GOP Files Ethics Complaint Against Sen. Lawson—VP of Teachers Union and Voted for Key Legislation
Monday, May 06, 2019
The Rhode Island Republican Party has filed an ethics complaint against Democratic State Senator Valarie Lawson, who also serves as the Vice President of the National Education Association of Rhode Island (NEARI).
The complaint focuses on her dual roles and alleges that her support for the perpetual teacher contract legislation will financially benefit teacher unions by increasing their negotiating leverage with employers on financial issues is a violation.
According to the GOP, Lawson voted for the legislation in the Senate Labor Committee after Patrick Crowley, lobbyist for NEARI, appeared before the committee. She also voted for the bill on the Senate floor after making a speech in support of it.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe RIGOP said that this is a violation of R.I.G.L §§ 36-14-5(a), 36-14-5(d), 36-14-7(a) and Regulation 36-14-5002.
Former GOP Chair and now Special Counsel for the RI Republican Party, Brandon Bell, has filed a complaint with Ethics Commission regarding Lawson’s failure to recuse herself from consideration of the perpetual teacher contract legislation.
An excerpt from the complaint claims:
“While her business associate Crowley testified in support of the legislation, Lawson did not sit with the other members of the Senate Labor Committee. However, at the end of the hearing at which Crowley testified, she voted in favor of his legislation. To fully recuse oneself from participation at the Senate Labor Committee, Lawson should not have voted on the legislation in committee. It seems absurd to claim that a state legislator properly recused herself by stepping away from a committee momentarily while a business associate testified when the legislator returned later to the committee to vote in favor of the legislation the business associate just supported. If the act of being present to hear the testimony of a business associate is unethical, so should the act of voting in favor of what business associate just requested.”
In the past, the Commission declared that ‘it is imperative that the public interest and not the interest of his employer guide a legislator’s decision.’ In 2016, voters approved an amendment to the state constitution to give the Ethics Commission clear authority over the legislative activities of state legislators. The Ethics Commission should exercise this authority over Senator Lawson. If it does not, then it will send a message that in Rhode Island, a legislator can sponsor, advocate and vote for legislation lobbied by a business associate of the legislator that will benefit a business that is paying the legislator.”
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