EDITORIAL: Shekarchi and Ruggerio’s Washington Bridge Joke on Rhode Islanders
EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL: Shekarchi and Ruggerio’s Washington Bridge Joke on Rhode Islanders
Witnesses will not be sworn in.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Washington Bridge investigation is a whitewash. It is surprising that they have not tapped Joe Mollicone to serve as a special investigator. Both Ruggerio and Shekarchi, who admittedly have close political ties to Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti and the powers who placed Alviti in the job - the Laborer's International Union.
Let’s contrast this so-called investigation with the one conducted after the credit union crisis that devastated Rhode Island just decades ago.
In 1991, newly elected Governor Bruce Sundlun took action. At that time, two top attorneys were brought in to dig into the matter. He did not cover it up for political reasons.
Alan I. Baron was an attorney who served as special impeachment counsel to the United States House of Representatives.
His private representations in criminal defense matters included the successful defense of L. Patrick Gray III, former Director of the FBI, who was indicted for allegedly authorizing unlawful FBI break-ins.
Baron also successfully defended ABC News in a series of civil cases involving surreptitious electronic eavesdropping. From 1987 to 1989, Baron served as Special Impeachment Counsel for the United States House of Representatives in proceedings that resulted in impeachment, conviction, and ultimate removal of federal judges Alcee Hastings and Walter Nixon.
Nields was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (1969–1974) and senior law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White (1974–1977).
He was the chief prosecutor in the trial of two rogue FBI officials, W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller, in 1980.
In 1987, he was chief counsel for the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. It investigated the Iran–Contra affair, and he interrogated witnesses such as Oliver North.
As Phil West, retired executive director of Common Cause recounted in his book, SECRETS & SCANDALS: Reforming Rhode Island:
Special Counsel Alan Baron opened the hearing by reading from minutes of the RISDIC board’s meeting on December 10, 1990.
Eerily, the insurer’s president, Peter A. Nevola, warned that if word of RISDIC’s plight got out, there would be “one hell of a crisis in this state.” Nevola urged board members to keep putting out the word that RISDIC could fulfill its responsibilities.
Baron hammered Nevola’s duplicity: “I submit that this statement crystallizes what being an insider is all about. To know what the real facts are, to refrain from disclosing those facts to the public, indeed, to lull the public into a false sense that all is well.”
The first witness was Sen. John F. Correia, the president pro tem of the state Senate. He had been a vice president at the East Providence Credit Union when RISDIC crashed. With white hair above an unlined face, Correia looked like a successful banker in his tailored suit, starched shirt, and finely patterned tie.
On screen, he was suave and did not seem at all nervous. Records from his failed credit union showed that in the days after Nevola’s dire warning, Correia began making trips to its gleaming modern headquarters. He arrived unobtrusively, went to different tellers, and quietly withdrew money from his business and personal accounts, $210,000 in all. To cash out certificates of deposit prematurely, he paid early withdrawal penalties of $750. He opened accounts at a commercial bank insured by the FDIC.
“Senator,” Baron asked Correia, “I want to ask about the $150,000 that you moved from East Providence to Shawmut Bank on December 28. How do you reconcile the transfers of the monies that we have been talking about with your statement on January 6, when you denied taking your money out?” Baron had used the term “withdrawal,” and Correia quibbled. He said he was not as sophisticated as Baron.
“What I was doing was transactions, not withdrawing money.”
“You didn’t regard that taking out, that transferring of money as a withdrawal from the institution?”
“No,” the senator replied.
“Why is that not a withdrawal from the institution? I’m not sure I can follow.”
Correia frowned. “Because the way I look at it, it’s transactions that I made. Transactions, not withdrawals. Withdrawing to me is going to the bank and they give me the money and I put it in my pocket and go home.”
Viewers around me watching the public monitor guffawed at the senator’s attempt to twist words. Several cursed him. Still on the screen, Correia defended his actions. “At all times, my actions were motivated by my duties as a director,” he said. “Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong.”
Baron and Nields unveiled the insider dealing and corruption permeating the culture of the Rhode Island General Assembly.
In contrast to the top investigators that Sundlun tapped in 1991, Shekarchi and Ruggerio are staffing the investigative committee with a contract attorney to the General Assembly, Caroline R. Thibeault, who graduated from law school less than a decade ago.
Not to be dismissive of the attorney's talents, but she has no experience in construction law. According to her law firm’s bio, she is experienced in labor issues, including student handbooks and bullying.
“Caroline’s practice is focused on labor and employment law and education law. She counsels employers on a variety of labor and employment issues including collective bargaining, labor relations, discipline and discharge, wage and hour laws, employee leave and accommodations, and discrimination. She also advises school clients on education law issues including Title IX, student handbooks, bullying, and student discipline. Caroline has practiced in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Larry Berman, spokesperson for Shekarchi, said, “Her law firm [Whelan Corrente & Flanders LLP] has been under contract with the Joint Committee on Legislative Services (JCLS) for three years, handling mainly personnel matters.”
Shekarchi and Ruggerio are embarrassing themselves and insulting Rhode Islanders.