RI Ethics Commission Puts Restrictions on NEA Official Serving on School Committee
Wednesday, January 09, 2019
The Rhode Island Ethics Committee has issued an advisory opinion on recently elected South Kingstown School Committee member - - and National Education Association of Rhode Island (NEARI) leader — Sarah Markey’s participation as an elected official, stating that she will likely have to recuse herself from matters pertaining to NEARI contract negotiations and grievance hearings.
However, after two different law firms warned the town of South Kingstown that Markey, who is a $166,000 a year organizer for NEARI, which represents the majority of the faculty and staff in the South Kingstown schools, would be in near constant conflict as a member of the town’s school committee, the Ethics Commission in their four-page opinion on Tuesday said matters such as budgets, facilities, and personnel appointments would likely not constitute a direct financial interest for NEARI — and would not require Markey to recuse herself.
SLIDES: See Ethics Commission's Advisory Opinion BELOW
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“We note here that while NEARI’s membership in South Kingstown could conceivably increase or decrease based on teacher/personnel retention or lay-off decisions, such speculative and indirect financial impacts would likely be insufficient, standing alone, to require the Petitioner’s recusal under the Code of Ethics,” wrote the Commission in their opinion on Tuesday.
The move marks the latest since a member of the South Kingstown Town Council questioned following the election how Markey would be able to be impartial when it came to considering matters including the budget and potential school closures — and Markey, along with members of the school committee, voted to fire the law firm that had issued the previous opinion.
MORE BELOW VIDEO
"The Petitioner is not prohibited from participating in discussions and voting relative to decisions involving budgets, facilities, administration evaluation and contracts, personnel appointments and leave, and staff lay-offs, provide that NEARI is not a party or participant to the matter before the School Committee, and further provided that there is no reasonably foreseeable directory monetary gain or loss to NEARI," wrote the Ethics Committee.
Markey did not respond to request for comment on the opinion on Tuesday.
Former gubernatorial candidate Ken Block, however, had posted his concerns to Facebook.
"This is a very important story," wrote Block of GoLocal first reporting the situation. "It is clear to many of us that an employee of the teacher's union has a pretty major conflict of interest serving as a member of a school committee that spends most of its time voting on issues that impact members of the teacher's union. This employee had refused to ask the Ethics Commission for an advisory opinion on what she could and could not do - but has finally done."
"The Ethics Commission has recently made some decisions that weaken, rather than strengthen, RI's Code of Ethics," continued Block. "If the Ethics Commission decides there is no conflict of interest, I predict we will soon see elected bodies all over the state filled with conflicted elected officials - to the detriment of everyone but special interests."
Block said that after the hearing, he believed that the Commission went to lengths to state that they only answered the broad question of Markey’s participation in general — but not specifics.
“[Markey] asked specifically about the things they itemized, [Ethics Commission Director Jason] Grammit went to pains to say 'we answered the question',” said Block.
“The Ethics Commission has failed to see conflict recently where I do. Let’s just say I don't appear to be lined up with them,” said Block. “It seems to me there are a great many other areas of conflict for the Markey above an beyond [contracts and grievances].”
Related Slideshow: Ethics Commission Markey Opinion - January 2019
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