“Trust Chafee” On Ethics? Governor Nominates Montalbano for Spot on Superior Court

A little history before we get to one of yesterday’s Friday-afternoon-news-dump items.  (If any of this is wrong, please let me know.)

In 2007, then-Senate President Joseph Montalbano (D, Nort Providence) was rumbled

engaging in a conflict of interest by voting to put a casino proposal before voters while he was profiting from legal work for the town of West Warwick involving real estate neighboring the proposed casino site.

He also failed to report this income on mandatory financial disclosure forms.

The RI Ethics Commission called him on it.  He demanded and got a trial of these ethics charges by jury.

In an effort to get him off, his defense team set out the following defense:  the Senate President’s highly dubious actions was protected by speech-in-debate immunity.   Andrew did a terrific job contemporaneously on Anchor Rising, here and here, outlining the speech-in-debate argument and its … er, very limited validity.  One excerpt from the first link:

[Senator Montalbano] is asking the courts expand immunity for legislators into a realm where it does not currently exist and, ultimately, for the courts to overrule the plain meaning of the Rhode Island Constitution and create a brand-new legal principle that a blanket immunity from ethics laws is necessary for legislatures to carry out their function.

Senate President Montalbano ultimately pled out before his trial concluded, agreeing to settle the charges with the Ethics Commission by paying a $12,000 fine, the third highest levied in the state.

So, as I understand, the speech-in-debate defense put forward by Montalbano and his legal team was not actually tested in his trial.  It was, however, eagerly taken up by former Senator William Irons, then facing ethics charges for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions from CVS and Blue Cross and allegedly (cough) using his considerable official power for the benefit of those companies.  Irons went to court to block the Ethics Commission’s charges against him, citing the Montalbano speech-in-defense argument.

Rhode Island courts, first the Superior Court then the Supreme Court, found in favor of Irons and, thereby, of the speech-in-debate defense.

Thus was ethics in Rhode Island government vanquished.  Thanks to the legal argument dreamed up for and embraced by Joseph Montalbano, no connection can be made or legal inference drawn when a legislator receives compensation from an interested party and votes on legislation beneficial to that party.

Now to the interesting and unfortunate news item from yesterday afternoon.  (Why was this announced Friday afternoon and not Monday morning, I wonder?)

Governor Chafee on Friday nominated former Senate President and current District Court Magistrate Joseph Montalbano to the Superior Court bench.

If confirmed by the Senate, Montalbano would take the $149,207-per-year lifetime seat vacated when Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. retired in March 2012.

Gov Chafee has made many wildly misguided proposals and decisions as governor.  There wasn’t much doubt, however, that he was committed to honesty and ethics in government.  His motto and ad libbed tag line – “My motto is Trust Chafee.  You can take that to the bank.” was annoying but not particularly in question.

Until now.  By elevating to Superior Court – effectively; is there any doubt that the Senate will confirm Mr. Montalbano? – a former official who 1.)  paid the third highest ethics fine in RI history and 2.) established the legal argument for the eviscerating of the Ethics Commission, Governor Chafee has made it clear that ethics and honesty in government are no longer a priority for his administration.

For decades, Rhode Island has had a reputation for corruption.  The implementation of the Montalbano argument by Rhode Island courts and now the nomination by Governor Chafee of the ethically challenged and ethics challenging Joseph Montalbano to one of the VERY COURTS THAT IMPLEMENTED HIS ETHICS-GUTTING DEFENSE only serves to reinforce this deplorable image.

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