Mattiello plans to create new vetting process for House leadership appointments

HOUSE SPEAKER Nicholas A. Mattiello said he plans to establish a new vetting procedure in making appointments to House leadership positions next year. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
HOUSE SPEAKER Nicholas A. Mattiello said he plans to establish a new vetting procedure in making appointments to House leadership positions next year. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello said he plans to establish a new vetting procedure in making appointments to House leadership positions next year, spurred in part by a public expectation for ethics improvements in state government.
Mattiello, D-Cranston, who is running for re-election, said his timeline would be before the next General Assembly session begins.
In November, Rhode Island voters will be asked to approve a referendum that would amend the state constitution to allow the General Assembly to come under the full jurisdiction of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. The Senate and House approved the question this past legislative session, following a high-profile resignation.
In May, then-House Finance Chairman Raymond E. Gallison Jr., who represented a Bristol district, resigned without explanation as the fiscal 2017 budget neared completion. He is reportedly under federal investigation but has not been charged.
In July, Mattiello stripped the leadership appointment of another House Finance Committee member, vice-chairman John Carnevale, who at that point had been accused of living outside his Providence district. The Providence Board of Canvassers later ruled Carnevale does not live at his stated Providence address. Carnevale has not resigned his House seat, but is not seeking re-election. His term expires in January.
Previously, Gallison had run afoul of state ethics law disclosure requirements. In 2007, he was fined $6,000 for failing to disclose income and employment through the College Readiness Program for three consecutive years on his state-required financial disclosure statements. He settled the complaint in 2007 by agreeing to pay the fine.
In a recent interview with Providence Business News that will be published in full in the Sept. 9 edition, Mattiello said he felt the circumstances were such that going forward, he will change his process of making appointments to leadership posts. In the past, he said, he largely viewed members through the prism of how they worked at the General Assembly in their elected positions.
“Following this year, for the first time in the history of the state, I believe, we’re going to have to start vetting our leadership folks like you would for any other position,” Mattiello said. “It’s not enough to say, they were elected by a community, so they qualify for a leadership position.”
The process could include examination of the members’ records available for public review, including financial disclosure forms and ethics filings. “I want to know if there’s any ethics violations. I want to know where each and every conflict is,” Mattiello said.
“There will be a vetting process for anyone that’s going to be in a leadership position.”

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