24 November 2019
Chairman Ross E. Cheit
State of Rhode Island Ethics Commission
40 Fountain Street, 8th Floor
Providence, RI 02903
Dear Chairman Cheit:
I hope this message finds you well. Another situation has arisen in Rhode Island that may require your attention. Before involving the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, I thought it prudent to make the Commission aware of everything I had done to avoid filing a complaint. I always view actual filing as a last resort.
Earlier this month, Pedro Espinal won an election to serve on the Providence City Council. The problem is he owes over $90,000 in property taxes. This fact did not come out until just before the Primary. He won the Primary a plurality with 36% of the vote. It appears that 33% of that 36%, or 12%, of those votes were cast by mail ballot. Those mail ballots for the most part were cast before this fact was known to the general public.
You can make the argument that perhaps some people would not have voted for him if they knew this. In the current environment you can also argue that perhaps more people would have voted for him saying, “Way to stick it to the man”. However, something much larger is in play here.
How can someone serve on a City Council when the Treasurer could foreclose on one of their properties at any given moment?? In fact, there was a property foreclosure scheduled which was cancelled by an “almost sale” which fell through. Reinstating the foreclosure has not happened yet.
While the Councilor is obviously compromised, and his votes on fiscal matters cannot be trusted, there is nothing in the Providence City Charter that directly covers this situation. It should be noted, the Treasurer does not need to “actively compromise” the Councillor to create a problem. Just the thought that the Treasurer could do so, or might offer a favor down the road, could compromise the Councilor’s votes.
Therefore, I am going to take the following plan of action:
I have already filed a FOIA. Under the Providence Charter, Article XII, section 1206 b2 prohibits a City Councilor from, “Accept(ing) any service or thing of value directly or indirectly upon more favorable terms than those granted to the public generally from any person, corporation or firm having dealings with the city.” The goal of the FOIA is to discover how many people owe the city greater than $90,000 as Mr. Espinal does. A followup FOIA will seek to see if they have been treated in the same fashion.
Once that is wrapped up, the Providence City Solicitor will be asked if a Councilor can have this kind of relationship with the Treasurer and Controller. If satisfaction is not reached at this level, another member of the Council will be asked to fix it by statute.
While satisfaction is being sought at the city level, you will be asked to rule if this relationship violates the spirit of Rhode Island Ethics codes 36-14-6 Statement of Conflict of Interest. To wit, “Any person subject to this Code of Ethics who, in the discharge of his or her official duties, is or may be required to take an action, make a decision or refrain therefrom that will or can reasonably be expected to directly result in an economic benefit to said person, or spouse (if not estranged) or any dependent child of said person, or business associate or any business by which said person is employed or which said person represents, shall, before taking any such action or refraining therefrom:
(1) Prepare a written statement sworn to under the penalties for perjury describing the matter requiring action and the nature of the potential conflict; if he or she is a member of a legislative body and he or she does not request that he or she be excused from voting, deliberating or taking action on the matter, the statement shall state why, despite the potential conflict, he or she is able to vote and otherwise participate fairly, objectively and in the public interest; and
(2) Deliver a copy of the statement to the Commission, and:
(i) If he or she is a member of the general assembly or of any city or town legislative body he or she shall deliver a copy of the statement to the presiding officer of the body, who shall cause the statement to be recorded in the journal of the body and, upon request of the member, may excuse the member from votes, deliberations or any other action on the matter on which a potential conflict exists; or
(ii) If said person is not a legislator, his or her superior, if any, shall, if reasonably possible, assign the matter to another person who does not have a Conflict of Interest. If he or she has no immediate superior, he or she shall take such steps as the Commission shall prescribe through rules or regulations to remove himself or herself from influence over any action on the matter on which the Conflict of Interest exists.
It appears that language regarding how deep in arrears a candidate for Council can be is going to have to be placed into the Rhode Island Ethics Code. Otherwise, Mr. Espinal is going to have to take these prescribed actions before taking any vote involving fiscal issues. Last time I checked, votes involving fiscal issues represented close to 90% of all votes City Councilors take.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Robert T. Oliveira
315-864-1229
Quahogs United 