The legislative session is over and the Rhode Island General Assembly has once again failed to abolish the master lever (also known as single-party voting). This basic electoral reform would have eliminated an obsolete voter mechanism created over 70 years ago. Despite the support of 2,600 Rhode Islanders and virtually no opposition, the General Assembly leadership decided the master lever did not even deserve a vote. Thankfully, they did find the time to pass urgently needed calamari legislation.

Our legislators have finished the session in depressingly trademark style: After months of inactivity, they rushed through a wide range of important policy decisions in a reckless and nontransparent flurry of madness. Initiatives that lingered in committee for months were resurrected. Our budget was approved without undertaking a serious analysis of state spending. At one point during the process, General Assembly leaders discovered $12.9 million in budgetary savings in just 12 hours, including $6 million in personnel savings alone. Why were these savings excluded from the original budget? What other budgetary savings were left on the table? We cannot answer those questions because our budget process is broken.

This year’s unsuccessful attempt to eliminate the master lever raises an important question: If the General Assembly refuses to vote on a good government measure as obvious as the master lever, how can we possibly work with this legislature to achieve more important reforms?

The answer is we cannot. And the very reason we cannot work with the General Assembly to improve government in Rhode Island is the same reason why we need to reform the General Assembly: The Speaker and Senate President have far too much influence over the legislative process. And this legislature has proven time and time again that it has little interest in any reform that challenges the existing balance of power in our state.

Consider the fact that legislators rejected a bill to re-empower the Ethics Commission with oversight authority over the General Assembly. Consider the fact that this legislature suspended its own transparency rules at the end of the session, when the bulk of legislation is passed and when these rules are needed most.

There are General Assembly members who oppose these decisions but leadership continues to control the fate of almost every bill. Someone once made the excellent point that the General Assembly is not so much a legislative body as an electoral college. Instead of selecting a president, Rhode Island’s Electoral College has chosen Gordon Fox and Teresa Paiva-Weed as our commanders-in-chief. We can thank them personally for the 38 Studios debacle and saddling Rhode Island taxpayers with a $100 million burden.

Under this framework, how can we expect to fix the budget process, require legislative transparency, curtail the influence of the General Assembly leadership, or improve judicial selection and magistrate appointments? What we need is an alternative method for improving Rhode Island government – one that does not require the blessing and consent of the Speaker of the House and the Senate President. This method exists: The constitutional convention. The last convention occurred in 1986.

A constitutional convention involves four steps: (1) the voters approve or reject holding the convention; (2) a special election takes place to choose 75 delegates; (3) the delegates convene, debate, and then propose amendments to the Rhode Island Constitution; and (4) the voters approve or reject these constitutional amendments at the next general election in 2016. At every stage, the people decide.

The choice to hold a convention is rare – it appears on the ballot once a decade. We will have the opportunity to approve a convention in 2014, and we must take it! You can be certain that the prospect of a constitutional convention is very concerning to General Assembly leadership. This is a direct threat to their control over our state government.

Unlike the insider political class, I have faith in Rhode Islanders. I believe we are a common sense bunch, fully capable of evaluating and deciding on complex reforms. In fact, I think we would do a better job than the General Assembly because this legislature has proven incapable of considering even the most basic reforms, and has proven to choose self-interest over the public interest time and time again.

I strongly support a constitutional convention. Over the next year and a half, my campaign will look closely at different government reforms and explain how our next governor can ensure the convention’s success. We cannot afford to wait another 10 years. We cannot suffer another decade of flawed policymaking, revolving doors and crony capitalism. This state cannot tolerate another decade of government failure.

Rhode Island needs significant government reform, which can only be achieved through a constitutional convention. What passes for the status quo in our state is simply unacceptable.

Ken Block is the founder of the Rhode Island Moderate Party and has announced his candidacy for governor in the 2014 Election.