Guest MINDSETTER ™ Tony Santos: High Crimes & Misdemeanors, Mayor Allan Fung’s Fall From Honor

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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Guest MINDSETTER ™ Tony Santos

Justice doesn’t come easy in Rhode Island. The scandal that’s dogged Cranston Mayor Allan Fung since December 2013 will take its place in a long line of unreckoned Rhode Island scandals. Allan Fung will join Rhode Island’s gallery of rogues and scoundrels, former House Speaker Gordon Fox, House Rep. (D) David Cicilline among others. For weeks media pundits and political analysts have argued whether Alan Fung can survive this scandal, what he must do to survive, but not whether he should. Allan Fung’s fitness to lead has been seriously compromised. Some have speculated the Mayor was subject to political extortion, many would argue political extortion is simply a euphemism for extreme horse trading? If the city of Cranston were a private enterprise, Alan Fung as CEO, would have been fired within hours of the release of the State Police report.

Short of a constituent uprising demanding Allan Fung’s resignation which doesn’t look to be in the making, Cranston City Council will likely opt for political expedience over justice leaving the embattled Cranston Mayor will ride out his current term. The four hour public grilling of Mayor Fung by City Council and residents, expected to be an epic battle amounted to little more than an arm wrestle. One might reckon members of the council had already chosen political expedience over justice before stepping into chambers. If Council were to declare war, calling for the Mayor’s resignation, that window has long since passed. Even if successful recall and special election could be launched, Fung’s successor would be serving a term of days or weeks. The call for another investigation is after months of investigation by State police at a cost north of $500K appears to be simply a stall. Without a widespread “Cranstonian” call for the Mayors resignation, a faceoff between Allan Fung and City council is little more than a game of political chicken. Fung has everything to lose and is heavily invested salvaging his political future to cry Uncle.

The State Police Report should be required reading. The first 20 of 180 pages are no doubt damning of Allan Fung’s mismanagement and deception, but digesting the full report shows the depth of corruption that existed in the Cranston Police Department on the Fung Watch. The actions of this cast of characters in the blistering State Police Report read somewhere between “Who’s on First What’s on Second”, and “Despicable People." It’s important to note the Cranston Ticket Blitz was the catalyst that uncovered corruption that existed prior to the Blitz which in turn triggered the deeper investigation into corruption and mismanagement of the Cranston Police Department dating back to 2009. Had the Ticket Blitz not occurred, mismanagement at Cranston PD would have gone unchecked, Team A and Team B would still be at war. In an unrelated transition report authored by Colonel Pare in December 2008, Pare concluded there was a “Serious Rift” between the Union, and then Colonel McGrath however no mention of “warring” divisions within the department. In the 5 plus years Alan Fung warmed the seat of Mayor, the problems that festered in the Cranston PD was one of the best kept secrets in Rhode Island. A number of finding cited in report don’t rise to the level of criminality however had the RI General Assembly not emasculated the RI Ethics Commission, Allan Fung would be likely facing an investigation, among the loose threads, whether he worked in conjunction with Union leadership to remove of Colonel McGrath (2009) to facilitate the installation of Marco Palumbo as Chief in exchange for union campaign support. Also in question, a number of significant contributions were made over the course 5 years to Alan Fung’s campaign coffers by the families of Chief Palumbo and Captain Antonucci.

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If there was one element that was absolutely transparent in actions in the Mayor’s actions it was need to control the flow of information. December 23, 2014: After resisting calls by the public and Cranston City Council to call on Rhode Island State Police to investigate, Mayor Fung outsources the investigation to the New Jersey company of Sterling and Stephens Investigations, in the hope of keeping the investigation internal. January 9, 2015: After learning of Council President Lanni’s and City Council’s intended resolution to call on Rhode Island State Police to investigate, hours before the Council vote Mayor Fung calls a press conference to announce Rhode Island State Police would be conducting the investigation. Fung’s actions at the exclusion of all other parties, places him directly in the State Police information pipeline. July 23 2015: After the state Police release a damaging four page summary, Mayor Fung hoping to control some of the findings in the full 180 page report by exclusion/redaction calls on Rhode Island’s ever silent Attorney General Peter Kilmartin to give an advisory opinion citing possible privacy issues. Rhode Islanders have grown battle weary, one scandal bleeding into the next, untrusting of elected officials who’ve fallen from honor and yet continue to warm the seat of office. Here in the Ocean State “Zero Tolerance” is reserved for the child unilaterally suspended for bringing a keychain derringer from a gum ball machine to school, or offenses of “political correctness." The concept of “One and Done” doesn’t translate to those in elected office.

High Crimes and Misdemeanors the broad spectrum of political offenses is no longer reserved for the highest levels of public service. It’s fair to reckon Allan Fung’s fall from honor falls squarely within that spectrum. Is there hope for honorable public service and politics in Rhode Island? Well then… first read the State Police Report, and then ask yourself why the Cranston City Council’s no vote of confidence in Alan Fung was split across party lines.