PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Ethics Commission has dismissed a state Republican Party complaint against Gov. Daniel J. McKee over a lunch meeting with a lobbyist and contractor last January, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Tuesday.
In a 6-0 vote, the commission tossed the complaint, deciding there was no probable cause McKee, a Democrat, knowingly or willfully violated the law.
“The current leadership of the Rhode Island Republican Party is irresponsible and not reflective of the Republican leaders that I have worked with over the years,” McKee said in a statement, while thanking the commission and calling the complaint a political stunt. “They showed their lack of leadership by using the Ethics Commission to pursue their own political agenda.”
The commission opened the probe in July after the R.I. GOP filed a complaint alleging the January lunch at the Capital Grille violated state ethics rules prohibiting the acceptance of gifts in excess of $25 from parties seeking government contracts. The bill for the lunch was reported to be $228 and paid by Jeff Britt, a Statehouse lobbyist.
McKee had met with Britt and Scout Ltd., the company that was interested in a long-term $55 million contract with the state to redevelop the Cranston Street Armory.
Jason Gramitt, the commission's executive director, told WPRI Tuesday the board dismissed the complaint because the evidence failed to show McKee knew he had received a free lunch.
Britt admitted he picked up the tab after McKee’s fundraising chairman, Jerry Sahagian, said he “did not have the campaign credit card.” R.I. Board of Elections campaign finance records show Scout executives gave McKee two campaign donations the same day as the lunch, according to the WPRI report.
In 2020, Scout submitted a proposal to rehabilitate the 200,000-square-foot building for office, retail and recreational uses. After a third-party assessment by Jones Lang Lasalle of Scout Ltd.’s proposal to redevelop the Armory building in the city’s West End, the administration announced it was no longer considering the plan, saying the report made clear “that the numbers for the proposal put too much risk on the state and not enough on other sources.”
The administration decided to scrap its relationship with Scout Ltd. and later revealed it was in talks with Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley about the possibility of transferring the property to the city.
The ethics commission voted in June to investigate two former state officials for their alleged behavior during a Philadelphia trip in March to visit one of Scout’s developments. That trip made national headlines after Scout officials complained about the behavior of David Patten, the former director of state property, and James Thorsen, the former director of the R.I. Department of Administration, who then left state government to take a position with the U.S. Treasury Department.
In an email to McKee, Scout Ltd. claimed Patten displayed bizarre, offensive behavior that was “blatantly sexist, racist and unprofessional” during the daylong trip when Patten and Thorsen visited Scout on March 10 to discuss the redevelopment of the Cranston Street Armory. Scout officials also claimed Thorsen failed to intervene.
The McKee administration fought for months to keep the email secret but released it after Attorney General Peter F. Neronha ruled in favor of WPRI-TV and The Providence Journal in an open-records complaint.
Patten, who has been on paid administrative leave since May 30, submitted his resignation on June 15, effective June 30, at McKee’s request after a “human resources investigation highlighted Mr. Patten’s highly inappropriate conduct, which was disturbing, entirely unacceptable and not representative of Rhode Island’s values or the integrity of our state workforce,” McKee spokesperson Matthew Sheaff said in a statement.
Patten went on medical leave three days after the trip and maintained his health insurance coverage until Sept. 30, Sheaff said.
