Advisory Opinion No. 2013-39 RHODE ISLAND ETHICS COMMISSION Advisory Opinion No. 2013-39 Approved: November 19, 2013 Re: Andrea M. Iannazzi, Esq. QUESTION PRESENTED: The Petitioner, a member of the Cranston School Committee, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion regarding whether the Code of Ethics prohibits her participation in the School Committee’s consideration of whether to privatize student transportation services or, alternatively, to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the Cranston School Department’s current student transportation personnel. RESPONSE: It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, a member of the Cranston School Committee, a municipal elected position, is not prohibited by the Code of Ethics from participating in the School Committee’s consideration of whether to privatize student transportation services or, alternatively, to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the Cranston School Department’s current student transportation personnel. The Petitioner is a member and Chairperson of the Cranston School Committee (“School Committee”). She states that the School Committee is considering whether or not to privatize student transportation and will vote at an upcoming meeting to accept or reject a bid from First Student, Inc. She informs that a rejection of First Student’s bid would result in further negotiations with Laborer’s International Union of North America (“LIUNA”), AFL-CIO, Local 1322 (“Local 1322”), which represents the bus drivers and other transportation personnel currently employed by the Cranston School Department (“School Department”). She states that Local 1322’s prior contract with the School Department expired on June 30, 2013. The Petitioner represents that her father, Donald Iannazzi, is presently employed as the administrator of the Rhode Island Public Employees Health Services Fund (“Fund”). She states that the Fund was created to assist public employee affiliates of LIUNA in obtaining health care, related benefits and life insurance. Notably, she states that the bargaining unit of Local 1322 that represents Cranston’s school transportation personnel does not participate in the Fund.[1] She further informs that her father’s employment with the Fund will not be impacted by the School Committee’s decision relative to the privatization of student transportation or its negotiations with Local 1322’s bargaining unit that represents Cranston’s school transportation personnel. Given the above representations, the Petitioner seeks advice as to whether she can participate in School Committee matters regarding First Student’s bid for the student transportation contract and, alternatively, whether she can participate in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with Cranston’s school transportation personnel. Under the Code of Ethics, a public official shall not have any interest, financial or otherwise, or engage in any business, employment, transaction or professional activity, or incur any obligation of any nature, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of her duties or employment in the public interest. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a). A substantial conflict of interest exists if an official has reason to believe or expect that she, any person within her family, a business associate or an employer will derive a direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss by reason of her official activity. Section 36-14-7(a). A public official is also prohibited from using her public office or confidential information received through her public office to obtain financial gain for herself, her family, her business associate, or any person by which she is employed or whom she represents. Section 36-14-5(d). In Advisory Opinion 2012-18, an Exeter-West Greenwich (“EWG”) School Committee member asked if he could participate in negotiations between the School Committee and the EWG Teachers’ Union that was affiliated with the National Education Association of Rhode Island (“NEARI”), given that his wife was a member of another NEARI affiliated teachers’ union. The Commission opined that, based upon the facts represented by the petitioner, § 36-14-5(a) was not implicated because there was no evidence that the petitioner’s official action would have a direct financial impact upon his wife, who was not a member of the EWG Teachers’ Union. Here, similar to Advisory Opinion 2012-18, the above representations provide no evidence that the Petitioner’s official actions as a School Committee member, relative to the school transportation contracts, would have a direct financial impact upon her father. The Petitioner’s father is not a member of Local 1322. Furthermore, the bargaining unit of Local 1322 that represents the Cranston school transportation personnel does not participate in the Fund by which the Petitioner’s father is employed. Accordingly, it is the opinion of the Ethics Commission that the Petitioner is not prohibited by the Code of Ethics from participating in the School Committee’s consideration of whether to privatize student transportation services or, alternatively, to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the School Department’s current student transportation personnel. Code Citations: § 36-14-5(a) § 36-14-5(d) § 36-14-7(a) Related Advisory Opinions: A.O. 2012-18 Keywords: Family: Financial Benefit This Advisory Opinion is strictly limited to the facts stated herein and relates only to the application of the Rhode Island Code of Ethics. Under the Code of Ethics, advisory opinions are based on the representations made by, or on behalf of, a public official or employee and are not adversarial or investigative proceedings. Finally, this Commission offers no opinion on the effect that any other statute, regulation, ordinance, constitutional provision, charter provision, or canon of professional ethics may have on this situation. [1] The Petitioner informs that Local 1322 has more than one bargaining unit. While the Cranston school transportation personnel bargaining unit does not participate in the Fund, another bargaining unit of Local 1322, which represents the staff of the Salvatore Mancini Senior Center (“Senior Center”) in North Providence, does participate in the Fund.