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.