Firefighters showered money on RI politicos during disability bill debate. Here's how much

Few donors have been more generous to Rhode Island politicos – or more persistent – than the state's firefighters.

And this year their persistence paid off.

State lawmakers passed, and Gov. Dan McKee – unlike his predecessor, Gina Raimondo – allowed, legislation to take effect that opens a new door for firefighters of any age to get two-thirds-pay, tax-free disability pensions for life.

In the six-month lead-up to those actions, the political arms of Rhode Island firefighters unions contributed more than $120,000 to state politicos and their affiliated charity fundraising efforts – such as the "Rhode Island Senate President's Cup" – and to the campaign war chest of the Senate president's chief of staff.

Repeat: $120,253.

And now there's a test case working its way through the state retirement system that uses the new pension law that took effect on June 27 to challenge a denial by the state Retirement Board's "disability committee" last December.

Firefighter Robert Paul's lawyer contends that the legislature, having decided it was "unfair" to make firefighters prove a "direct link" between their ailments and their jobs "that may not ever be able to be proven," has left the committee no choice.

More to come on that.

More: Why did Gov. McKee side with firefighter unions on pensions? He breaks his silence

Who donated, and to what cause?

The donations to Rhode Island politicos ranged from a total of $1,200 from the North Providence Fire Fighters Local 2334 PAC to $12,975 from the Cranston Fire Fighters Local 1363 PAC. To the $21,050 from the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters to the $25,900 that four different PACs affiliated with the Providence firefighters sprinkled around.

(And that does not include donations from individual firefighters and their lobbyists, including the $1,975 from members of the team at William A. Farrell & Associates that lobbies for the Providence Fire Fighters Local 799, according to filings with the state Board of Elections. )

Democrat McKee was among the beneficiaries, with about $8,000 in donations between Jan. 1 and June 30 from the constellation of firefighter PACs.

But the vast majority of those dollars went to state lawmakers, mid-session, as has been the case for many years. The big winners: House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi ($12,750), Senate President Dominick Ruggerio ($10,150), their top lieutenants, and state Rep. Julie Casimiro, the daughter of the late Donald Forgue, a Cranston deputy fire chief.

Where else did the firefighter dollars go?

Several PACs reported donations to the "RI State Senate Open," a golf tournament sponsored by Ruggerio, a non-golfer, at the Kirkbrae Country Club, to raise money – a reported $40,000 this year – for Hasbro Children's Hospital.

The maximum donation to a state office-holder or candidate is $1,000 per year. The admission fees to the golf tournament ranged from $1,000 for the "19th Hole" to $5,000 for an "Ace" foursome.

And this year, after years of setbacks, the firefighters scored a long-sought victory.

How did the law get passed?

State lawmakers overwhelmingly passed legislation that creates a "presumption" that a stroke, heart condition and/or high blood pressure is "an in-the-line-of duty injury/disability, unless the contrary can be proven by clear and convincing evidence."

(The presumption will not automatically apply to firefighters hired after July 1, 2023, who have a history of smoking.)

McKee, who was endorsed by the R.I. State Association of Fire Fighters last year in his hard-fought campaign for governor, allowed the legislation – vehemently opposed by the cities and towns – to become law without his signature on June 27.

When asked why he disregarded the pleas and warnings of municipal leaders, McKee, a former Cumberland mayor, said they didn't make a very strong case.

Beyond that, "it was veto-proof," he said, meaning the votes were potentially there to override any veto he might issue.

That was also true when Raimondo vetoed virtually the same legislation in 2017.

But then-Governor Raimondo concluded: "It would create a significant new unfunded local pension benefit that would cost millions of dollars annually in new pension obligations for cities and towns – likely resulting in simultaneous property tax increases."

Lawmakers were confronted with the same arguments again this year against the matching firefighter disability bills that ultimately passed the House on a 62-to-9 vote and the Senate on a 29-to-7 vote in the closing days of this year's legislative session.

But McKee was unswayed by the arguments that led Raimondo to a veto.

