these past eight years. I love our communities, and this has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. 

 

While most of us disagreed on policy sometimes, and some of us disagreed many times, I always endeavored to understand your perspective, and clearly convey mine. Thank you for challenging my viewpoints, and permitting me to challenge yours. Your support empowered me make many principled stands. The several I am most proud of:

 

·      In 2019, my first year as the House Minority Leader, I stood up to immense pressure from the Speaker of the House and refused to suspend our House Rules, thereby ending the ignoble tradition of late-night sessions and passage of surprise bills the public never saw. I urge my colleagues to never return to this old way of conducting business. 

 

·      Throughout 2021 and 2022, while most elected officials cheered on the proposed Brown-Lifespan-Care New England hospital merger, we worked to expose this proposal for what it was: a veritable monopoly that would harm healthcare delivery. The resulting public outcry prevented the General Assembly from overruling the Attorney General’s denial of the merger. 

 

·      We broke new ground for good government with legal action to end the unlawful operations of the Joint Committee on Legislative Services (JCLS). The JCLS is a committee of General Assembly Leadership charged to spend the General Assembly’s $50 Million budget. The JCLS has not met in over ten-years, yet the money continues to be spent. 

 

As a result, our Superior Court has now ruled that General Assembly Leadership are not entitled to legislative immunity, and legal action may be brought against them to block the unlawful operations of this committee. I continue to urge my JCLS colleagues to finally uphold the rule of law, not the rule of power. It is never too late to do the right thing, and I believe they will ultimately rise to the occasion. 

 

·      Over the past two years I worked with my colleagues and many stakeholders to study and recommend legislation to preserve our constitutional beach access rights. This legislation has now passed the House and awaits Senate action. The continued efforts of all concerned is necessary to achieve final passage and protect future generations in this Ocean State. 

 

Now having served in the General Assembly for eight years, nearly 20% of my life, I have struggled about whether to seek another term in office. The time is now to step aside and for new public servants step up and serve our communities in the House. 

 

While I will not run for reelection, I intend to remain deeply engaged in our beautiful corner of the world. The art of the politics, as is the art of life, is all about human connection and the friends we make along the way. I cherish our friendships and look forward to nurturing them in the years ahead. 

 

Respectfully yours,

Blake Filippi