Minutes August 18, 2015 MINUTES OF THE OPEN SESSION OF THE RHODE ISLAND ETHICS COMMISSION August 18, 2015 The Rhode Island Ethics Commission held its 10th meeting of 2015 at 9:00 a.m. at the Rhode Island Ethics Commission conference room, located at 40 Fountain Street, 8th Floor, Providence, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, August 18, 2015, pursuant to the notice published at the Commission offices, the State House Library, and electronically with the Rhode Island Secretary of State. The following Commissioners were present: Ross Cheit, Chair Timothy Murphy Robert A. Salk, Secretary Marisa A. Quinn Mark B. Heffner Also present were Edmund L. Alves, Jr., Commission Legal Counsel; Kent A. Willever, Commission Executive Director; Katherine D’Arezzo, Senior Staff Attorney; Jason Gramitt, Education Coordinator/Staff Attorney; Staff Attorneys Teresa Giusti and Amy C. Stewart; and Commission Investigators Steven T. Cross, Peter J. Mancini and Gary V. Petrarca. At 9:03 a.m., the Chair opened the meeting. The first order of business was: Approval of minutes of the Open Session held on July 21, 2015. Upon motion made by Commissioner Quinn and duly seconded by Chair Cheit, it was VOTED: To approve minutes of the Open Session held on July 21, 2015. AYES: Marisa A. Quinn; Robert A. Salk; Ross Cheit. ABSTENTIONS: Mark B. Heffner; Timothy Murphy. The next order of business was: Advisory Opinions. The advisory opinions were based on draft advisory opinions prepared by Commission Staff for review by the Commission and were scheduled as items on the Open Session Agenda for this date. The first advisory opinion was that of: Priya Banerjee, M.D., an Assistant Medical Examiner for the State of Rhode Island, requesting an advisory opinion regarding whether the Code of Ethics prohibits her from working, on her own time, as a private consultant medical examiner and/or expert witness on cases outside of Rhode Island. Staff Attorney Stewart presented the Commission Staff recommendation. The Petitioner was present. In response to Commissioner Heffner, the Petitioner explained that most of the consulting work would involve reviewing reports and medical records as an expert in civil litigation. She stated that such work could be done on nights and weekends. She informed that, because most of her connections are in Maryland, she did not anticipate problems with following the guidelines set forth in the advisory opinion and by the Department of Health to not work on cases subject to the jurisdiction of Rhode Island state and federal courts or involving Rhode Island residents as either the decedent or a party to litigation or a criminal complaint. Upon motion made by Commissioner Salk and duly seconded by Commissioner Murphy, it was unanimously VOTED: To issue an advisory opinion, attached hereto, to Priya Banerjee, M.D., an Assistant Medical Examiner for the State of Rhode Island. The final advisory opinion was that of: Jeanne M. Boyle, the Planning Director for the City of East Providence, who also serves as the Executive Director of the East Providence Waterfront District Commission, requesting an advisory opinion regarding whether the Code of Ethics prohibits her from participating in the City’s and/or the Waterfront Commission’s evaluation of zoning relief sought by Express Mattress Recyclers, LLC, given that she is also a member of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. Staff Attorney Stewart presented the Commission Staff recommendation. The Petitioner was present. Upon motion made by Commissioner Murphy and duly seconded by Commissioner Heffner, it was unanimously VOTED: To issue an advisory opinion, attached hereto, to Jeanne M. Boyle, the Planning Director for the City of East Providence. The next order of business was: Director’s Report. Executive Director Willever reported that there were five (5) complaints and three (3) advisory opinions pending. He stated that four (4) APRA requests were granted since the last meeting, all of which were completed within one (1) business day. The next order of business was: Discussion and potential vote re: Common Cause Rhode Island’s Petition for Adoption of Regulation – Online Posting of Financial Disclosure Statements. Gayle Corrigan, a member of the governing board of Common Cause Rhode Island (“Common Cause”), stated that she was appearing on behalf of John Marion, Executive Director of Common Cause Rhode Island. Ms. Corrigan informed that seventeen states have rules that require online posting of financial disclosure statements (“statements”). She stated that the Commission previously posted some statements online but that is no longer the practice. She stated that she understood that the previously posted statements were not redacted, and she questioned whether, in the future, such statements should be redacted if they are posted online. Ms. Corrigan stated that Common Cause filed this petition to initiate a discussion about best practices and policies for posting the statements online. Chair Cheit advised that the