A May 6, 2022, mid-campaign Facebook post by McKee tells a bit more of the story.

Appearing at an event hosted by the R.I. State Association of Firefighters, which subsequently endorsed him, McKee said: "Not only do you respond to the emergencies that have to do with fires, but you also respond to homes when people need help."

"My mom's going to be 94, and Skip [Emerson] was at our house the other day, responding to an emergency that my mom was feeling, and just the fact that they were in my house, the firefighters were in my house giving that comfort, that's what the public sees with you every day.

"Thank you so much for having me here today," he said that day. " I appreciate it."

No surge in applications yet, but a test case is coming

Year after year, Rhode Island's mayors and town administrators warned legislators that passage of the new firefighter pension law would lead to a surge in applications for disability benefits, with a resulting spike in taxpayer costs.

Asked if he'd seen any signs of that happening in the two months since the new law took effect, Ernest Almonte, the executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities & Towns, told The Journal:

"There have been no applications [so far] for disability related to firefighter disability pensions for heart conditions/high blood pressure, and we are not aware of any pending cases that could be impacted by the passing of the new disability pension law which the League opposed."

But an appeal by Robert A. Paul Jr., who was a firefighter-EMT in the Central Coventry Fire District for 23 years, has emerged as the first test case of the new law.

More: Gov. McKee could have vetoed another generous pension bill. Instead he chose compassion.

Paul was approved for an "ordinary disability pension" last December, but not the higher-paying accidental disability pension he requested. He appealed.

The difference between an "ordinary" and an "accidental" disability pension: thousands of dollars.

Unlike a regular pension, which has a minimum age and service time threshold, an "ordinary disability pension" allows a firefighter to retire at any age. But those retiring with an "ordinary disability pension" only get 2% of their five-year salary average for each year they worked.

An accidental disability pension, by contrast, pays two-thirds of the final salary, tax-free, no matter the firefighter's age or years on the job.

The difference in Robert Paul's case: $45,258 annually if he were to get an accidental disability pension, $36,574 if he gets an ordinary disability pension, according to the state retirement office.

In his March 15, 2023, appeal letter to Frank Karpinski, the administrator of the state retirement system, Paul, 63, wrote:

"The pension board concluded my condition is congenital, as the underlying cause of their decision. However, my position is that the nature of the firefighting profession has exacerbated my health, resulting in my inability to ... perform my duty as a firefighter."

Paul's appeal, tentatively scheduled for a hearing in May, was postponed to August at his request.

By then, lawmakers had passed the new law, making it nearly impossible for the state to prove his job did not contribute in some way to his cardiac episode in January 2021, when he was lifting a patient, and to his elevated blood pressure, now under control with medication, according to the discussion at the Aug. 4 disability committee hearing.

At an Aug. 4 meeting of the disability committee, Paul's lawyer, Elizabeth Wiens, argued: the legislature left the committee no choice but to reverse itself.

"First, I think we've proven, and you've determined this already, that Mr. Paul was disabled from his job. ... Second, I think the medical records are clear that his disability is the result of an impairment caused by heart disease or hypertension."

"So the only remaining question is, is there clear and convincing evidence in the record that Mr. Paul's disability is not the result of work" in the face of "evidence that firefighters ... are more likely in the general population to develop hypertension because of the smoke, psychological stress, noise, and disrupted sleep?"

"Usually, I have to prove that there's causation," she said. "Today, it's assumed there's causation, and the subcommittee has to come up with some evidence in the record to overcome that presumption. And, as I argued, I don't think that exists."

Beyond that, she argued that the new law applies to Paul's pending case because it did not create a new benefit, it merely "lower[ed] the burden for firefighters to establish that their heart disease, hypertension, or stroke constitutes an injury in the line of duty."

"Because this change is procedural, and not substantive, it must apply to all pending cases," she argued.

The disability committee opted to postpone a decision, to give their lawyer, Michael Robinson, time to research their options – if any – under the new law.

Stay tuned. The next meeting of the state's disability subcommittee is Sept. 8.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Firefighters donated thousands during disability pension debate