Sheehan Blasts Speaker on Ethics Legislation and Mattiello Fires Right Back
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
RI State Senator James Sheehan blasted Speaker Nicholas Mattiello after Mattiello stated that Sheehan's ethics bill is "the worst bill I've ever seen." Mattiello made the comments while appearing before constituents at the Oaklawn Grange in Cranston. Mattiello fired right back at Sheehan today. A political war of the roses has broken out on Smith Hill.
Sheehan said about the Speaker's critique of his legislation, "First, to say my legislation is the worst bill the Speaker has ever seen is absurd on its face. As to the merits of my bill, the 'Common Ground' Ethics Amendment is a sound piece of legislation, the product of years of hard work and input from various stakeholders on the issue of Ethics Reform. Indeed, it is a distinct improvement over the previous version of my bill which passed the Senate (nearly unanimously), and was approved by Speaker Mattiello's own House Judiciary Committee two years ago. As such, it is disappointing to hear that the Speaker is slamming the door on a prospective answer to the ethics reform question."
Mattiello Fired Right Back
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Senator Sheehan’s bill is a misguided approach to the ethics issue. His bill would allow someone with a known conflict of interest to advocate on behalf of an issue, win support, and then recuse themselves from the vote. That is not an appropriate way to deal with the issue of speech in debate. A person with a known conflict should not promote their self-interest," said Mattiello is a statement to GoLocal.
War of Words
Sheehan then addressed Mattiello's complaint that the legislation would encourage "frivolous complaints" against public officials, which would cause good people to not "want to run for office."
"My legislation would merely extend the ability to file an ethics complaint against state legislators who have been effectively immune from prosecution by the Ethics Commission for public misconduct at the State House since 2009. It also has been my experience, that the oft-cited reason for why good people don't run for office is that they believe the government is corrupt and, that is why re-instituting the Ethics Commission's jurisdiction over the General Assembly is so important," Sheehan said.
Sheehan continued by detailing the process that an ethics complaint would have to go through.
"While private citizens can initiate an ethics complaint, any ethics complaint must be thoroughly be vetted by the Ethics Commission prior to any formal charge can be brought against a public official. Anyone who files a frivolous complaint can be fined.
Gotcha Politics
Mattiello is having no part of Sheehan's claims. "I am concerned about ‘gotcha’ politics. Good people won’t run for office because of frivolous complaints at election time because of the stress it places on them and their families," said Mattiello.
“I am striving to strike the proper balance between the Ethics Commission and the General Assembly, taking into account that conflict-of-interest oversight would require the modification of the speech in debate clause. This is an issue that requires a comprehensive solution that I am currently working on,” said the Speaker
In a now unlikely twist Sheehan said he wanted to meet with the Speaker, "I am prepared to meet with the Speaker at any time to move an ethics amendment forward this year. If we are successful, the General Assembly can help restore a modicum of vital trust between the people of RI and their government."
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