Bruce Sundlun Gubernatorial Papers

Series 1. Subject Files
The Subject Files consist of the administrative files of Governor Sundlun's office and contain records relating to the significant issues, events, and policies of the day which concerned him as governor of Rhode Island. Among those issues and events are bonds and bond issues, the state budget, controversial appointments to administration positions, the Ethics Commission and ethics in government, Executive Orders, the judiciary and judicial appointments, the Lottery Commission, the proposed Narragansett Indian casino, the Providence Place Mall, and the Rhode Island Convention Center.

Many of these issues generated considerable controversy at the time. The Narragansett Indian proposal and the compact Sundlun negotiated with the tribe, a financial scandal in the Rhode Island Supreme Court resulting in the resignations of the Court Administrator and the Chief Justice, the appointments of Kathleen Connell to direct the Office of Substance Abuse and John Hawkins to direct the Lottery Commission all resulted in controversy to which the Sundlun administration had to respond in some fashion. The nature of the responses and, in many instances, the internal discussions which preceded them are documented in the records labeled found in this series.

The types of records include correspondence, memos, reports, copies of legislation, legislative briefing books, copies of the state budget, bond issues, Executive Orders, legal briefs, transcripts, and court decisions.

The records are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.

Series 2. Correspondence
The Correspondence Series consists of the letters and correspondence between Governor Sundlun and the general public and government officials at the local, state, and national levels. The series has been divided into two sub-series: Constituent Correspondence and Government Officials Correspondence.

The Constituent Correspondence sub-series consists of correspondence between Sundlun and the general public. The most frequent topic of this correspondence is the state's banking crisis. Other frequent topics are the judiciary, ethics in government, appointments to positions in the Sundlun administration, and the so-called "revolving door legislation" which limited the ability of elected officials to accept employment with the state after leaving office. Among the more notable correspondents in this sub-series are M. Charles Bakst, the government affairs editor of the Providence Journal, controversial minister Wade Demers, and good government activist John Hazen White. This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent.

The Government Officials sub-series contains correspondence between Sundlun and a variety of local, state, federal, and national (other states) officials. Local officials with whom Sundlun corresponded included the mayors/town administrators of nearly all the towns and cities in Rhode Island. That correspondence is filed together under the general heading of "Mayors/Town Administrators" and arranged alphabetically by the name of the town or city. The one exception to this arrangement is the city of Providence whose mayor, Vincent A. Cianci, was a frequent correspondent of Sundlun. The Cianci - Sundlun correspondence is filed under the name of the mayor.

Among the state officials with whom Sundlun corresponded were his successor, Lincoln Almond, Lieutenant Governors Roger Begin and Robert Weygand, Attorneys General James O'Neill and Jeffrey Pine, and General Treasurers Anthony Solomon and Nancy Mayer.

Correspondences with these general officers are filed under the name of the officeholder. Correspondence with state legislators can be found under the headings of "Rhode Island State Representatives" and "Rhode Island State Senators" and alphabetically there under by the name of the legislator.

Federal officials with whom Sundlun corresponded include Presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and Bill Clinton, Vice-President Albert Gore, Senators Claiborne Pell and John Chafee, and Representatives Ronald Machtley and Jack Reed. Other federal government correspondents are grouped together under the headings of "Federal Officials" or "White House" if they were members of the White House staff.

Sundlun also corresponded with the governors of other states, exchanging ideas on governance and/or discussing issues and problems of mutual interest and concern.

This correspondence is grouped together under the general heading of "Governors" and arranged alphabetically thereunder by the name of the state.

Constituent Correspondence

Government Officials Correspondence

Series 3. Executive Office Staff
This series documents the activities of the governor's immediate staff. The people in these positions were appointed by the governor and answerable to him. Among those represented are Chiefs of Staff Joseph Agostinelli, David Cruise, and Edward Wood, Legal Counsels Sheldon Whitehouse, Judith Savage, and Elizabeth Myers, Constituent Affairs Director Katherine O'Hare, and Press Secretary Barbara Cottam.

Topics include ethics in government, legislation, legal issues affecting the state and the governor's office, constituent affairs, appointments to positions in state government, and the political process. The types of records include correspondence, memos, reports from the various units of the Executive Office, copies of legislation, legal opinions, and legal briefs.

