Home
By Katherine Gregg
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox has introduced a bill to give voters a chance to close a newly-carved hole in state ethics law that has insulated state lawmakers from Ethics Commission scrutiny and prosecution.
Fox, who has had his own tangles with the commission in the past, said he introduced the bill because he believes it was "the clear intent of voters when they approved the creation of the Ethics Commission to give the commission power over all government officials in the state, without an exception for legislators.''
The current gap stems from a June decision by the state Supreme Court that effectively removed lawmakers from Ethics Commission scrutiny.
In a case involving former Senate President William V. Irons, the court said the "speech-in-debate" clause in the Rhode Island Constitution gives legislators immunity from prosecution by the Ethics Commission for "core legislative functions" such as voting and speaking.
Fox said: "This legislation will allow votes to reaffirm that they mean for the Ethics Commission to have the same jurisdiction over members of the legislature that they have over all other public officials, and I'm confident that they'll approve it and set the record straight.''
Sen. J. Michael Lenihan, D-East Greenwich, has promised to introduce comparable legislation in the Senate giving voters a chance to reinstate the Ethics Commission's jurisdiction.
Fox is the chosen successor to House Speaker William J. Murphy, who has signaled plans to step down from the podium before the year is out, and perhaps sooner.
Fox's most visible challenger for the job - Rep. Gregory Schadone, D-North Providence - has questioned Fox's "judgment'' in light of reports in The Sunday Journal about Fox's business partnership with a nightclub owner, while Fox sat on the Providence licensing board. "People who care about ethics and good government do not put themselves in a position where they have a financial relationship with people they are regulating,'' Schadone said in statement.
But the attention of the citizens advocacy groups Common Cause and Operation Clean Government were focused Thursday on Fox's introduction of the ethics legislation they
helped to craft.
"Common Cause is very pleased that Majority Leader Fox has agreed to sponsor our legislation restoring the General Assembly to the full jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission. In 2004 Common Cause worked closely with Leader Fox to strengthen lobbying disclosure laws, and we are happy to again be partnering with him on another important piece of ethics legislation," said Common Cause Executive Director John Marion.
"It is our hope that, with his leadership, the General Assembly will pass this legislation, putting on the ballot this November the question whether legislators should have partial immunity from the state's ethics laws,'' he said.
