NEW: Judge Licht, Whose Appointment Raised Questions of Violating the Revolving Door, Will Consider Shekarchi’s Effort to Block Ethics Investigation
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NEW: Judge Licht, Whose Appointment Raised Questions of Violating the Revolving Door, Will Consider Shekarchi’s Effort to Block Ethics Investigation
Superior Court Judge Richard Licht has been appointed to hear the multiple motions filed by former Speaker of the House Joseph Shekarchi to try to block an ongoing investigation by the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.
The Ethics Commission voted last Tuesday to move forward with a formal review of the complaint filed by former Roger Williams Law School Dean Michael Yelnosky regarding former Shekarchi’s effort to be appointed to the vacancy on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
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Yelnosky claims Shekarchi's application to serve on the Rhode Island Supreme Court violates the state’s revolving door rule.
In general, the purpose of the revolving door provisions is to prevent government employees and public officials from unfairly profiting from or otherwise trading upon the contacts, associations, and special knowledge that they acquired during their tenure as public servants.
After Shekarchi's effort to derail the investigation at the Ethics Commission failed, he filed multiple motions in Superior Court.
Licht the Subject of Criticism for Jumping from the Chafee Administration to the Superior Court
Not unlike Shekarchi, many questioned the legality of then-Governor Lincoln Chafee's appointment of Licht to the Superior Court in 2014. Some asserted that it was a violation of the revolving door, and others claimed it was cronyism.
Licht served as Chafee’s Director of Administration and, without sitting out a year, jumped to the court.
One columnist at the time blasted the Licht's appointment:
If the Senate confirms Licht as a Superior Court Judge, they'll be confirming a former insurance industry lobbyist who is the prototypical Rhode Island insider. His nomination to the bench is a firm salute to the old way of doing business in Rhode Island.
In 2014, Ken Block also criticized the appointment.
"This is yet another occurrence of the 'who-do-you-know-state' political culture that most Rhode Islanders have come to expect from their state leaders," said Block in a press release in 2014.