'Frightening prospect': Why RI's unions are organizing against a constitutional convention

PROVIDENCE – No one knows what changes to the Rhode Island Constitution would be proposed at a constitutional convention – should voters in November allow one – but a coalition of union and advocacy groups are warning that the state would be foolish to risk finding out.

The group, Rhode Island Citizens for Responsible Government, launched the Reject Question 1 campaign Wednesday, warning that holding the first such convention in 38 years would be an invitation for big-money groups to mount attacks on abortion, collective bargaining and other rights.

"A constitutional convention opens the floodgates for special interests to come into our state in a dangerous attempt to chip away the civil rights and protections currently afforded to all Rhode Islanders," Vimala Phongsavanh, senior director of external affairs of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and chair of the new group, said at a rally at Planned Parenthood offices in Providence. "Those rights include access to abortion and other reproductive health care."

Why campaign against a constitutional convention?

Warnings of an anti-abortion push at a new convention are borne out of what happened at the last such convention, in 1986, which recommended a proposed amendment that said life begins at conception.

The amendment was defeated by voters.

Of course, Rhode Island politics and public opinion has changed a lot since the Reagan administration.

If the delegates elected to a constitutional convention leaned to the left, they could recommend enshrining a right to abortion, a right to an education or other constitutional amendments progressives have supported for years.

All amendments proposed by a convention still need to be approved by voters to be ratified.

But members of the Responsible Government coalition say that even if they could advance longstanding goals through a convention, it is not the right way to go about it, and warned that outside money could introduce an element of uncertainty.

A 'frightening prospect'

Steven Brown, executive director of ACLU of Rhode Island, acknowledged that some positive amendments were proposed back in 1986, particularly the establishment of the Ethics Commission, but a new convention could be a "frightening prospect" that would be "as political as any session of the General Assembly."

In addition to the abortion amendment, Brown said the 1986 convention also proposed amendments to restrict bail for certain drug offenses and to limit voting rights for residents convicted of a crime.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Crowley said his organization has already committed $5,000 to the campaign against Question 1, but predicted "we are going to be outspent if the corporate money is allowed to flow into Rhode Island."

"There's just no way that $10 contributions from working people or $20 contributions and low-dollar contributions from Planned Parenthood or the Latino Policy Institute [are] ever going to compete against someone like the Koch brothers," he said.

Why not use organized labor's political muscle to influence the direction of a convention rather than shutting it down?

"Make no mistake, we are preparing for the bad news and just in case this does pass, we have already started planning for that," Crowley said. "We will run a union member in every single district. Make no mistake about it, we are not going to let the corporate powers take away our rights, but we are fundamentally opposed to a constitutional convention because we think it is a primary job of democracy to make sure these decisions are made in the General Assembly through the regular legislative process."

Who is supporting a constitutional convention?

So far, no organized group has emerged in support of Question 1.

The most vocal supporters of having a convention have been Republicans largely shut out of power at the General Assembly, who say this one of the only ways to change the status quo.

"They are the special interest groups in favor of the status quo," former Republican national committeeman Steve Frias said Wednesday of the Citizens for Responsible Government.

"If a ConCon was approved, all it does is give an opportunity for people to change how the state is run," Frias said Wednesday of the Citizens for Responsible Government. "Obviously those who are running the state don't want it to change one bit ... they are the special interest groups in favor of the status quo."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'Frightening prospect': Why RI's unions are organizing against a constitutional convention