The Providence Journal, R.I., Political Scene column

April 28--When former Governor Philip Noel emerged from political retirement in Florida to endorse General Treasurer Gina Raimondo's bid for governor last week, he sparked interest in his own state and city pensions, and no small measure of controversy.

Here, in brief, is the rundown: Noel, 82, started collecting a state pension on July 1, 1991, based on roughly 201/2 years of credited service, including his four years as governor from January 1973 to January 1977.

His state pension when he first retired was $12,832.08. After more than 20 years of annual cost-of-living adjustments, it is now $22,500 a year.

He contributed to his pension, but, like the vast majority of state retirees, the dollars he put in ended up a tiny fraction of the amount he has collected over the years.

He paid the state retirement system a total of $19,349, including the $8,230.67 he contributed and the $11,118.97 he laid out to purchase credit in the state retirement system for four years in the military and 12 years in Warwick city government.

Through March 31, he had collected a total of $392,176, according to the state retirement office.

The suspension of COLAs -- as part of the 2011 pension overhaul championed by Raimondo -- temporarily froze his state retirement check, as it did that of every other state retiree. He nonetheless lauded Raimondo for doing what he said had to be done.

"She knew what had to be done; knew it wouldn't be easy; knew it had political costs and yet she took that challenge head on and in her first two years in public office accomplished the most significant pension reform in the history of this state and for that matter, in the history of almost every other state in the country," he said in an open letter last week.

But there is more to Noel's pension story.

Like many of his political peers, Noel is also collecting a city pension totaling $299.96 a month, $3,599.52 a year for the same 12 years for which he purchased credit in the state retirement system.

That includes credit for six years as a Warwick city councilman (January 1961-January 1967), and six years as mayor (January 1967-January 1973).

While his story is not unique in the anything-goes pension era when Rhode Island politicians were allowed to count the same years of service two and three times, his Raimondo endorsement drew this rebuke from the president of the state's second-largest state employees union: "Hypocrite."

"Wow," said Philip Keefe, president of Local 580, Services Employees International Union. "What a great return. Can my members get the same?"

"Of course, my members need to be full-time employees, not city council," he added.

Layoffs after shakeup

The House leadership shakeup has led to a number of layoffs at the Rhode Island State House in recent days, including Thomas Falcone, executive director of the legislative business office known as the Joint Committee on Legislative Services.

At the start of the year, the House gave Falcone an 11-percent raise that boosted his pay from $112,623 to $125,053 a year. On Thursday, he was laid off and has not yet been replaced.

House spokesman Larry Berman attributed most of the layoffs to "reorganization" under new House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston.

Mattiello won the top spot on March 25 in the fast-moving changing of the guard that followed Gordon Fox's abrupt resignation after state and federal investigators swooped into his home and State House office on March 21 with search warrants.

Falcone was a Fox ally who was promoted in January 2011 from deputy chief of staff to executive director of the leadership committee, chaired by the House speaker, that oversees the day-to-day operations of the General Assembly, including hiring, firing, contracting and paying the bills. The position had been vacant since Dec. 20, 2009.

He had previously been a mortgage broker.

Making their case

They belong to the same party and they're running for the same office. But seeing three of them speak last week at a meeting of the Rhode Island Association of Democratic City and Town Chairpersons provided a telling look at the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle ways in which the Democratic candidates for governor are trying to distinguish themselves from each other.

First up was General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who spoke for 11 minutes, during which she quickly established her Democratic credentials and presented herself as the candidate with the whole package: deep Democratic roots, a vision, a plan for reviving the state's economy and the "ability to get things done."

Along the way, she spoke of her father working as a meat-cutter and working two jobs to provide for the family, of riding RIPTA buses to school and spending time in public libraries, of her successful effort to reform the state's pension system and tackle other issues as general treasurer.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras went next. He opened by saying "there are a lot of things" the candidates agree on, but he quickly moved to set himself apart. One way he did that was by focusing on his beginnings, telling how his mother, a single parent, worked in a factory while raising her children.

He also called himself a product of Head Start and talked of coming into the mayor's office after the 2010 election and averting a financial crisis, then taking a pay cut and then -- in what sounded like a dig at Raimondo -- negotiating pension reforms with city workers and retirees.

Clay Pell, too, focused on a family member -- his grandmother, Nuala Pell, who died April 13. "She was a truly amazing woman," he said.

But he too moved to set himself apart, saying his background "is not that of an elected official" but one of service in the Coast Guard and as "a leader in education" -- a reference to his six-month stint as a deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education.

He decried a "got ya" mentality that surrounds political campaigns, noting that "even as I speak, I'm being filmed" -- a reference to a camera held by someone from the Raimondo team.

And while Taveras said the state has to solve its own problems, Pell said Rhode Island needs to "look to the region, and look to the country" and "think beyond its borders" as it seeks to attract businesses and develop educational programs.

The association will endorse one of the gubernatorial hopefuls next month, said Bud Cicilline, who chairs the group.

Assembly set to return

Fourteen weeks into the 2014 legislative session, Rhode Island's lawmakers have held more than 250 committee meetings and heard testimony on more than 1,200 bills.

Of those, 115 have gone to Governor Chafee for his signature.

That list includes 81 solemnization-of-marriage bills that allow couples to be married by someone who ordinarily cannot preside at a wedding, but it also includes bills that encourage a settlement in the 38 Studios lawsuit, allow major construction to continue at the Quonset Business Park, allow motorists to use their smartphones to show proof of insurance, and extend the time period for the 10-cent toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge.

House and Senate leaders say they are focused on Rhode Island's economy, which has the highest unemployment rate of any state in the nation. But most of that work is still in progress.

House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, elected last month, is working with his leadership team "on a number of initiatives that will focus on improving the state's economic and job climate," said spokesman Larry Berman. And the Senate, at its annual economic summit last month, focused on making sure Rhode Island's work force is ready for "the jobs of the 21st century," said spokesman Greg Pare.

Berman said the accomplishments thus far are typical for lawmakers, who return this week from their spring vacation.

"The time period leading up to the April recess is traditionally dominated by the voluminous work done at the committee level," he said.

'Ask the Journalist'

On Monday, the Rhode Island Lobbyist Association is hosting "Ask the Journalist: A Night of Intriguing Conversation."

The event, which will run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Waterman Grille in Providence, is free to lobbyist association members and $25 for non-members.

Panelists will include: Providence Journal political columnist Edward Fitzpatrick; RIPR radio's political reporter Ian Donnis and WPRI-12 reporter Ted Nesi. The topic: "The Media's Perception of Lobbying and Political Reporting."

Group now registered

Finally, an update on a matter reported here last week: Operation Clean Government is once again registered as a lobbying organization with the secretary of state's office.

The good-government group couldn't register for the 2014 legislative session until it filed its reports for 2013, and it filed those reports last Monday.

"We're all up to date," said Margaret Kane, the group's president and -- as of last Monday -- its sole lobbyist.

On Twitter: @kathyprojo [email protected] |On Twitter: @RandyEdgar1

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