Don Carcieri

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Governor of Rhode Island
Don Carcieri (R)

2003  — Current
Preceded by: Lincoln C. Almond

Donald L. "Don" Carcieri (born December 16, 1942) is the Governor of Rhode Island. Politically a centrist Republican, Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher.

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Personal background

Carcieri graduated from Brown University with a degree in International Relations. He started his career as a high school math teacher and later became a successful banker and businessman.

He and his wife have four children and fourteen grandchildren.

Governorship

In 2002, Carcieri won the Republican primary over the endorsed candidate and went on to defeat Democrat Myrth York, 55% to 45% in the general election.

In 2005, both houses of the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana. Carcieri vetoed the bill, but the state lawmakers overrode Carcieri by a large margin. Governor Carcieri and the Democratic-dominated General Assembly have been at odds on a number of issues; enacting separation of powers, the obligations of state workers, and the right of undocumented children to have access to the state childcare health insurance plan. Carcieri often warns against increasing the size of the state's social safety net as unaffordable and unsustainable and that the state suffers economically from a history of corruption. The General Assembly views Carcieri as attempting to increase the power of the executive branch to the detriment of the legislature, being overly combative in negotiations, and callous toward the concerns of the poor and the state workers.

Carcieri won re-election in 2006, and has spoken of continuing to take on individuals tied to the "old system." Rhode Island is one of 19 states that elects its governor and lieutenant governor separately rather than on a single party ticket; Carcieri faced his own Lieutenant Governor, Charles J. Fogarty, who was prevented, by term limits, from running again for the Lieutenant Governor position.

Open Records Veto

In July of 2008, Carcieri vetoed approximately 30 bills, one of which was "An Act Relating to Public Records: Access to Public Records" (2008 H 7422A). The bill had been passed by the General Assembly earlier in the year. The bill would have required all state public agencies to certify that staff had been trained in how to properly respond to requests for open records, and that arrest records would be made public within 24 hours.[1] "With respect to his veto of the so-called 'open records' bill, the governor said the bill would compromise the privacy of Rhode Islanders, and be impractical for state agencies, especially police departments to produce the required information."[2]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Carcieri vetoes ‘sunshine’ bill, 21 others Providence Business News, July 3, 2008
  2. ↑ Governor has qualms over release of names, vetoes public records bill Warwick Beacon, July 8, 2008
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