By JIM BARON

CRANSTON — Cumberland resident R. David Cruise was sworn in Thursday as a magistrate in the state Traffic Tribunal.

In a ceremony in which they were praised by their former and future bosses, Cruise and Alan Goulart of North Kingstown took the oath of office from Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams in the foyer of the tribunal’s new courthouse in the John O. Pastore Center. 
Both will be in their robes and on the bench this morning, listening to drivers’ excuses about why they were caught exceeding the speed limit or running a red light.
Cruise, who was the state’s youngest elected official when he won a seat on the Cumberland Town Council in 1976 and also served as a state senator representing the town, notes that the judiciary is the only branch of government where he hasn’t worked.
“I have had the good fortune over the last 30 years to have opportunities working in the executive and legislative branches of our government, both in Rhode Island and Washington, DC,” he said. “Each position was different and challenging. I learned a lot and met a number of wonderful people.
See CRUISE, Page A-2
“Now it is a time to begin a career in this third branch, the judiciary, and I look forward to this opportunity to begin work with the quality folks at the Traffic Tribunal.”
See CRUISE, Page A-2
Cruise, 51, was chief of staff to Gov. Bruce Sundlun in the early 1990s, he went to Washington to serve in the Department of Commerce under President Bill Clinton, and most recently he was chief of staff to Senate President Joseph Montalbano.
Cruise told The Times after Thursday’s swearing-in that “I can bring all my years of experience” in those positions to bear in his new $128,650 job.
Montalbano said his former staff chief has “a depth and variety of experience that few members of the Rhode Island bar are blessed with.
‘We have become much more than colleagues,” in the five years Cruise was chief of staff, Montalbano said, “we have become friends for life.”
“The legislature gets a bad rap,” Cruise told the throng of family, friends and colleagues who turned out to wish the new magistrates well, “but the overwhelming majority of its members are devoted solely to serving the public good and the state’s best interests. I am proud to have served with these good people. 
House Speaker William Murphy said of Cruise, “there has not been a better administrator, not a person who has understood the political process better, and a person who day in and day out came and rolled up his sleeves and was able to work for the senate.”
“This is the court where most people have their first interplay with the court system,” Cruise said of his new post. “While you are dealing with the problems they have, you want them to leave with a positive experience.”
The newest magistrate said his parents instilled in him values such as, “you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you are going to do, and you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them and even if you don’t agree with them.
Cruise said those are the values that will guide him in his new job.
The Chief Magistrate of the Traffic Tribunal, William Guglietta, sworn in himself just a couple of months ago after serving as legal counsel to House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, said that for the first time in a long while “the Traffic Tribunal is up to full staff and ready to asses the 100,000 cases we handle on a yearly basis.
When Montalbano was praising the new Traffic Tribunal building, opened earlier this year, he turned to Chief Justice Williams and said, “let’s build another one,” a reference to the proposed Blackstone Valley Courthouse that Williams and the legislature have championed by Gov. Donald Carcieri has opposed as an unnecessary expense in tight budget times.
Williams said during his presentation that, “I am going to continue to push for a new Blackstone Valley Courthouse.”
Goulart, 48, was until recently chief of the criminal division of the state Attorney General’s Office. He said he learned at an early age that, “family, faith, community and hard work will take you where you want to go.