Ethics bill clears House, 67-5

Author: Gregg, Katherine Publication info: The Providence Journal [Providence, R.I] 03 June 2010: A.9. ProQuest document link Abstract: The citizens' advocacy groups Common Cause, Operation Clean Government and the League of Women Voters argued that state lawmakers should be subject to the same Ethics Commission scrutiny that applies to every other elected official in Rhode Island, from the governor to the members of each local school board, zoning board and town council. Full text: Voters would get chance to reinstate Ethics Commission's power to investigate legislators PROVIDENCE -- One after another, state lawmakers rose from their seats on the House floor to defend their right to speak without having an "unelected" Ethics Commission peering over their shoulders and adversaries lodging complaints against them. But then, the House approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would give voters a chance in November to reinstate the Ethics Commission's power to investigate and prosecute state legislators who use their positions to benefit themselves, their relatives and their business associates. The vote was 67 to 5 in favor of the bill introduced by House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, early in the 2010 electionyear session when he was still the House majority leader. Before the bill passed, however, the House on a 37-to-33 vote defeated an amendment introduced by freshman Rep. Brian Newberry, R-North Smithfield, which would have excluded all verbal and written statements by legislators from Ethics Commission jurisdiction. "Now, if we are talking about vote-buying, vote-trading, vote-selling ... That stuff should not be happening," Newberry said. But "I don't want to see someone have an ethics complaint filed against them simply for speaking their mind either on the floor, in a committee, in a hallway or out in the public. ... I am very concerned about protection of First Amendment rights." But House Majority Whip J. Patrick O'Neill, D-Pawtucket, countered with these observations: "We, unfortunately, have disappointed the public for a number of years. ... The public wants this. ... You are never going to stop people filing ethics complaints against you. This is big-girl and big-boy politics, ladies and gentlemen. You are going to have to deal with these complaints. ... [But] if you are not doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about." The measure now goes to the full Senate, where Majority Leader Daniel Connors, D-Cumberland, has repeatedly questioned the need for any action, and said again recently: "If a member of the Assembly were doing something illegal, they could be prosecuted right now in the U.S. District Court by the U.S. Attorney and be subject to penalties for violating the law like any other citizen." Fox's legislation was prompted by a June decision by the Rhode Island Supreme Court that dismissed ethics charges against former Senate President William V. Irons based on a novel reading of the "speech-in-debate" clause in the state Constitution that says: "For any speech in debate in either House, no member shall be questioned in any other place." High-profile lawmakers had argued for years that this clause placed them beyond the reach of the Ethics Commission or its predecessor, including former House Speakers Matthew J. Smith and John B. Harwood. But the high court's 2009 ruling in Irons' case blasted open the current hole in state Ethics Code enforcement. Following the ruling, the commission took the position that it was no longer even allowed to issue advisory opinions to lawmakers. Irons had been accused of using his public office to obtain financial gain for pharmacy giant CVS while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance commissions from Blue Cross on a health-insurance

policy for CVS employees in Rhode Island. Irons' lawyer argued, and the Supreme Court agreed, that the "speech-in-debate" clause insulates lawmakers from Ethics Commission scrutiny for any "core legislative act," including "proposing, passing or voting upon a particular piece of legislation." The citizens' advocacy groups Common Cause, Operation Clean Government and the League of Women Voters argued that state lawmakers should be subject to the same Ethics Commission scrutiny that applies to every other elected official in Rhode Island, from the governor to the members of each local school board, zoning board and town council. How they voted Voting yes Ajello, D-Providence Almeida, D-Providence Brien, D-Woonsocket Caprio, D-Narragansett Carnevale, D-Providence Carter, D-North Kingstown Coderre, D-Pawtucket Corvese, D-North Providence Costantino, D-Providence DeSimone, D-Providence Diaz, D-Providence Driver, D-Richmond Edwards, D-Tiverton Ehrhardt, R-North Kingstown Fellela, D-Johnston Ferri, D-Warwick Fierro, D-Woonsocket Flaherty, D-Warwick Fox, D-Providence Gablinske, D-Bristol Gallison, D-Bristol Gemma, D-Warwick Giannini, D-Providence Guthrie, D-Coventry Handy, D-Cranston Hearn, D-Barrington Jackson, D-Newport Jacquard, D-Cranston Kennedy, D-Hopkinton Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket Lally, D-South Kingstown Loughlin, R-Tiverton MacBeth, D-Cumberland Malik, D-Warren Marcello, D-Scituate Martin, D-Newport

Mattiello, D-Cranston McCauley, D-Providence McNamara, D-Warwick Melo, D-East Providence Menard, D-Lincoln Naughton, D-Warwick O'Neill, D-Pawtucket Pacheco, D-Burrillville Palumbo, D-Cranston Petrarca, D-Lincoln A. Rice, D-Portsmouth M. Rice, D-South Kingstown Ruggiero, D-Jamestown San Bento, D-Pawtucket Savage, R-East Providence Schadone, D-North Providence Segal, D-Providence Serpa, D-West Warwick Shallcross Smith, D-Lincoln Silva, D-Central Falls Sullivan, D-Coventry Trillo, R-Warwick Ucci, D-Johnston Vaudreuil, D-Cumberland Walsh, D-Charlestown Wasylyk, D-Providence Williams, D-Providence Williamson, D-Coventry Winfield, D-Smithfield Voting no Baldelli-Hunt, D-Woonsocket DaSilva, D-East Providence Newberry, R-N. Smithfield Pollard, D-Foster Watson, R-East Greenwich Did not vote Azzinaro, D-Westerly Lima, D-Cranston Murphy, D-West Warwick SOURCE: House roll call kgregg@projo.com / 277-7078 Credit: Katherine Gregg, Journal State House Bureau Subject: Political ethics; Complaints; Bills; Publication title: The Providence Journal First page: A.9

Publication year: 2010 Publication date: Jun 3, 2010 Year: 2010 Section: Local News Publisher: Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Place of publication: Providence, R.I. Country of publication: United States Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--United States Source type: Newspapers Language of publication: English Document type: News ProQuest document ID: 357015006 Document URL: http://search.proquest.com/docview/357015006?accountid=37573 Copyright: Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Jun 3, 2010 Last updated: 2011-11-02 Database: Providence Journal - Bulletin

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