PROVIDENCE – The nomination of Adelita S. Orefice for another term as director of the R.I. Department of Labor & Training was withdrawn yesterday afternoon by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, who said he had learned that Senate leaders were planning to vote against her.
“It is clear that the Senate planned to reject Director Orefice’s nomination as political retaliation for standing up to organized labor and defending Rhode Island taxpayers,” Carcieri said, referring to her decision last year to release the results of The Beacon Mutual Insurance Co.’s internal audit.
The scandal and subsequent investigations led to the expulsion of several members of The Beacon’s board of directors, including labor leader George Nee, secretary and treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, whom Carcieri said “has been actively lobbying against Adelita’s re-confirmation [and] has even gone so far as to personally warn people not to testify on her behalf.”
The governor released his statement yesterday at about 2:30 p.m., the time when the Senate Committee on Labor had been scheduled to vote on Orefice’s nomination.
“Members of my staff have been told that her nomination was doomed to failure,” Carcieri said. “Given these circumstances, I have no other option but to temporarily withdraw her name from consideration.”
But, he added, “I do not take this action lightly. Adelita has served Rhode Island with great distinction since I first appointed her as director in March 2004 and she was first confirmed in April 2004.”
Orefice will continue to serve as the DLT’s director, “until she is reconfirmed or another nominee is confirmed to take her place,” Carcieri said. “I am hopeful that, over the course of the next six months, cooler heads prevail and the Senate will decide to give her a fair hearing next session.”
The governor’s full statement can be viewed at www.ri.gov.
