Stop Payroll Abuse
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The brief tenure of former North Providence town employee Terry Patriarca in the office of Secretary of State Ralph Mollis came to an abrupt end Tuesday when Patriarca handed in his resignation.
The Mollis office may view that as closing the chapter on the controversial decision to appoint Patriarca to an executive assistant position, which was to include a key role in shaping the outreach effort for the state’s new Voter ID program. The uproar over the Patriarca job appointment, which stemmed from the revelation that he had faced embezzlement charges while a North Providence town employee, grew louder as information surfaced in recent days about a second incident of unethical behavior by Patriarca.
This one concerned the disappearance of money which was reported to have occurred when Patriarca was a gaming manager at Twin River. In this separate incident in 2006, Patriarca reportedly resigned the very evening the incident occurred. The episode in question was documented in a report compiled by Twin River management, but was oddly never turned over to state Lottery officials. Though the initial public reaction to the hiring was sidelined by last week’s full throttle news coverage of the passing of former Governor Bruce Sundlun, the newest revelations seemed to motivate Mollis to undertake a “frank talk” with Mr. Patriarca, which apparently resulted in Patriarca’s immediate resignation.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIt’s hardly news in Rhode Island that an elected official puts a connected insider on the payroll, but this particular saga is noteworthy from several perspectives.
First, there is the question of the Secretary of State’s own commitment to implementing a credible and competently managed Voter ID program for the first time in the state. Let’s face it. Voter ID is designed to curb opportunities for election fraud at the polls, which often occurs when unreliable voter verification systems are in place. It’s unclear what credentials or background in election law Mr.Patriarca has to be named to a key post for the new photo ID effort. Secondly, his run in with embezzlement charges at North Providence Town Hall should have prompted Secretary Mollis to show greater concern at the outset that the honesty, integrity and ethical standards needed for the job may be lacking in his new hire. Thirdly, there was the issue that a key component in the hiring may have been the fact that Mr. Patriarca is the brother-in-law of Mollis chief of staff John Fleming.
Then there is the fact that this saga comes on the heels of a long running separate hiring controversy in another area of the Statehouse. That one involves 25-year old Stephen Iannazzi, on salary at nearly $90-thousand a year, as the special assistant to Senate Majority Leader Dom Ruggerio. Iannazzi may lack a college degree, but he hardly lacks for the connections that matter as the son of Don Iannazzi, the Senator’s colleague at the Providence arm of the Laborers International union that has long benefitted from the legislative skills of Senator Ruggerio.
In both cases, spokesmen for the office holders have maintained that these hires involved positions that are either unclassified and/or don’t require posting or wide searches for candidates. (In other words, personal loyalty only to the office holder themselves seems to be the central requirement)
That does not absolve the need to respect the use of the public payroll. It’s irrelevant what job category these positions fall under within the public office involved. These are taxpayer funded jobs, period. A hire does not just mean the cost of the salary, it also means the long term cost of the health benefit and the cost of the pension down the road. Don’t qualifications, education, and past employment track records—especially when they include charges of theft, dishonesty or unethical behavior—count for something when the taxpayers’ dollars are involved?
As noted in this column several days ago, Rhode Islanders ranging from prominent public figures to the ordinary citizen, were genuinely moved by the news of the passing of former Governor Bruce Sundlun last week.
Among his catalog of notable expressions and catchphrases was a central one about public service. The first third of your life, you learn. The second third, you earn. The last third, you serve.
Whether the public service route takes one to volunteer civic work or actual public office, where there is compensation, it was designed to be a service to the public, not anyone’s personal piggybank.
When it comes to the true meaning of public service, many of our present elected leaders, who will never attain Sundlun’s command of the public stage, still have some learning to do.
Donna Perry is a Communications Consultant to RISC www.statewidecoalition.com
