PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Not a critical word was said before the state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-0 to move Governor Chafee's nomination of former Senate president and current District Court Magistrate Joseph A. Montalbano to the Superior Court bench on to the full Senate.
Speakers on Tuesday, including state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Suttell and Justice Frank Flaherty and District Court Chief Judge Jeanne LaFazia, credited Montalbano's keen mind, compassion, legal knowledge and integrity.
Montalbano noted that with the Senate's assent he would become the first former senator to be elevated to Superior Court since merit selection was put in place 25 years ago. He said it would open the door to the same "to happen to many of you."
Montalbano would take the lifetime seat left open after Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr.'s retirement in March 2012. Based on his two decades in office, Montalbano's salary would be $175,318, according to courts spokesman Craig N. Berke.
Montalbano represented parts of Lincoln, Pawtucket and North Providence until he lost his bid for reelection in 2008. A year earlier, he paid a $12,000 ethics fine for failing to disclose work he did for the Town of West Warwick involving land near the location of a proposed Harrah's-backed Narragansett Indian casino.