Update: Ethics panel to probe Carcieri's hiring of niece
12:59 PM Tue, Aug 19, 2008 | Permalink
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Projo 7 to 7 News BlogTaking the news pulse of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, by Providence Journal and projo.com staff, from 7 to 7, every business day |
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Get the 7 to 7 on your mobile at www.projo.com. Twitter: projo | RSS | Email alerts By Bruce Landis PROVIDENCE -- The Ethics Commission this morning voted to investigate whether Governor Carcieri broke the state Code of Ethics by hiring his relative and former campaign worker for a state job in 2002. The commission acted in closed session after Carcieri's lawyers attempted unsuccessfully to remove one commission member, Ross E. Cheit, who had earlier criticized the governor's handling of the situation. The commission's chair, Barbara R. Binder, said the commission found that if the facts of the case are proven, the governor's action would amount to a knowing and willful violation of the ethics code. The investigation the commission voted to initiate will be Carcieri's third. The governor has already settled two unrelated ethics cases by paying fines. The current case involves one of Carcieri's first hires as governor, Stephanie Accaputo, the daughter of his wife's brother and a worker in the governor's successful 2002 campaign for governor, something the Journal first reported in January 2003. At issue is whether the hiring violated the ethics codes's provisions banning nepotism. Unless the governor negotiates a third settlement with the commission, the commission staff will investigate the complaint and the commission will vote whether there is probable cause to believe the governor broke the ethics code. If they find that there is, the governor would be prosecuted in a trial-like hearing before the commission. Accaputo was hired in late 2002 to work in the governor's constituent-affairs office at a salary of $37,781 per year, a sum that has risen to $52,119 in a new job as an "administrative support specialist" in the executive department. In June, the Ethics Commission refused to give Governor Carcieri an after-the-fact legal approval of the hiring. This morning, two new lawyers, Christopher S. Gontarz and Thomas M. Dickinson, replaced Carcieri's legal counsel, Kernan F. King, who had been representing the governor. 
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Oh please... Don't we remember when a certain wife with no real legal expereience became a judge just because her husband was a powerful pol in the assembly ????
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There is an anit-nepotism law in Rhode Island? And THIS is the first time you enforce it!!?? Laughable
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What about nepotism in the legislature and the courts? Forget about nepotism, it is on the edge of insestuous relationships.
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What a bunch of garbage.....why don't they go after all of the friends/relatives of the democrats....This governor has been sabotaged since his first day.....Who is on the Ethics Board.....bet they have friends/relatives somewhere in the government......
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Give me a break! You would think she was hired on for some cushy $100+ per year job or something! Leave Carcieri alone
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The same 'Ethics Panel' that can't seem to drop the hammer on Billy Irons?
Yeah, I'm sure the Gov is quaking in his boots.
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What applies to everyone else should apply to him as well!
I am a support person making 37K and I've been here since 1986.
I am just disgusted with everything that is happening in this state. No one follows rules and everyone is just wanting to make a quick dollar at the expense of others and when they blunder they want others to fix their problems. That is just how I feel today with all that has happened in this state.
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What, nepotism in the State of Rhode Island I am shocked. What's next will teachers start demanding more pay, benefits and perks. I'm shocked totally shocked.
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Was she qualified? If so what is the big deal? This wouldn't be the first time a politician has hired a family member and it won't be the last.
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The Gov and his wife are definitely a part of the problem and not the solution...
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Wow for the first time people really do see what a good person and leader our govenor is. Talk about nepotism, wasn't the company with the illegals cleaning our toilets a brother to a state rep. Good job Govenor keep it up!!!
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Would it be called nepotism if our esteemed legislators were to finally be found in bed together? They may not hire each other but appoint each others' family to cushy jobs. We must vote every incumbent out of office so these thugs cannot get their entourage involved in our pockets.
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The bottom line is that the rules disallow a "family member" from employment, period. The governor and his family/wife's family should be no exception. I am so sick and tired of the rules only applying some of the time. That is the whole problem with this state. It is WHO you know, not what you know.
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He got rid of the B Layoff list. Now he should make an F Layoff list. Call it Family & Friends, and his niece should be at the top of the list with all his other friends and cronies that he keeps hiring at 100k plus. Put it into place, then watch the deficit fall.
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This is the 3rd ethics complaint - not the first. Carcieri has been giving high paying jobs to his friends since day one. Everyone constantly says this about the Democrats; while Carcieri continues to do this, and no one says a thing. I am tired of his holier than thou attitude. The rules never apply to him. It is time for him to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Funny how this position was "created" just for her.
Funny how this is his third (probably more we don't know about) ethics violation. I am sure he will somehow "settle" this one too. Funny how being a state worker myself, his dear niece's salary has risen $20,000 in 6 years, while mine has only risen about $10,000 in 10 years. I am willing to bet his recent "executive order" probably won't even affect her.
The more this guy does, the more he turns my stomach.
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Nepotism in RI, come on, what rock have you been pretending to live under ? Its a known fact of life in RI when it comes to state jobs, esp law and law enforcement jobs, that if you know someone, you're in ! Wake up and smell the coffee.
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Look at the situation at URI. Dr. Carothers is the president. His second wife, Dean Richmond is a Dean of a major academic unit. It must be interesting for the person that has to give her performance appraisal and salary increase to the president for approval. And the blended family gets to enjoy the president's on campus mansion.
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This is the best Governor the State of RI has had in years. His efforts on illegal immigration and state spending are, without question, a major positive development. His recent veto on the energy plan put forth by the legislature will save money. I cannot believe that state legislators would put forth solar energy as a solution in RI.....the cost would be almost 12 times the present cost per KW-hr. Yes, there are real engineers who see through this hype.
So, this whole ethics issue is just retaliation whether overt or motivated by inner partisanship of the democrats. What a waste of money! The democratic majority in RI are evil incarnate!!!!!
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Ethics panel to probe Carcieri's hiring of niece is a joke. He did so in the open and above board. End of discussion. May I suggest that - This is just another retaliation for Don cleaning up the State Unions and reducing tax payer plunder. Yes, may I suggest that specifically Council 94 Tactics and strategies might be at play here? Don please stay the course. Hang in their as you are on the 1 yard line and about to make a TD for the State of RI taxpayers!
wfh from Middletown, RI
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The Governor has done and is still doing a great job. He has put the state on the right track,even though he has had a lot of opposition.
ALl the people that are against him Keep trying to knock a Good MAn Down.
This is just another example
Join the Governor and help to correct the states problems
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The nepotism in this state has long been out of control. Carcieri is only the latest in a long line of nepotists. A friend of mine who works at DCYF said that they print the telephone directory alphabetically sequenced by first name instead of last, in order to disguise the fact that everybody and his brother (literally) hired family members.
I guess the only way to kill this monster would be to implement a personnel policy such as a previous poster mentioned, that no new hires may be related to any current employee. (Some private companies have such a policy.) Heck, make it retroactive: that ought to thin the ranks in jig time.
Also, poster #1, I take it you mean Patricia (wife of Pucky) Harwood's appointment to a judgeship. And doesn't his brother work for the state as well, RIPTA or something?
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If any of you had read the ethics law when Carcieri took the office, you could plainly see that an update to the law did not include a niece (or nephew) in-law. Mistake? Maybe so but not on the Carcieri administration and had it not been rewritten then the Governor would be wrong. The law was edited and "niece-in-law" was added back in in 2005 or early 2006.
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Nice try, Jake, but there's no such relationship as 'niece-in-law' in the dictionary. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/niece-in-law
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