Senate Majority Whip Goodwin remembered for her wit, compassion

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Senate took a day off from legislating on Tuesday to honor their colleague, the late Maryellen Goodwin, and regale each other with stories of her memorable wit which didn't stop at the nicknames she had for everybody.

Senate Majority Leader Ryan Pearson, D-Cumberland, said she had dubbed him "Little Lord Fauntleroy,'' but some of her other nicknames were not suitable for repeating on the Senate floor, in a televised tribute to Goodwin, the Senate Majority Whip and a Senator for 36 years.

Others recalled her infamous text, including one where she needled a Republican colleague, Thomas Paolino, on his "Gerber baby" style haircut, and another where she texted fellow Democrat Frank Lombardi, D-Cranston, to get over a lingering snit over some legislative something. "You know you can't hate me. I love you," she wrote.

"Man, was she funny," Lombardi said. "In the dozen or so times that I've seen the need for a whip because the vote was close....Her wit got us through it and necessarily brought us across the finish line."

The consensus: she was "unfiltered." And while some spoke of her courage and her compassion, Sen. Joshua Miller quoted a close Goodwin friend and State House colleague who said: "The Senate just lost its sense of humor."

In Goodwin's honor, Miller asked his colleagues "to make sure that statement is not true."

Goodwin died overnight on Saturday, after a nearly four-year battle against cancer that she turned into a winning State House campaign for no-cost colorectal cancer screening.

Speaking of her from the Senate rostrum on Tuesday, Gov. Dan McKee hailed her courage and said "if there is one thing that we all can agree on it is that Maryellen was a champion, a tireless champion for her constituents and the entire state of Rhode Island."

"From sponsoring legislation to support our seniors, to strengthening worker protections to fighting for increases in school aid, Senator Goodwin dedicated her life to public service."

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi also sang her praises, calling her "the epitome of what a good legislator should be. She lived it everyday...She loved this building. She loved this institution."

And he recalled one of his first conversations with her when he became Speaker, mid-COVID when they were both masked, and she said: "Speaker, I've been trying to get this colorectal (cancer screening) bill passed for years and it never passed the House. Will you pass [the bill] for me, and not just for me? Will you pass it for all of the Rhode Islanders who will be benefited by this?"

Shekarchi said it was "one of the most important and earliest pieces of legislation [passed] during my tenure as speaker."

In his turn, Sen. Frank Lombardo, D-Johnston, credited Goodwin with giving him "the courage to live with cancer...She taught me to be strong, and to have faith... and to embrace every second of life. I promised her I'd keep on fighting the good fight."

On the day Goodwin died, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio issued this statement:

"Our hearts are shattered by the news that our beloved colleague Maryellen Goodwin has passed away. Her accomplishments are numerous, and her legacy will be indelible," Ruggerio said in the statement issued Saturday.

"She stood fearlessly for what was right, fighting for the voiceless, vulnerable and underprivileged. Her leadership led to passage of landmark laws improving lead poisoning prevention, the child care industry, domestic violence prevention, public safety, worker protections, access to health care, home care and nursing home safety, and so much more.

"She [also] lit up every room she entered with an infectious smile and razor-sharp wit. Our lives are richer for having known her," Ruggerio said.

A patient undergoing chemotherapy every two weeks for long stretches of time since 2019, Goodwin, 58, was nonetheless a regular presence at the State House until mid-February, when Senate Journals begin to reflect her absences.

As the Senate majority whip responsible for counting and, when necessary, "whipping up" votes, Goodwin — who was first elected to the Senate in 1986 — was third in line in Ruggerio's leadership team and also the second-longest-serving member of the chamber, behind Ruggerio.

Goodwin was 'the driving force' in the RI Senate

Born and raised in the Smith Hill neighborhood she represented in Senate District 1, she lived for years over the funeral home where her late father — a former state senator — worked. She held her father's former seat.

She turned up, in 2022, as a behind-the-scenes player in a national intrigue over the location of President Joe Biden's "designated survivor'' — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — when all of Washington's brass gathered for his 2022 State of the Union address.

As was subsequently reported: Raimondo, the former Rhode Island governor, was having dinner with Goodwin in downtown Providence when the news broke, and they were surrounded by Secret Service agents trying to get Raimondo to hurry out of the restaurant and up to her hotel room. As the story goes, Raimondo said: "No, I'm having dinner with my friend Maryellen."

