POLITICS

Ethics Commission finds Lynch Prata can be candidate for Supreme Court

By LAURA WEICK
Posted 6/4/20

By LAURA WEICK Despite staff recommending otherwise, the Rhode Island Ethics Commission ruled that a state senator can pursue a state Supreme Court. The vote was 5-2. Erin Lynch Prata, a Democrat representing Warwick, voiced her intention to seek

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POLITICS

Ethics Commission finds Lynch Prata can be candidate for Supreme Court

Posted

Despite staff recommending otherwise, the Rhode Island Ethics Commission ruled that a state senator can pursue a state Supreme Court. The vote was 5-2.

Erin Lynch Prata, a Democrat representing Warwick, voiced her intention to seek Justice Gilbert V. Indelgia’s spot on the court when he retires at the end of the month. However, the state’s “revolving door ban” ethics code enacted in 1992 prevents elected officials from working state jobs for one year after leaving office. In response, Lynch Prata, who served as chairwoman of the Senate Committee of the Judiciary, argued that judicial positions are “constitutional positions” like a governor or treasurer, and should be considered differently than if she were applying for other state positions.

“The decision by the Ethics Commission today affirms what I believe Rhode Island law clearly states; a Supreme Court Justice is a constitutional office,” Lynch Prata said in an official statement. “I thank the Commission for the time they spent and the diligence reviewing my request.”

However, staff believed that the judgeship is a state position that is appointed, and not elected like other constitutional positions. They argued that revolving door codes demonstrate that moving elected officials swiftly to appointed lifetime positions can potentially lead to corruption at worst and appearances of impropriety at best.

Other groups across Rhode Island criticized the Commission's decision, including nonpartisan government accountability group Common Cause Rhode Island.

“Common Cause Rhode Island is sickened by the events that unfolded at today’s meeting of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission,” John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said. “A majority of the Commission members ignored the staff’s sound legal interpretation of the Code of Ethics in order to give a pass through the revolving door to Senator Lynch Prata. In doing so the Commissioners ignored the plain meaning of the law and turned their back on both legal precedent, and a thirty year fight to end backroom deals and establish an independent judiciary for our state. Until the playing field is truly level, Rhode Island will never get the government and judiciary it deserves, one that is truly reflective of our great and diverse state.”

The commission’s chairwoman Marisa Quinn and Commissioner Timothy P. Murphy voted with the staff’s recommendation. Commissioners Arianne Corrente, Kyle Palummbo, M. Therese Antone, J. Douglas Bennett and Emili B. Vaziri voted in Lynch Prata’s favor instead.

The nomination process for the Rhode Island Supreme Court begins by sending an application to the Judicial Nominating Commission by April 30. The Commission then chooses a handful of finalists that the governor must nominate from. Both chambers of the Rhode Island legislature will then need to approve the nominee.

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