King’s Insurance Company Fined for 48 Ethics Violations
Stephen Beale, GoLocalProv Politics Editor
King’s Insurance Company Fined for 48 Ethics Violations
In 1994, the Ethics Commission found that lobbyists for The New England Mutual Life Insurance Company had provided state lawmakers with lavish golf outings at a Florida resort, cocktail parties on Cape Cod, and limousine service in the late 1980s. The activities were in violation of a Massachusetts state law that bans gifts in excess of $50. (Read the ruling.)
The New England had paid for meals for legislators at out-of-state resorts in Florida, Rhode Island, Arizona, and Vermont and, on at least 17 occasions, provided free rounds of golf to lawmakers and their aides. They also treated Massachusetts lawmakers to a tour and mystery game at Belcourt Castle in Newport, Rhode Island.
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King told GoLocalProv that he did not attend those events. He also said he was not involved in or aware of any of the unethical activities, which occurred between 1988 and 1989, when he was chief legal counsel and executive vice president. Even though he was a senior executive, he says he bears no responsibility for the violations, since he was not the president or chief executive officer.
King said the chief executive officer asked him to put an end to such activities. “There were obviously some issues … that he wanted to make sure didn’t reflect negatively on the company and needed to be cleaned up,” King recalled. “I was brought in to fix the problem and fixed it.”
King said he didn’t fire any of the company lobbyists responsible for handing out gifts and favors to state lawmakers. Instead, he said he instituted new policies limiting their activities.
In 1994, King became president of New England Life—which was a division within the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company. (In 1996 the company was merged with Met Life.)
Raimondo: ‘The King of Pay to Play’
Joe Shekarchi, the campaign manager for his Democratic opponent, Gina Raimondo, says King still bears “clear responsibility” for what happened in the company. He noted that on his Web site and an interview on Channel 12 Newsmakers on August 21, King repeatedly touted his leadership role in the company. “He can’t say he was a leader and then afterward say he didn’t know what was going on,” Shekarchi said. “It appears that there was a whole culture of pay to play. Based on that culture, it appears that Kerry is the king of pay to play.”
“They’re obviously engaging in dirty politics,” responded King. “The company I worked for was a company of the finest integrity which always delivered on its promises.”
But Shekarchi said King’s campaign was the one that had gone negative. “Over the last several weeks his campaign has taken an increasingly negative tone. The campaign appears to be in a titanic panic,” Shekarchi said. “Kerry is just drowning in his own negativity.”