New Diossa Travel Documents Released — Shows Tens of Thousands of Additional Costs

New Diossa Travel Documents Released — Shows Tens of Thousands of Additional Costs

 

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Serving as Mayor of Central Falls gave James Diossa the opportunity to see the world -- trips across the globe and stayovers at luxury hotels. The nearly 50 trips during his tenure as mayor of Rhode Island's poorest community were paid for by third parties and Central Falls taxpayers.

On Tuesday, the City of Central Falls turned over an additional 37 pages of documents relating to the global travel of then-Mayor James Diossa.

The new documents were delivered to GoLocal a week after the materials were required to be disclosed according to state law. And, the documents continue to be incomplete -- despite the near endless trips, there are backup materials and receipts for only a fraction of the junkets. 

Diossa is the Democratic candidate for General Treasurer and, if elected, he will oversee nearly $10 billion in retirees' pension funds.

 

 

New Documents Show Previously Undisclosed Trips to Los Angeles, Puerto Rico, Kansas City, and Other Locations

The additional documents provided by the City of Central Falls on Tuesday show that Diossa also traveled to multiple previously undisclosed locations, including Los Angeles, Kansas City, and Puerto Rico.

In 2017, there was a trip to Miami with his then-girlfriend and now fiancé Sandra Cano to a mayor's conference. The two stayed at the four-star beachfront Maimi beach Confidente Hotel. She is a State Senator representing Pawtucket and works for the City of Pawtucket now. It appears that the City of Central Falls paid some portion of her trip -- city document shows a $975 payment for Cano and there is no corresponding documentation of reimbursement by Cano or Diossa.

The Confidente is described as "Ideally located the between the hustle of South Beach and the bustle of Miami's hip art districts, The Confidante Miami Beach captures the Mid-Century quality of life in retro-glam style. Part of the Unbound Collection by Hyatt, The Confidante boasts 354 rooms including 14 suites designed with vibrant mid-century modern style and 1940s Art Deco-inspired architecture. This oceanfront oasis provides a kaleidoscope of ambiance like a chic backyard pool vibe with colorful cabanas and bungalows, cool dining and cocktail scene, mod spa and wellness deck and nearly 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space."

There are major gaps in the recording of Diossa's travel for the eight years as mayor. A cover-page document for Diossa's 2019 travel shows that the City of Central Falls does not have complete records or that the city continues to withhold documents from GoLocal.

The document only includes some of the trips Diossa took that year. It references a trip to Taiwan with Pawtucket businessman Louis Yip, but provides no other details.

 

 

Diossa has repeatedly refused to answer questions about his travel and their costs as mayor of Central Falls.

GoLocal requested a series of documents on August 12 under the RI Access to Public Records Act. Specifically, the following:

Travel costs for James Diossa for each of the following years -- 2013 to 2021.

Please include the date and location of the travel. And, please include the funding source, i.e., general fund, mayor's budget, or federal grant, as examples.

 

The new documents also unveil additional cases in which Diossa had claimed third parties paid for the travel, but, in fact, the City of Central Falls paid for a portion or all of the travel costs.

After GoLocal’s initial story was first published on August 11, Diossa’s spokeswoman Alisha Pina said during an appearance on WPRO with Tara Granahan that same day, “No taxpayer monies were spent on any of these trips.”

That statement was a lie.

GoLocal has uncovered thousands of dollars in which taxpayers paid the bill for Diossa’s travel to places including England, Malaysia, and Colombia.

The new documents show that trips to places like Omaha, Nebraska, which Diossa had claimed in a filing to the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, were paid for by the Metro Young Latino Professional Association. But, documents show that the City of Central Falls paid for much of this trip.

 

Travel -- All Over the World

Previously, GoLocal has unveiled nearly 50 other trips.

In total, the travel paid by third parties, partially paid by third parties, and paid exclusively by the City of Central Falls total nearly 50 trips and costs have risen to close to $100,000 with the disclosures.

Central Falls may be best known nationally for its 2011 bankruptcy, and it is Rhode Island's poorest city. Per capita income in Central Falls is just $15,910 a year.

Of the 26 trips GoLocal previously uncovered, ten of them were international, including East Timor, Malaysia, England, Mexico, Colombia, China, and multiple trips to Israel and Taiwan.

GoLocal first began asking questions about Diossa’s travel three months ago and filed a request to the City of Central Fall requesting copies of all documents relating to Diossa’s travel on August 12.

Those documents were due on September 26. The Central Falls city solicitor Matt Jerzyk forwarded hundreds of pages of documents — many of them superfluous to the document request. And, they failed to provide details on the travel costs.

Jerzyk was appointed to the position by Diossa and has been retained as the top lawyer by sitting Mayor Maria Rivera.

Diossa and Jerzyk have been close political allies for years. Jerzyk is a registered lobbyist at the RI State House and, for a period of time, was a director of a hemp business that registered with the state.