Advisory Opinion No. 95-85

Re: Salvatore Lombardi

A. QUESTION PRESENTED

Whether a Field Investigator for the State Retirement System may serve as a member of the State Retirement Board.

B. SUMMARY

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commision that a violation of the Code of Ethics may occur if Salvadore Lombardi, a State Retirment System Field Investigator, serves on the State Retirement Board.. This decision is based on the Commission's finding that the Petitioner's employment supervisor, the Executive Director of the State Retirement System, would be answerable or responsible to the Petitioner as a member of the State Retirement Board. It is the Commission's opinion that this relationship may impair the Petitioner's independence of judgment, and therefore should be avoided. Pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5 (b) of the Rhode Island Code of Ethics, no state employee shall accept other employment which will impair his independence of judgment.

C. DISCUSSION

1. Facts

The Petitioner is currently employed by the State Retirement System as a Field Investigator. In his capacity as an investigator he reports to two individuals; the Executive Director of the Retirement System and the Executive Assistant Director. He wishes to run for a seat on the State Retirement Board. The State Retirement Board is comprised of eleven members, two of which are active state employee members of the retirement system elected by active state employees. The Petitioner wishes to run for one of these two seats. The Executive Director of the State Retirement System which the Petitioner reports to is appointed by the State Retirement Board and the Executive Assistant Director is appointed by the Executive Director.

2. Analysis

At issue in this advisory opinion request is whether a Field Investigator for the State Retirement System may serve as a member of the State Retirement Board. The relationship between the State Retirement Board and the State Retirement System is defined in R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-8- 2, which states; the State Retirement Board manages the State Retirement System for purposes of providing retirement allowances for employees of the state of Rhode Island. The Petitioner is asking to serve on a board which manages the system by which he is employed. Nothing in R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-8-2 prohibits him from doing so. In fact, as indicated above, R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-8-4 specifically setsforths a requirement that two of the eleven member retirement board be active state employee members of the retirement system. Furthermore, there is nothing in the statute per se which prevents the two active state employee from being employed by the State Retirement System. However, if the supervisor of the State Retirement System employee is answerable or responsible to the State Retirement Board, a conflict of interest may arise; i.e., the Petitioner would be, in effect, his boss' boss.

If the Petitioner was appointed to a seat of the State Retirement Board, his employment supervisor, the Executive Director of the State Retirement System, would be answerable or responsible to the Petitioner, as a member of the State Retirement Board. As previously held in Advisory Opinion 91-17, such a duality of status represents an appearance of impropriety and could result in a violation of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5 (b) of the Rhode Island Code of Ethics which states that "no person subject to the Code of Ethics shall accept other employment which will impair his independence of judgment." It is the Commission's opinion that since an appearance of impropriety is created by this relationship, the Petitioner should refrain from running for one of the vacant State Retirment Board seats.

Keywords

Dual Public Roles