By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — Senate President Joseph Montalbano will not allow a Senate vote Wednesday to confirm Gov. Donald Carcieri’s appointments to the RI Resource Recovery Corporation, even though the state landfill has been operating under an emergency executive order since last month because the corporation does not have enough active members to constitute a quorum.

The Senate will reconvene on Wednesday to consider two judicial nominations and several other appointments that require Senate approval — the Senate Judiciary Committee will meet this afternoon to vet the various candidates — but in a letter to Carcieri dated Monday Montalbano said the RIRRC appointments will not be brought to the floor.
Montalbano maintains that Carcieri did not follow the law in making his appointments because he did not give “due consideration” to groups and entities impacted by the agency’s activities. The language of the law concerning appointments to RIRRC says, “(T)he governor shall give due consideration the recommendation of the mayor of the town of Johnston (where the RIRRC-run state landfill is located) and from the League of Cities and Towns. The governor shall also give due consideration to recommendations from representatives of the commercial waste haulers and environmental advocacy organizations, and shall consider persons experienced in the field of recycling.”
In his letter to Carcieri, Montalbano says that in “recent hearings on nominations pursuant to the Senate’s obligation to provide advice and consent” Senators and members of the public have questioned “whether any attention had been given to such legally mandated considerations. In each instance, in fact, it was apparent that you had not.”
“We do not consider this an insignificant lapse,” the Senate president asserted.
Montalbano called on the governor to once again extend his executive order in which the governor virtually took over supervision of RIRRC’s activities until a board is in place to resume its duties. The order, issued July 2, was effective for 30 days and was extended for another 30 days on July 31. Montalbano asked Carcieri to extend the order “until such time as we are able to meet and discuss the matter and the concerns expressed” in his letter.
The governor’s office failed to respond to questions on the confirmations Monday.
RIRRC Executive Director Michael O’Connell said Monday that the corporation continues to operate under the executive order.
“I’d rather have a board, because that’s where we need to be in the long term,” O’Connell said. “If we need to get by with the governor acting instead, then that’s what we’ll do. He will continue to approve things that we need to get done.”
Montalbano’s misgivings trace back to the debate over implementing the separation of powers constitutional amendment approved by voters in a 2004 referendum. The amendment gave appointment power to members of state boards and commissions to the governor. But in writing the law to implement the amendment, the General Assembly in several cases instituted requirements that the governor choose names from lists provided by affected groups or officials. Carcieri routinely vetoed those bills, so the legislature passed laws, such as for the RIRRC, requiring the executive give “due consideration” to certain groups or officials.
Carcieri has chafed at those restrictions as well, insisting that the separation of powers amendment gave the power of appointment to the governor and that it is constitutionally improper for the legislative branch to attempt to limit his choices.
In his executive order, Carcieri declared that “a disaster threat is imminent” because the RIRRC board did not have enough members to operate. “A closed landfill and inoperable RIRRC, charged…with providing the utmost in protection of public health and the environment, would have a severe environmental impact on the state and adverse effect upon the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
Carcieri said at the time that the failure of the Senate, “despite repeated requests, notices and warnings from the office of the governor,” to confirm his appointments resulted in the RIRRC not being able to conduct business or approve a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
In his letter to Carcieri, Montalbano also said he also wants to discuss “several recent instances in which the new executive director of the corporation has spoken approvingly of various types of incineration as a solution to our waste stream problems.
That puzzled O’Connell, the director to whom Montalbano referred.
“I have no idea what he is talking about,” O’Connell told The Times, “I haven’t talked about that for…well, forever. I don’t know where that came from.”
Asked if incineration is no longer an option, he said, “nothing is off the table.
“That’s something that you would like to have a board in place that’s going to determine the long term strategy of the landfill,” he noted. “I wasn’t even going to bring it up until we had a board.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet today to consider Carcieri’s appointment of Anthony Capraro as a District Court Judge, Robert Ferrieri as a Workers Compensation Court judge, and Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah Jeremiah’s appointment of three Family Court magistrates – George DiMuro as the administrative magistrate and Armand Monaco and Colleen Hastings as magistrates -- and one Family Court administrator, Ronald Pagliarini.
Also scheduled for a hearing is John Chartier, a candidate for State Fire Marshall, to replace Frank Sylvester, who quit as fire marshal and returned to his former job as chief of the Lime Rock Fire Department just weeks after starting the job.
Montalbano said through a spokesman that the Senate would not seek to override any of Carcieri’s vetoes from the recent legislative session. He said he does expect to call the Senate back sometime later this year to consider veto overrides, but cautioned that no final decisions have been made yet.