PROVIDENCE, R.I. - - Faced with an audience of his East Side constituents Wednesday night, House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, argued that his leadership of the state House of Representatives has benefited his district, even as independent challenger Mark Binder promised he would be a different style of lawmaker.
Binder, a storyteller and author of children's books, pledged not to play "hardball" politics and to avoid "negotiating backroom deals" that he said are such a part of State House culture.
"We don't need our legislators to give up their power to the speaker so that what the speaker says passes and what he doesn't want to have passed doesn't pass," he said. "This government does not need to run the way that is has always been run."
Fox, a 20-year lawmaker, called Binder's comments a "great notion" before insisting that politics "is hardball."