The records in this series are significant in that they offer a glimpse into the inner workings of the governor's office and Sundlun's management style that is unavailable from any other source. They also provide insights into the kind of advice Sundlun sought and accepted, the people on whom he most heavily relied in his office, and the ways in which decisions affecting public policy were reached.

The records are arranged alphabetically by the name of the staff member creating them or to whom they were directed, and chronologically within folders. Each member of the Executive Office staff is also identified by the position/title which he or she held.

Series 4. Departments
The records in this series document the interaction between the governor's office and the cabinet id="c565" level departments of state government. The following departments and offices are represented:

Topics covered are related to the responsibilities of the department. The Transportation Department files, for example, contains records relating to road and bridge construction, principally the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge project and the Route 95 repaving project. State Police files contain records relating to law enforcement and State Police policy issues. The types of records include correspondence, memos, annual reports, issue report, legal briefs, transcripts, and copies of contracts.

They are arranged alphabetically by the name of the department and chronologically within folders.

Series 5. Banking Crisis
The day before Bruce Sundlun was to take office as governor he learned that the Rhode Island Share and Depositors Insurance Corporation (RISDIC) was going into receivership. RISDIC provided depositor insurance for more than thirty banks, savings and loan institutions, and credit unions in the state. The failure of RISDIC meant that the funds deposited in those institutions were no longer insured. By state law the institutions could not continue to operate without insurance.

As a result, among Sundlun's first official acts as Governor on January 1, 1991, he ordered the immediate closing of the banking institutions insured by RISDIC. They were to remain closed until such time as they could obtain federal insurance from the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or the National Credit Union Association (NCUA). Until they could obtain federal insurance, the funds of depositors in those institutions were frozen and unavailable to the depositors. Many of the RISDIC insured institutions were able to obtain federal insurance very quickly and reopen in a matter of days. Others, including many of the largest institutions, were unable to do so.

This series documents the response of the Sundlun administration to the banking crisis resulting from the collapse of RISDIC. The principal response of the Sundlun Administration was the development, introduction, and passage of legislation entitled the depositors economic protection act. The legislation created a government corporation, the Depositors Economic Protection Corporation (DEPCO), to restore funds to depositors as quickly as possible. DEPCO worked with officials and depositors of closed institutions to assist them in obtaining federal insurance if possible or to assist them in finding other banking institutions willing to purchase and reopen the closed institutions. For those institutions for which neither options proved feasible, DEPCO was empowered to assume their assets and sell them in order to get funds to depositors as quickly as possible.

As governor, Sundlun served as the Chair of the DEPCO Board of Directors and assumed an active role in the management of the Corporation. The records in this series document that role and include correspondence, memos,reports,agenda and minutes of meetings, lists of outstanding loans from closed institutions, bank examination reports, case status reports, and property lists.

The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.

Series 6. Reports
This series contains copies of reports done by various agencies of state government during Sundlun's tenure. Some were completed at the behest of the governor, some are special reports designed to meet a specific need or respond to specific problem, and others are routine departmental reports completed in the normal course of business.

Among the most interesting of these reports is the multi-volume Transition Report to the Governor-elect done by department heads at Sundlun's direction to ease the transition for his successor, Lincoln Almond.

The report is a department-by-department analysis of accomplishments during the Sundlun administration, problems that remained to be addressed, and the goals and objectives of the departments for the future. The report provides a snapshot view of the status of the departments at the end of the Sundlun administration.

Other reports in this series analyze the state tax structure, provide a blueprint for education in the twenty-first century, assess the quality of health care in the state, address the issue of ethics in government, and report on the rate of motor vehicle theft in the state.

The reports are arranged alphabetically by the title of the report.

Series 7. Press Releases
This series contains press releases issued to news outlets in the state by the governor's Press Office. The releases were designed to alert the media to an upcoming gubernatorial speech, visit, event, sponsorship of legislation, or any other activity of the governor deemed newsworthy and to ensure that the governor received press coverage for his activities.

The press releases are arranged chronologically by date.

Series 8. Chronological Files
The Chronological Files consist of copies of Governor Sundlun's outgoing letters arranged by date. Copies of most, if not all, of these letters may also be found in other series of this collection.