Donald Carcieri

Don Carcieri
73rd Governor of Rhode Island
Incumbent
Assumed office January 7, 2003
Lieutenant	Charles J. Fogarty (2003 - 2007) Elizabeth H. Roberts (2007 - present)
Preceded by	Lincoln C. Almond
Personal details
Born	(1942-12-16) December 16, 1942 East Greenwich, Rhode Island
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Suzanne Carcieri
Residence(s)	East Greenwich, Rhode Island
Alma mater	Brown University
Profession	Teacher, Banker
Portrait

Donald L. "Don" Carcieri (born December 16, 1942) is the Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher. He is best known nationally as the last holdout among New England governors of marriage equality for same-sex couples and for having joined the National Organization for Marriage.

Personal background

Carcieri grew up in an Italian neighborhood. He played baseball, basketball, and football while in high school and received a college scholarship. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in International Relations. Carcieri started his career as a high school math teacher, working in Newport, Rhode Island and Concord, Massachusetts. He later became a banker and businessman, working his way up the ranks to become an executive vice president at Old Stone Bank.

In 1981, Carcieri and his family moved to Kingston, Jamaica, where the future governor worked for Catholic Relief Services. Two years later, he returned to Rhode Island and became an executive at the Cookson Group. He eventually became CEO of the company's subsidiary, Cookson America. He also worked as Joint Managing Director for Cookson and helped the corporation's sales to rise from $30 million to $3 billion per year. At the request of Carcieri, Cookson established their US headquarters in an unused building in downtown Providence[1].

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.

The Station Night Club Fire

On February 20, 2003, The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, was engulfed in a catastrophic fire which claimed 100 lives. The fire, which was one of the worst such tragedies in American history, was widely covered by the national press, which gave Carcieri's public statements on the event nationwide coverage. Eventually the Governor declared a moratorium on pyrotechnics for crowds under 300 people.

Legalization of marijuana for medical purposes

In 2005, both houses of the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana. Carcieri vetoed the bill, but the legislature 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 treatment of state workers, and whether children of illegal immigrants should have access to the state childcare health care plan. Carcieri often warns against increasing the size of the state's welfare programs as unaffordable and unsustainable and that the state suffers economically from a history of corruption. Carcieri has had a history of confrontations with the heavily Democratic state legislature, community activists, and organized labor.

Anti-Gay controversy

In August 2009, the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) announced that Carcieri would be their keynote speaker at their annual banquet to be held in October 2009. In addition to being opposed to gay marriage, MFI is opposed to civil unions and domestic partnerships. They frame LGBT civil rights as "special rights." They claim that "homosexuality is an unhealthy practice and destructive to individuals, families and society."

Re-election

Carcieri won re-election in 2006. 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, Democrat Charles J. Fogarty, who was prevented, by term limits, from running again for the Lieutenant Governor position.

The 2007 Snowstorm

One of the most controversial events of Carcieri's governorship occurred on December 13, 2007 when the state of Rhode Island experienced a storm which dumped about 10-12 inches of snow on the state at the time of the evening commute. On that day, Governor Carcieri was in the Middle East and could not be contacted until the storm was over. As a result of the timing of the storm and of conflicts between various State agencies about who was responsible for emergency management during Carcieri's absence, there was inadequate snow clearance on major arteries, causing gridlock long into the night and stranding several buses of schoolchildren in snowbanks for a number of hours. Widely criticized for blocking the Lieutenant-Governor from taking charge in his absence, Carcieri admitted that his administration did "a poor job of communications" during the storm. However, he refused to answer questions concerning who would be in charge of the state in the event of his absence. Eventually a judge required Carcieri to release documents indicating his orders on the chain of command in such situations.

On March 27, 2008, Governor Carcieri signed an Executive Order requiring state agencies and vendors to verify the legal status of all employees and directing the Rhode Island State Police and the Department of Corrections to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure federal immigration laws are enforced.

2009 furlough controversy

In the fiscal year 2010, the state of Rhode Island is facing a budget shortfall of $528 million . In an effort to shed $67.8 million, Governor Carcieri imposed 12 furlough days. The first unpaid day was occur on Friday 2009-09-05. The unions representing state workers was able to, in the 11th hour, have a restraining order issued by Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg with a full court hearing on the matter to occur on Friday 2009-09-12. Almost immediately Governor Carcieri issued a press release noting he now has no other option but layoffs. He further went on to say "It should greatly disturb every state employee and every Rhode Islander that labor leaders are willing to sacrifice people’s jobs so they can maintain their stranglehold on the citizens of this state"

Electoral History

Rhode Island Gubernatorial Election 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Donald Carcieri	173,545	54.8
	Democratic	Myrth York	143,750	45.2

Rhode Island Gubernatorial Election 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Donald Carcieri (Incumbent)	197,013	50.9	−3.9
	Democratic	Charles J. Fogarty	189,099	48.9

See also

• Rhode Island gubernatorial election, 2006

External links

• Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri state news site

• Follow the Money - Donald L Carcieri
  • 2008 2006 2004 2002 campaign contributions