The Mapmakers
Inside the hyper-political process of redistricting , Rhode Island ’ s favorite blood sport .
The late State Senate President Rocco Quattrocchi commanded “ an army of legislative foot soldiers so loyal , they were dubbed ‘ Rocco ’ s Robots .’ ” In 1982 , he deployed seven of them to the state redistricting commission , a once-in-a-decade body that apportions the state and federal House and Senate seats according to the latest United States Census results . The 1980 count showed that Providence had lost 23,000 residents , meaning it would lose one of its Senate seats . Quattrocchi saw an opportunity to re-draw the battle lines — and take out an opponent on the East Side . The new map dispersed traditional Providence neighborhoods to other districts , and placed the only Republican , Senate Minority Leader Lila Sapinsley , in the same district as Senator Richard Licht , then a young Democratic insurgent .
Thus , the judiciary was enlisted . Licht challenged the new map in Superior Court , where a judge ruled the districts violated the state constitution and diluted the African American vote . A mad scramble ensued . That July , the Senate drew and enacted new maps in two weeks . But Governor Joseph Garrahy vetoed the plan as unusable in the short run-up to the November election . The General Assembly passed a bill establishing the old district lines . The GOP
ILLUSTRATION : GETTY IMAGES AND DOREEN CHISNELL . promptly sued in federal court requesting that the state be enjoined from holding an election using the 1974 districts , or according to any map that did not pass constitutional muster .
At trial , Licht and Sapinsley attested to the other ’ s record as an irritant to the leadership . Licht called Sapinsley “ an effective minority leader ” and “ a whistleblower .” Sapinsley returned the compliment , characterizing Licht “ an independent Democrat . Others call him a maverick . He does not follow the leader blindly .”
That was enough for Senior United States District Judge Raymond J . Pettine . He declared the map a partisan gerrymander , finding that it violated the one-person , one-vote doctrine , and ordered a special election with new Providence districts . Licht handily won the Senate District 3 race . Republicans gained fourteen more seats , bringing their Senate representation to twenty-one . The Democrats booted Quattrocchi from the leadership .
According to Secrets and Scandals : Reforming Rhode Island , 1986 – 2006 , by H . Philip West , the debacle cost the taxpayers $ 1.5 million , but Quattrocchi declared himself the aggrieved party : “ I didn ’ t rob a bank , I didn ’ t kill anyone ,” he told the Providence Journal . “ If I did , it
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