Rhode Island State Representative and Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi is “considering all his options” in response  to an Ethics Commission complaint filed against him by RI GOP Chairman Joe Powers. Shekarchi said this may include recouping more than $10,000 in legal fees. The investigation by the Commission concluded on December 20th, and dismissed the complaint without probable cause.

  Shekarchi says he’s not frustrated with the Commission, which he said was “extremely professional and thorough,” but rather with Powers and the State GOP. He accused them of “using the Ethics Commission as a weapon as a way to go after political adversaries.” In this vein, Shekarchi has presented the complaint as a political issue, describing the State GOP as “taking a page out of the playbook of Donald Trump” and saying that the series of complaints threatens bipartisan cooperation. While the public may be used to inter-party squabbling, Shekarchi said the issue is also personal. He said legal fees incurred over the course of the investigation cost him more than $10,000 in out of pocket expenses and may rise closer to $20,000

 Lending weight to Shekarchi’s point of view is the investigation itself, which found the GOP complaint did not hold water on multiple levels. The GOP alleged Shekarchi supported legislation that would have benefitted a business associate, Gerald P. Zarella Sr., by prohibiting municipalities from limiting weddings at farms in Rhode Island, including a 32-acre farm in Exeter that Zarella Sr. owns. The investigation found Shekarchi, who maintains a private law practice, did not represent the Zarella-owned LLC at the time of the 2017 House of Representatives vote, and that the LLC, in any case, was only tied to Zarella’s son. As part of the investigation, Zarella Sr., who was represented by Shekarchi at times after the vote, swore that he had no ownership interest in the LLC at the time. The investigation also concluded that even if Shekarchi did have established business dealings with the Exeter farm, a class exception likely would have kept Shekarchi in the clear, as the law would have also benefited 162 other farms in the state.

GOP Chairman Powers did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

John Marion, Executive Director of advocacy organization Common Cause Rhode Island, pointed out that historically, the position of Chairperson of the RI Democratic Party has been one of the main filers of Ethics Commission complaints. This was particularly the case during both terms of Republican Governor Donald Carcieri. Therefore, in terms of filing complaints against political opponents, the GOP is by no means breaking new ground. That being said, the Carcieri complaints were certainly not all frivolous: Carcieri was found liable in four different complaints while governor, paying a total of $4,250 in fines.

The Ethics Commission, whose full jurisdiction over State Legislators was restored in 2017, does maintain safeguards against political weaponization. For one, the Commission makes an official determination, and may throw out complaints, which are in that case never made public.

Parties determined to have filed a frivolous complaint can also be subject to fines up to $5,000. According to Marion, these fines have never been applied, but do serve as a deterrent. In addition, complaints concerning candidates cannot be filed within 90-days of an election.

The Shekarchi complaint is one of two high-profile complaints filed by Chairman Powers. The Ethics Commission  recently cleared  Governor Dan McKee of charges that he allowed representatives of Philadelphia-based Scout Urban LLC, which had a state contract to develop the Cranston Street Armory into offices, bought him lunch. The state canceled the contract last summer.

The commission unanimously dismissed the complaint without probable cause.  McKee said he did not know who paid for the lunch.

However, Powers said in a statement he “doesn’t buy he was clueless as to who bought [McKee’s] lunch that day,” which may resonate more with the public, particularly given its connection with Scout Ltd., than a years-old Shekarchi farm-ordinance vote.