January
3, 2007
Contact: Arthur C. Barton 323-1148
On
January 2, the Rhode Island Ethics
Commission reduced the
number of charges pending against
State Senator Frank Ciccone.
Operation Clean Government had
filed the complaint last May.
The complaint alleged: 1) that
Senator Ciccone sponsored and
voted for legislation (07-S-506)
that directly benefited his employer,
the Rhode Island Laborers' District
Council; 2) that he failed to
file appropriate conflict of
interest forms when he voted
on the legislation he was sponsoring;
3) that he participated in hearings
of the Government Oversight Committee
that had a direct bearing on
the prospect for outsourcing
jobs and affecting the number
of public employees represented
by his union; and 4) that he
filed incomplete and inaccurate
financial disclosure forms with
the Ethics Commission for 2005
and 2006.
Senator
Ciccone sponsored and voted on
legislation that would
have had the state taxpayers bear
up to $15,000 of the cost of mediation
between municipal and state government
employers and public employee unions,
replacing the current system where
the cost of the mediation is shared
equally by the unions and the government
employer. The Ethics Commission
voted not to pursue this charge
further because of the so-called
class exception rule. The class
exception rule allows votes that
benefit an individual and his/her
business associates as long as
enough other people or organizations
benefit equally. OCG believes that
a vote benefiting one's employer
should be a conflict of interest
under the Ethics Code and not subject
to the class exception rule. In
this case, OCG believes the Laborers'
Union was part of a class of public
employee unions too small to have
the class exception apply. However,
the Commission determined that
the class was large enough and
Ciccone's employer small enough
to apply the class exception to
actions which otherwise would be
a conflict of interest. Because
of the class exception ruling in
this part of the decision, the
Commission also decided that there
was no reason to pursue Senator
Ciccone's failure to file the conflict
of interest forms.
"Operation Clean Government
is disappointed in this decision," said
OCG President Arthur ("Chuck")
Barton. "In 2002 Senator Ciccone
received an advisory opinion that
told him to avoid voting on any
matters affecting his employer,
the Laborers' Union. Today the
Commission qualified that advisory
opinion in two ways. First, it
amended the advisory opinion to
allow votes covered by class exception.
Second, it allowed the senator
to unilaterally decide what votes
are covered by class exception.
The Commission and the investigators
agreed that the legislation did
benefit Senator Ciccone's employer,
so the vote did represent a conflict
of interest. Not to require the
filing of the conflict of interest
form after issuing an explicit
advisory opinion urging caution
seems to negate both the importance
of advisory opinions and the importance
of the conflict of interest forms."
The
Commission also ruled against
the complaint regarding Senator
Ciccone's participation in the
Government Oversight hearings. "Operation
Clean Government recognized that
this complaint was tenuous given
the level of proof required to
show benefit, particularly from
a hearing. OCG thought it was important
to raise the issue of legislators
participating in hearings when
they and their employers have a
stake, both direct and indirect,
in the outcome of the hearings.
Clearly a public employee union
has a stake in the use of outside
employment services to fill positions
in state government and when a
union employee is on an oversight
committee questions will arise
about conflicts of interest."
The
Ethics Commission did vote to
find probable cause of a violation
of the Ethics Code by Senator Ciccone
in failing to report any sources
of income for 2005 and 2006. In
an interesting twist, the Commission
voted to ignore Senator Ciccone's
failure to report his income as
a state senator despite explicit
instructions on the form to include
that income. "I am glad the
commission has not accepted Senator
Ciccone's argument that his sources
of income are generally known,
therefore he does not need to file
complete financial statements with
the Ethics Commission. To allow
officials to omit information they
believe is generally known would
be folly for the Ethics Commission.
The financial disclosure forms
should be the standard for information
about possible conflicts of interest,
not an afterthought to other potential
sources of information," said
Barton. "However, I am surprised
that failing to report income as
a state senator is acceptable to
the Commission when that information
is explicitly required. Obviously
the Commission needs to change
the form."