Colleagues remember Goodwin as "the driving force," on the Senate side, for Rhode Island's Paid Sick Leave law, independent options for senior home care and stronger reporting requirements for abuse in schools.

She also sponsored the Senate version of the 2021 minimum staffing law that set the highest staff-to-patient ratios in the nation for nursing homes. The SEIU-driven law remains the focus of a war between the state, which is obligated to enforce the law, and the understaffed nursing home industry.

Goodwin also championed what she called "common-sense gun laws," including the Senate version of the state’s Red Flag law to remove firearms from individuals who pose a clear threat to themselves or others.

And she co-sponsored the landmark "Homicide Prevention Act," which requires individuals subject to restraining orders to surrender their firearms, as well as legislation providing that individuals convicted of felony domestic assault surrender their firearms.

In a related vein, she sponsored bills to expand the definition of domestic violence to include arson, burglary, damage to or obstruction of a telephone, cyberstalking and cyber-harassment, and covert tracking of a motor vehicle.

Maryellen Goodwin Colorectal Screening Act

In recent years, she led a fight on two fronts — personal and legislative — for early cancer detection and treatment.

The "Maryellen Goodwin Colorectal Screening Act" — which requires insurers to fully cover preventive screenings and colonoscopies — was named in her honor.

"My cancer could have been detected a little earlier. And it was not ... so I really don't know how much time I have left on this earth," Goodwin told Senate colleagues, her voice breaking.

In the emotion of the moment, the only words she spoke next that could be heard clearly, before the Senate's unanimous vote for the bill, were "early screening."

The legislation, which had passed the Senate before — only to fail in the House — prohibits insurers from charging co-pays for colorectal cancer examinations and laboratory tests for average-risk individuals age 45 and up and a follow-up colonoscopy if the results of the initial tests are abnormal.

"Colon cancer is [also] one of the most survivable forms of cancer, but only if it is detected early," Goodwin told colleagues. "This legislation removes significant financial barriers that too often discourage or prevent people from getting this life-saving screening."

Goodwin, born Sept. 27, 1964, was a graduate of St. Patrick High School and Rhode Island College. In addition to her part-time legislative role, she worked for the City of Providence. The City Council mourned her passing in a statement on Saturday:

"For nearly 40 years, Goodwin served the residents of Smith Hill with honor, passion, and integrity, helping pass laws that have touched the lives of so many Rhode Islanders. She will forever be remembered as a champion for the poor and working people."

Her first winning election was as a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention in 1985. She was also the longtime chairwoman of the Providence Democratic City Committee.

Tributes to her poured in Saturday. Among them:

"Rhode Islanders owe a debt of gratitude to Senator Goodwin — her leadership and courage have helped so many across our state," said Gov. Dan McKee, announcing that he had directed that flags be lowered in her honor.

"I am so proud that one of the first bills we passed when I became speaker in 2021 was the Maryellen Goodwin Colorectal Cancer Screening Act, which will save countless lives and will be a lasting legacy to her," wrote House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.

"I will always miss her tenacious advocacy for the most vulnerable Rhode Islanders, as well as her tremendous grace and wit while waging a courageous fight against cancer for the last several years. ... All of her colleagues in the General Assembly loved her dearly," Shekarchi said.

"Rest in peace, my beautiful friend," said U.S. Rep. David Cicilline. “Maryellen Goodwin was a dedicated public servant, a champion for her community and her district, and a beloved colleague to so many of us. It has been a special blessing in my life to call her my friend, and I am heartbroken by her passing."

Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, in a statement issued on behalf of the Senate Republicans, hailed Goodwin's legislative achievements, but added: "More than her impressive career accomplishments, Maryellen will be remembered for how she made us all feel. Her presence was a comfort, her courage, and good humor in the face of her illness an inspiration, and her never-faltering smile a ray of sunshine in our lives.

"Indeed, she was one of a kind, and her loss is deeply felt by all who knew her," she said.

"Senator Goodwin and I had a special friendship and [she] shared the most beautiful text ... when she found out I was leaving the GA," former state Rep. Marcia Ranglin-Vassell wrote in a tweet.

In the attached text, Goodwin conveyed her gratitude for having "shared a district" and said of Ranglin-Vassell what people were saying about Goodwin on Saturday: "You have an incredible heart of true service to anyone in need."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin remembered for her wit and compassion