This past weekend, during his Saturday morning show on WPRO, John Loughlin, drawing on his experience as a former state rep, listed the hallmarks of a bad bill, one of which was that it pops up after May 1.  The Providence Journal’s Kathy Gregg has spotted one such late entry.

A bill to waive competitive bidding on major state construction and demolition projects is headed for a Senate Labor Committee hearing on Wednesday.

I’m not sure what is more alarming, the concept of not soliciting bids for state projects that exceed $10,000 or the “I-know-nothing” attitude of … well, the bill’s lead sponsor.

Asked about the need for the legislation, the lead sponsor — Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston — said, “I think I haven’t had a chance to totally get a big picture of it on my own. I was kind of waiting for the hearing.”    As for who asked him to introduce the bill, he said, “some people involved [in] construction … I think it was specific to a couple of state projects on campuses, either Rhode Island or University of Rhode Island.’’

Could you be a little more vague and uninformed, please, about a bill that you yourself submitted?

A serious question for any of the bill’s sponsors:  can you please articulate how a state and/or its taxpayers, a state whose unofficial motto is “I know a guy”, would benefit by the removal of competitive bidding for the award of taxpayer funded projects?