Donald Carcieri

On February 20, 2003, The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, was engulfed in a catastrophic fire which claimed 100 lives. The fire, which was one of the worst such tragedies in American history, was widely covered by the national press, which gave Carcieri's public statements on the event nationwide coverage. Eventually the Governor declared a moratorium on pyrotechnics for crowds under 300 people.

In 2005, both houses of the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana. Carcieri vetoed the bill, but the legislature overrode Carcieri by a large margin.[9] Carcieri and the Democratic-dominated General Assembly have been at odds on a number of issues: enacting separation of powers, the treatment of state workers, and whether children of illegal immigrants should have access to the state childcare health care plan. Carcieri often warned against increasing the size of the state's welfare programs as unaffordable and unsustainable and that the state suffers economically from a history of corruption. Carcieri has had a history of confrontations with the heavily Democratic state legislature, community activists, and organized labor.

Carcieri won re-election in 2006. Rhode Island is one of 19 states that elects its governor and lieutenant governor separately rather than on a single party ticket; Carcieri faced his own Lieutenant Governor, Democrat Charles J. Fogarty, who was prevented, by term limits, from running again for the Lieutenant Governor position.

One of the most controversial events of Carcieri's governorship occurred on December 13, 2007 when the state of Rhode Island experienced a storm which dumped about 10-12 inches of snow on the state at the time of the evening commute. It became known as the "December Debacle." On that day, Carcieri was in the Middle East and could not be contacted until the storm was over. As a result of the timing of the storm and of conflicts between various State agencies about who was responsible for emergency management during Carcieri's absence, there was inadequate snow clearance on major highways, causing gridlock long into the night and stranding several buses of schoolchildren in snowbanks for a number of hours. Widely criticized for blocking the Lieutenant Governor from taking charge in his absence,[10] Carcieri admitted that his administration did "a poor job of communications"[11] during the storm. However, he refused to answer questions concerning who would be in charge of the state in the event of his absence. Eventually a judge required Carcieri to release documents indicating his orders on the chain of command in such situations.[12]

On March 27, 2008, Carcieri signed an Executive Order requiring state agencies and vendors to verify the legal status of all employees and directing the Rhode Island State Police and the Department of Corrections to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure federal immigration laws are enforced.

Carcieri is a member of the National Organization for Marriage which advocates for marriage to be legally defined as one man and one woman.[13]

In November 2009, Carcieri vetoed H 5294 which, if enacted, would allow domestic partners to oversee and care for a same-sex partner's funeral arrangements. The bill's impetus was motivated by an event when the State refused to release the body of a man to his 17 year same-sex partner.[14] In his veto message, Carcieri made the following statement: "This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue."[14]

In January 2010, the Legislature voted to override the veto.[15]

In the fiscal year 2010, the state of Rhode Island was facing a budget shortfall of $528 million.[16] In an effort to shed $67.8 million, Carcieri imposed 12 furlough days. The first unpaid day was to occur on Friday, September 5, 2009. The unions representing state workers were able to, in the 11th hour, have a restraining order issued by Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg with a full court hearing on the matter to occur on September 12. Almost immediately Carcieri issued a press release noting he now has no other option but layoffs. He further went on to say "It should greatly disturb every state employee and every Rhode Islander that labor leaders are willing to sacrifice people’s jobs so they can maintain their stranglehold on the citizens of this state."[17]