Ethics panel moves forward with rule change to subject lobbyists to gift limits
The Rhode Island Ethics Commission voted to pursue a rule change to specifically make lobbyists among those prohibited from giving gifts over $25 to public employees and officials at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
The Rhode Island Ethics Commission voted Tuesday to pursue changing state rules to include lobbyists among those who are banned from giving gifts over $25 to public employees and officials.
The 5-2 vote on part of a petition filed in December by Common Cause Rhode Island will begin the process of strengthening the 'gift rule' in the state's ethics code. The state already bans gifts over $25 to state employees from people who could stand to benefit from a relationship with them, but lobbyists are not included in that category by definition.
The government watchdog group pushed for the ethics panel to clarify its authority over gifts made by lobbyists after an October 2024 report by the Office of Attorney General that found Gov. Dan McKee accepted tens of thousands of dollars of free consulting services while steering a multi-million dollar state contract to the ILO Group, which had ties to Chiefs for Change, the nonprofit providing the gift.
'We just don't think nonprofits should be able to give gifts to public officials when they're also simultaneously lobbying them,' said Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director John Marion in an interview.
Voting in favor were Chair Lauren E. Jones, Emma L. Peterson. Scott P. Rabideau Hugo L. Ricci, Jr. and Matthew Strauss. Opposed were Vice Chair Holly J. Susi and Frank J. Cenerini.
Absent were Michael Browner Jr. and Jill Harrison.
Common Cause Rhode Island had also asked the commission for two additional rule changes. The panel voted 7-0 to reject the organization's request seeking to require the disclosure of gifts of $25 or more if it is likely that the gift would not have been given but for the fact that the recipient holds a public office or position.
Commissioners took no action on a request for a broad review of the section of the ethics code that applies to procurement, which has not been amended since 1993.
The commission had postponed voting on Common Cause Rhode Island's petition in January in order to have more time to review the requests and the attorney general report issued at the conclusion of a three-year investigation. The probe found insufficient evidence to prosecute McKee for influencing the awarding of a federally-funded contract to help schools meet COVID-19 safety protocols in the wake of the pandemic, alongside summer and afterschool programs to address learning loss.
Marion acknowledged that three distinct parts for one petition made for a complex request.
'It would have been nice if they moved forward on all three, but I'm glad that the very obvious loophole in the code of ethics that we identified is the one that they're moving forward,' Marion said.
'Disclosure, while important, is not trying to ban behavior that we think is wrong. What we're trying to do is stop behavior that we think is wrong.'
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