statements of state elected officials were previously posted on the Commission’s website for a few years. He stated that they were removed after the Commission received objections from members of the legislature that they, as a group, were being singled out. He explained that the Commission, at the time, did not have the ability to post all of the statements online and, therefore, decided to remove the state elected officials’ statements from its website. Commissioner Murphy stated that the complaints before the Commission are very political and show unequal enforcement of rules regarding financial disclosure. He informed that there is no auditing of the statements. He stated that he supported making the statements more accessible to the public. In response to Chair Cheit, Ms. Corrigan stated that she has no knowledge as to whether Common Cause has ever had difficulty obtaining statements from the Commission. Chair Cheit stated that he did not know of any agency with quicker response times to Access to Public Records Act (“APRA”) requests. He informed that most APRA requests for statements are completed within one day, and some within one hour. Commissioner Murphy noted that the Board of Elections has all of its filings online. Staff Attorney Gramitt also described the Commission staff’s fast turnaround for the completion of APRA requests for statements. In response to Chair Cheit, Staff Attorney Gramitt stated that the statements are public records under APRA. He questioned whether the Commission had the authority to carve out an exception to APRA by regulation. He explained that Common Cause’s petition, which invoked the rulemaking procedures under the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), must be approved or denied by the Commission within thirty days of its receipt. He stated that if the Commission approved the petition, it would have to initiate rulemaking, but here there is no proposed regulatory language to work with. He stated that if the Commission denied the petition, it could pursue other options including workshops and eventual rulemaking that might still achieve Common Cause’s goal of starting a discussion about making the statements available online. Discussion ensued about holding a workshop to receive input from the public and those required to file statements about whether the statements should be posted online. The Commission reached a consensus that such a workshop would be a prudent next step in evaluating the questions raised by Common Cause’s petition. Commissioner Heffner inquired whether Common Cause wished to withdraw its rulemaking petition, given the Commission’s decision to hold a workshop to address issues raised relating to posting statements online. Discussion ensued. Ms. Corrigan stated that she was pleased with the Commission’s discussions today. Ms. Corrigan withdrew Common Cause’s rulemaking petition from the Commission’s consideration. Discussion ensued. Upon motion made by Commissioner Murphy and duly seconded by Commissioner Heffner, it was unanimously VOTED: To convene a financial disclosure workshop to assess whether the Commission’s forms and processes are achieving the goals of transparency and accountability, including, but not limited to, the issue of online access to financial statements. The next order of business was: Executive Session. At 10:18 a.m., upon motion made by Commissioner Murphy and duly seconded by Commissioner Quinn, it was unanimously VOTED: To go into Executive Session, to wit: 1. Motion to approve the minutes of the Executive Session held on July 21, 2015. 2. In re: Ronald J. Areglado, Complaint No. 2015-5, pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-5(a)(2) and (4). The Commission reconvened in Open Session at approximately 10:57 a.m. Upon motion made by Commissioner Quinn and duly seconded by Commissioner Heffner, it was unanimously VOTED: To seal the minutes of the Executive Session held on August 18, 2015. The next order of business was: Report on Actions Taken in Executive Session. Chair Cheit reported that the Commission took the following actions in Executive Session: 1. Voted to approve the minutes of the Executive Session held on July 21, 2015. [Reporter’s note – The vote was as follows: AYES: Marisa A. Quinn; Robert A. Salk; Ross Cheit. ABSTENTIONS: Timothy Murphy; Mark B. Heffner.] 2. The Commission took no action in the matter of In re: Ronald J. Areglado, Complaint No. 2015-5. The final order of business was: New Business Chair Cheit stated that the Discussion of a potential vote re: Proposed Schedule of Fines and Penalties for the Informal Disposition of Qualifying Financial Disclosure Complaints has been continued to the next Commission meeting which will be held on September 22, 2015. He informed that the Commission’s meeting on September 1, 2015, has been cancelled. At 10:59 a.m., upon motion made by Commissioner Quinn and duly seconded by Commissioner Heffner, it was unanimously VOTED: To adjourn. Respectfully submitted, __________________ Robert A. Salk Secretary