A lifetime of
civil rights work

When I was a girl, complaining about something I thought was unfair, my mother said to me, "Don't complain about it. Do something about it." I have tried to follow that advice my whole life. It is what led me to read about Eleanor Roosevelt, what sent me to Harlem as a young social worker in the 1960s, where my clients taught me so much about the injustices in our world and ignited a desire to address them, and what eventually brought me to the General Assembly.

​

It is a privilege to write to you again as I ask for your support in my upcoming reelection campaign.

​

What I appreciate most about you, the voters of House District 1, is the thoughtful consideration you give issues, even those that other elected officials might shy away from. Over my time serving our community, I have been honored to have earned the trust of people like you to be able to lead on many uncomfortable or challenging issues, often to protect civil rights and make our society more just.

​

When I first ran, a same-sex couple asked if I would introduce a bill to repeal Rhode Island's sodomy law. I had not given the issue much thought before that conversation. The more I learned, the more I understood how that law had the power to ruin a person's life. It took seven years. There were snickers and leers along the way, and a fair amount of negative feedback from people who thought the bill was about something it was not. In 1998, Governor Almond finally signed it into law. That only happened because the voters of this district trusted their representative to do something that was considered politically risky at the time in support of LGBTQ+ rights.

​

I have been thinking about that fight again lately, because questions of dignity and privacy have come back around in ways I did not expect to see in my lifetime. In 2024, I was proud to co-sponsor the Healthcare Provider Shield Act, which protects Rhode Island doctors and nurses from being sued or prosecuted in other states for providing reproductive or gender-affirming care that is legal here. With states across the country passing laws that target trans people and trans youth in particular, I will keep working to make sure Rhode Island remains a place where every one of our neighbors can live without fear.

​

The longer I serve, the more I have come to believe that two of the most important things a legislator can do are quieter than the news typically rewards. The first is to help good bills introduced by colleagues find their way to the Governor's desk. The second is to stop bad bills from getting there.

I serve on the House Judiciary Committee. I have missed exactly one meeting in all my years on that committee, and I stay until the last witness has finished speaking. Hearing every witness in person matters because the details of legislation are where harm can be hidden, and where a lot of good can be accomplished. When a bill is introduced to "protect children," it is sometimes exactly what it says, and sometimes it is something else. I ask questions in committee so that I can bring honest information to my colleagues on the floor. Listening to the views of the public and representing them in the legislative process is the job of being a representative, and a responsibility I take seriously.

Some of the work I am proudest of has been work other representatives told me would be too unpopular to take on. With former Representative Anastasia Williams, I co-chaired a House commission that studied how our laws push sex workers further into the shadows. Out of that commission came a bill, signed into law by the Governor last July, that gives sex workers limited immunity when they report a crime they have witnessed or been the victim of. Before that law, someone beaten or robbed in the course of their work or who had witnessed trafficking could be arrested for prostitution the moment they walked into a police station. Now they cannot. The same set of bills repealed a punitive court fee charged only to women in the community corrections program, and ended a forced-HIV-testing requirement tied to certain convictions that protected no one and stigmatized many. None of these are conversations most people consider or really want to talk about. None of it makes for a flashy headline. All of it makes Rhode Island a little fairer and more just than it was before.

​

There is still so much work to be done. This session I have sponsored or co-sponsored legislation that would prohibit landlords from asking about a tenant's prior incarceration, ban the algorithmic rent-setting software that drives up housing costs across whole neighborhoods, require law enforcement to get a warrant before purchasing personal location data from a broker, allow expungement of multiple non-violent felonies after ten years, and hopefully this year we will enact the Lila Manfield Sapinsley Compassionate Care Act, which would give terminally ill Rhode Islanders the option of a peaceful death on their own terms. Each year more of my House colleagues sign on as co-sponsors of the Sapinsley Act. I am hopeful that bill will reach the Governor's desk soon.

The state budget is also a way in which I advocate for our community's priorities. This year I am fighting for increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates to help stem the loss and recruit more primary care providers and frontline healthcare workers across our state. We must take proactive steps to stabilize our healthcare workforce even in the face of threats from the federal government.

​

The work we have done over the years to add transparency to how police make traffic stops, to limit when juveniles can be questioned without a parent or attorney present, and to roll back cash bail for low-level offenses, all aligned with my conviction that has guided me since my first year in office: a justice system worth having is one that prepares people to come back to the community as neighbors, not one that punishes for the sake of punishing.

​

Showing up consistently and listening thoughtfully has had a real effect in changing the minds of my colleagues. The real work of legislating is having hard conversations with those whom you disagree on the issues, the testimony that continues long after the cameras stopped recording the hearing, and the budget items I have asked questions about because they did not quite add up. That is where the work of legislating matters most.

​

I now work a few days a week at Rustigian Rugs in Fox Point, which lets me spend time with one of my oldest loves, textiles. Working there is also a daily reminder of what makes Providence such a wonderful place to live: the variety, the history, the small businesses, the people. I love Providence. I love our community. I want to keep listening, keep showing up at every committee meeting, and keep leading on issues where my voice can be most impactful to those who need it most.

I would be grateful for your vote in the Democratic Primary on or before Wednesday, September 9th. As always, please do not hesitate to call me at home at (401) 274-7078, or to email me at edithajello@gmail.com.

​

With gratitude,