AG Candidate Tied to Tainted Builder at Landfill
Friday, September 24, 2010
Attorney General candidate Chris Little promises to rid Rhode Island of “bad business practices” and “corrupt public officials” but a GoLocalProv investigation has found that he has close ties to a key figure in one of the biggest corruption scandals in recent memory.
Little has represented Ahlborg & Sons, Co., a Warwick-based builder, which is accused of a $20 million blunder at the state landfill—part of a larger $75 million scandal uncovered in a state audit last year. Little represented Ahlborg while the company was working at the landfill and he has also received a $1,000 donation to his campaign from the former president of the company, according to records obtained by GoLocalProv as part of an ongoing investigation into the landfill.
Little, the Moderate Party candidate, has emerged as a major contender for Attorney General. He raised nearly double what Republican Erik Wallin did in the second quarter and has been given $144,672 in matching funds for the general election. He recently released his first barrage of television ads.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe law firm that he founded, Little, Medeiros, Kinder, Bulman & Whitney PC, was on a monthly retainer for O. Ahlborg & Sons, Co. from around 2002 to 2005—when the Warwick-based builder was putting the finishing touches on a tipping facility at the state landfill. That project was millions of dollars over budget and was completed months behind schedule, the state agency that manages the landfill claims in a lawsuit.
‘No Knowledge’ of Landfill Project
Little says he didn’t know anything about the project. “I’ve had no involvement whatsoever with Ahlborg on anything with the landfill,” Little told GoLocalProv. “As to any of the contracts, as to any of the disputes, we have zero involvement and zero knowledge.”
But Little’s connections with the company are more than purely professional. State campaign finance records show that the former president of O. Ahlborg & Sons, Co., Eric Ahlborg, donated $1,000 to his campaign back in March, soon after he announced his candidacy. (Ahlborg’s company is now the Ahlborg Construction Corporation.)
Little says he returned the donation the day after he saw a news report that Eric Ahlborg had been sued by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, which manages the landfill. Little said he had “the same degree of shock” as other people when he heard the news.
“I’m going to do everything I can to avoid being in a perception of a conflict,” Little said. “I recognize, however, that, as small a state as Rhode Island is and (with) 34 years of practice, I have instances that come up that I can’t anticipate.”
He also told Ahlborg he wouldn’t be able to represent him in his defense against Resource Recovery.
Opponents Warn of a Conflict of Interest
A spokesman for Democratic candidate Peter Kilmartin said Little’s ties with the company could cause a costly conflict of interest if he is elected.
“Due to Chris Little’s involvement with this company, if he becomes Attorney General and the office pursues these allegations, it could cost taxpayers upwards of one million dollars in outside counsel fees,” said Kilmartin spokesman Brett Broesder. “With that said, Little’s involvement with this company serves as only a small part of a larger narrative that Little has been defending corporate clients that are not working in the best interest of everyday Rhode Islanders.”
Independent Rob Rainville also criticized Little over the relationship.
“Chris Little is another individual who has chosen the old-school model of party politics, regardless of how large or small the party he represents is,” Rainville told GoLocalProv. “I’ve been going around saying the office belongs to the people, not Republicans or Democrats - I realize now I have to add the Moderate Party as well. The mere fact a donation was returned gives credence to the impropriety pure and simple. As AG, I will ensure there will be no more gray areas - you either did something wrong or you didn’t, and the insider politicians will have nowhere to turn for favors.”
If elected, Little said he would recuse himself from any investigation into Ahlborg and his work for the landfill. But he said he did not see a need to recuse himself from anything else relating to the landfill.
Little’s firm has two other ties with Resource Recovery: In 1999, Little was an arbitrator in a contract dispute between Resource Recovery and another company. In 2002, another partner in his firm, John Bulman, represented a company known as PCM in a dispute over the construction and operation of a leachate treatment system in the landfill. Neither company was involved in the waste, corruption, and mismanagement at the landfill uncovered in the 2009 state audit.
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