This is a long but important post about 38 Studios.

It names names, and dates, and should be very helpful to the Oversight Committee which is investigating 38 Studios. It contains questions and comments that would be of zero interest to law enforcement BUT should be of interest to all state lawmakers and anyone who cares that the vote of their State Rep was actually stolen.

As far as the RI House is concerned, the smoking gun is May 25, 2010.

Here’s a timeline of what we know – and what we need to know. First, let’s start on May 23.

May 23, 2010: House Bill H8158, sponsored by Rep. Steven Costantino is posted to up for consideration on May 25, 2010. The bill has no co-sponsors. No committee has heard this bill. It appeared and was to be voted on by the full House on May 25, 2010. This is the bill that expands the EDC’s loan program by $75 millon to accommodate 38 Studios.

May 24, 2010: Rep Laurence Ehrhardt contacts minority legislative counsel Richard Fleury and asks that he create a floor amendment which would limit any business loan guarantee to a maximum of $5 million as a result of this bill.

May 24, 2010: Attorney Fleury drafts a floor amendment request and sends it to Legislative Council. IMPORTANT NOTE: Floor amendments are supposed to be in confidence and can only be shared with the Rep who created it and when they are introduced!!

May 25, 2010: H8158 comes up for consideration. Watching in the balcony of the East gallery is Governor Carcieri’s Director of EDC Keith Stokes.

May 25, 2010: At some point in the evening Keith Stokes along with Governor Carcieri’s Legislative Director, Michael Cronin, appear in the door to the left of the Speaker’s rostrum and motion for Rep. Ehrhardt to join them for a sidebar conversation. During this conversation, they urge Ehrhardt not to introduce his floor amendment – but never specify why. Rep Ehrhardt agrees to hold the amendment in his desk.

KEY QUESTION: How did Keith Stokes become aware of the contents of a floor amendment that had not been introduced and was not publicly available?

Here’s a partial answer. It is common practice for legislative counsel to inform the Speaker’s office about all so-called hostile floor amendments. It is not supposed to, but it happens routinely. This gives the democrats the opportunity to prepare rebuttals to fight these amendments in advance of the debate. Yes, it is not fair, it is sneaky and underhanded, but it is how the leadership maintains control of the floor.

So, first, legislative counsel shared the floor amendment with someone on the Speaker’s staff. Someone on the speakers staff (subpoena clue #1) knew that H8158 was for one company and knew he or she had to share this information with leadership. Otherwise, it would not have been important enough to mention unless you KNEW the bill was for just one company! KEY POINT.

Next, someone in leadership called the Governor’s office and told them about the floor amendment (keep in mind floor amendments are supposed to be confidential in nature). Someone in the Governor’s office called Keith Stokes who was in the House east gallery to alert him and cause him to act to stop the amendment before it could be introduced. Subpoena clue #2: Get all the cell phone records from the Speaker’s and Governor’s staff – and Keith Stokes from the evening of May 25, 2010. This will tell you who called Stokes. Subpoena clue #3: Once you know who called Stokes, ask him or her (my guess leadership staff) who told them about the floor amendment?

Now you know who it is in the Speaker’s office who also knew the true nature and purpose of H8158. Under oath, ask them who else knew? My guess? The entire leadership team – the Speaker, the Majority Leader, the Majority Whip and the Finance Committee Chair.

Is it even remotely possible that a staff person in the Speaker’s office knew about the true nature of the 38 studio’s EDC bill, yet we are to believe that then-Majority Leader Nicholas Mattiello, the Finance Committee Chairman Rep Stephen Costantino and the Majority Whip Rep Peter Kilmartin Patrick O’Neill did not?

Does that even remotely pass the common sense test?

Now, as I said, nothing illegal here. The RI State Police could care less about this. So unless Chair Karen MacBeth and Rep Mike Chippendale, who both serve on the Oversight Committee, have the power to launch these subpoenas, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW how it was your State Rep – and by extension you – were lied to on May 25, 2010 and robbed of an honest vote.

BTW, here’s a convenient list of all the Reps who voted FOR H8158 as a result of the lies – THEY should be demanding this information!!!

Then-Speaker Fox and Representatives Ajello, Almeida, Azzinaro, Baldelli-Hunt, Brien, Caprio, Carnevale, Carter, Corvese, Costantino, DaSilva, DeSimone, Diaz, Driver, Edwards, Ehrhardt, Fellela, Ferri, Fierro, Flaherty, Gablinske, Gallison, Gemma, Giannini, Guthrie, Handy, Hearn, Jackson, Jacquard, Kennedy, Kilmartin, Lally, Lima, Macbeth, Marcello, Martin, Mattiello, McCauley, McNamara, Melo, Menard, Messier, Naughton, Newberry, O’Neill, Pacheco, Petrarca, Pollard, Rice, A., Rice, M., Ruggiero, San Bento, Savage, Schadone, Segal, Serpa, Shallcross, Silva, Slater, Sullivan, Trillo, Vaudreuil, Walsh, Williamson, Winfield.

John Loughlin served in the RI House for three terms (2004-2010), owns a media and business development firm and hosts a radio talk show Saturday mornings on WPRO.