Solomon Failed to Report PEDP’s Conrad Building Loan in Ethics Filings
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
State Ethics Commission filings by City Council President Michael Solomon show the Providence Mayoral candidate failed to report the correct information for his Conrad building PEDP loan between 2005 and 2010, and while an amended filing in 2012 corrected two of the years, other outstanding issues remain.
See Solomon's 2005 - 2013 Ethics Filings BELOW
The Conrad Building property, of which Solomon has an outstanding Providence city loan dating back to 1988 as a minority shareholder, was listed at its location at 385 Westminster Street in his ethics reports for 2009 through 2013. The Hummel Report's Jim Hummel first reported in that Solomon still owed the city 24 years later on the $500,000 loan
However, Solomon's reports for 2005 and 2006 list "1355 Westminster"; 2007 lists no property on Westminster, and 2008 and 2009 list "1150 Westminster" -- and nothing at 385 Westminster.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"In 2012, Michael amended his ethics commission filing to reflect more than the required description of his real estate holdings and correct the address for his minority holding in the Conrad Building. Prior to 2010 the building was incorrectly listed. As previously noted, Michael is not the managing partner of the LLC and is a minority share holder," said Jake Bissaillon, campaign manager for Solomon.
While the wrong information for years 2009 and 2010 were fixed in the 2012 amendment, no amendments were filed to correct the false and/or omitted information given in 2005 through 2008.
Outstanding Issues
In the course of the questions posed in the Ethics Reports, Solomon did not mention Conrad -- or its LLC -- in replying to the question, "List the name and address of any business of which you have a 10% or greater ownership interest -- or $5000 or greater ownership or investment interests."
Hummel reported in 2012 that $3.5 million in private financing was secured in 1988 to develop the Conrad building into condos.
Between 2005 and 2013, Solomon did not furnish any responses to the Ethics Commission question on the forms, "Are you indebted in an amount in excess of $1000 to to any person, business entity, or other organization other than a person related to you or a financial institution where such indebtedness is secured solely by a mortgage on real property used exclusively as your principal residence, or any indebtedness arising from credit cards."
The Solomon camp did not respond to whether the Conrad building business interests - or debt to the city -- needed be reflected in the answers. In none of the Ethics documents between 2005 and 2013 was there any indication, however, of an outstanding loan between Solomon and the City of Providence.
Last week, opponent Brett Smiley refused to sign a People's Pledge to curb outside spending in the Mayoral race unless all candidates paid back any outstanding liabilities to the taxpayers before spending any money on their campaign. Elorza said was "more than willing to sign on to the stronger pledge with [Smiley], even if Michael Solomon declines."
Question of Report Amendments
Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director John Marion noted what saw as the role of the Ethics Commission -- and that was ultimately getting the most correct information, even if that meant amendments.
"It's been my experience that when the Ethics Commission is confronted with a financial disclosure issue such as this they have historically not punished when the filer makes an amendment, such as former Speaker Gordon Fox did when he amended his prior filings to include the loan from lobbyist Ray Rickman. They don't seem to want to dissuade folks from filing amendments by punishing them because having the information public is the ultimate goal," said Marion.
Marion continued, "Financial disclosure is different from other parts of the Code of Ethics, such as the nepotism prohibition and revolving door for instance, which are designed to change behavior. The point of financial disclosure is to get information out to the public so they can judge for themselves. The Commission has been aggressive in going after non-filers and fining them in the past."
Solomon Ethics Filings:
Related Slideshow: Questions Michael Solomon Needs to Answer to be Providence’s Next Mayor
To be the next Mayor of the City of Providence - Michael Solomon is going to need to answer some important questions about his record, his experience and his vision for Providence.
Solomon need to win a three-way primary against Brett Smiley and Jorge Elorza. If successful in the Democratic primary, then he will face GOP candidate Dan Harrop, independent Lorne Adrain, and the 800-pound gorilla -- Buddy Cianci.
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