Tom Sgouros: Short Takes

Who are these districts for?

I saw a couple of the proposed new maps of congressional districts the other day. There were three possibilities presented last week, each motivated by the need to move about 7000 people from district 1 (more or less the eastern half of the state, currently represented by David Cicilline) to district 2 (Jim Langevin's district). Right now the district line splits Providence in half along a line running a bit south of Smith Street, and two of the three proposed new maps reunite Providence.

This sounds like a good idea, but it isn't. In order to put Providence all in one district or another, several entire towns have to be moved to compensate. In one proposed map, all of Aquidneck Island, along with Jamestown, Tiverton, and Little Compton, were moved over to join South County, Warwick, Cranston, Glocester, and the rest. In another proposal, only Jamestown was taken, but on the northern end, Cumberland, Lincoln, Burrillville, and Woonsocket were moved. Both of these proposals leave Providence in the first district, but create a big "C" of suburbs around it.

Interestingly, one map moves Anthony Gemma (lives in Lincoln) and Brendan Doherty (Cumberland), both challenging incumbent David Cicilline, into Langevin's district. The other moves John Loughlin (Tiverton). Neither is a good idea. I can't say if it was done on purpose, but if it was it's just one more of those too-clever-by-half stratagems proposed by dime-store Machiavellis we see too often around here.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

I support David Cicilline, and think his actual record as mayor of Providence (as opposed to the cartoon version) and the work he's done in office so far are enough reason to re-elect him. But I still think both these plans are dumb, offenses against good government. Incumbent protection simply has no valid place in drawing voting district maps, either at the congressional level, the state level or the municipal level.

Redrawing representative districts should respect history -- big changes are disruptive -- and common interests. When drawing these lines, the status quo matters and geography matters. Who is in office should not matter. We are choosing districts with common interests in order to find someone to represent those interests, not the other way around. And no, supporting an incumbent isn't a valid common interest. Map changes (at all levels) that clearly have that in mind must be rejected.

Rhode Island is a very urban state, more so than any other in the country, with the possible exception of New Jersey. It is appropriate that both congressional districts have a piece of our capital city, since the whole state depends on its health. A district map that splits our state into an urban core and a suburban ring around would perpetuate the all-too-common view around here that we are not all dependent on the health of our cities. I hope these maps can be quickly sent to the circular file.

Massachusetts sues the banksters

Another state attorney general thumbed her nose at the proposed foreclosure settlement. Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley filed a suit on Thursday against JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Ally Financial (owner of GMAC Mortgage), accusing the banks of unfair and deceptive trade practices.

A bit of background: talks have been going on for over a year between the nation's biggest banks and a collection of state attorneys general over the banks' role in causing the foreclosure crisis. The list of banks' misdeeds is long, ranging from steering people into more expensive and risky mortgages than they could have qualified for to fraud and deceit in the foreclosure process itself. In September a proposed settlement came out of these talks that basically washed away any misdeeds for $20 billion.

Now $20 billion might sound like a lot, but JP Morgan paid about $10 billion in bonuses last December alone. Remember, we're talking about frauds that have pushed tens of thousands of people out of their homes, clouded title to hundreds of thousands of properties, and banking practices that led (and sometimes pushed) millions of people into debt they can't handle. Some of this stuff is actual crime, violations of actual laws written into actual law books, not mere "misunderstandings." Ed Diprete pleaded guilty to accepting $250,000 in bribes and kickbacks while he was Governor. Should he have been allowed to skip jail for a $10,000 fine? Can you pay your way out of a B&E conviction? The foreclosure crisis is a big part of why we're still in the doldrums, and without a resolution -- one that will cost a lot more than $20 billion -- we're going to stay there a long time. Letting banks off the hook is a bad idea. They need to clean up the mess, not just apologize for it.

Over the past couple of months, as the details of the settlement proposal have firmed up, there have been some high-profile defections by the California and New York attorneys general. Now Massachusetts has pulled out, too, essentially saying that the settlement is inadequate. In a statement about it all, Coakley said the banks hadn't offered "meaningful and enforceable" relief. "They have had more than a year to show they've understood their role and the need to show their accountability for this economic mess and they failed to do so." Rhode Island's Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said, through his press secretary, that he continued to monitor the settlement negotiation but didn't take a position on either the settlement or on Coakley's suit.

Tom Sgouros is the editor of the Rhode Island Policy Reporter, at whatcheer.net and the author of "Ten Things You Don't Know About Rhode Island." Contact him at [email protected].
 

If you valued this article, please LIKE GoLocalProv.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.

429 Too Many Requests

---

openresty