Voting with the RI Senate Leadership, 1999-2000 (posted July 10, 2000)

News that Rhode Island Senator William Irons is planning to run against Paul Kelly for the Senate Majority Leadership post has set up a bitter struggle within the chamber. Claiming that he has the votes to beat Kelly, Irons told the Providence Journal that once the November elections are over, he will seek to end Kelly's formal leadership role. Kelly has led the Senate for four terms now in the 50-person chamber currently occupied by 42 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

An analysis of RI Senate voting patterns in 1999 and 2000 shows that on major contested votes, Irons has gone from voting with Kelly 94 percent of the time in 1999 to 77 percent in 2000. Several other individuals also have shown drops in their pattern of voting with the leadership.

In the session which just ended, the individuals most likely to vote with the Senate leadership were: Connors (100%), Enos (100%), Goodwin (100%), Lenihan (100%), Paiva-Weed (100%), Revens (100%), Coderre (92%), Fogarty (92%), Gallo (92%), Igliozzi (92%), Perry (92%), Sosnowski (92%), and Tocco (92%). Those least likely to vote with the leadership were: Alves (8%), Montalbano (23%), Flynn (31%), Graziano (31%), McCaffrey (36%), and Walaska (38%).

In 2000, the average Senator voted with the leadership 67% of the time on major contested legislation, which was down from 73% in 1999. This is in contrast to the House, where the average legislator voted with the leadership 74% of the time in 2000, the same as in 1999.

The methodology employed in this study was to take major contested votes in the Senate over the past two years, identify the position of Kelly and his top supporters, and tabulate whether other members voted for or against the leadership. A list of votes included in the leadership agreement score can be found on the website www.InsidePolitics.org under Billtracker (How They Voted in the RI Senate).

 
Senator 1999 2000
Algiere 69% 58%
Alves 33 8
Badeau 84 62
Bates 68 54
Blais 55 50
Breene 60 42
Caprio 74 73
Celona 79 67
Cicilline 94 75
Coderre 91 92
Connors 92 100
Cote 88 50
Damiani 77 58
DaPonte 97 90
Donelan 57 82
Enos 92 100
Felag 70 67
Flynn 48 31
Fogarty 83 92
Gallo 89 92
Gibbs 70 67
Graziano 39 31
Goodwin 94 100
Igliozzi 94 92
Irons 94 77
Issa 50 40
Izzo 91 78
Kells 69 73
Lenihan 87 100
McBurney 62 50
McCaffrey 42 36
McDonald 91 82
Montalbano 48 23
Oster 50 45
Paiva Weed 91 100
Parella 74 62
Patterson 40 40
Perry 94 92
Raptakis 65 55
Revens 87 100
Roberts 91 83
Roney 90 75
Ruggerio 89 54
Sasso 51 73
Sosnowski 92 92
Tocco 92 92
Walaska 48 38
Walsh 72 70
Walton 97 80