Rhode Island
RI advocacy group files complaint over McKee’s ILO controversy. What to know.
ILO investigation report released. Here’s what it says
RI Attorney General Peter Neronha released a long-awaited report on the investigation into a lucrative contract awarded to a McKee ally.
PROVIDENCE –The citizens-advocacy group Common Cause has filed a complaint against the political ally at the center of the “ILO” contract controversy that has dogged Gov. Dan McKee since he ascended to the state’s top office in March 2021.
Though Attorney General Peter Neronha found insufficient evidence to file a criminal charge against anyone connected to the “ham-handed” award of a $5.2 million education consulting contract to ILO, Common Cause Rhode Island on Thursday filed a complaint with the secretary of state against McKee ally Michael Magee.
What is Common Cause alleging?
The allegation: That Magee aggressively lobbied the executive branch to award a contract to the newly created ILO Group headed by Julia Rafal-Baer – who had been an associate at his nonprofit “Chiefs for Change” – without officially registering as a lobbyist.
In a letter to the lobbying arm of Secretary of State Gregg Amore’s office, Common Cause Rhode Islandrequested an investigation of Magee’s alleged failure to register as a lobbyist, as well as sanctions for his alleged violation of the state’s lobbying law.
Filed by Common Cause Executive Director John Marion, the letter references documents released by Neronha and the Rhode Island State Police in late October, at the conclusion of their investigation into the awarding of a state contract to the ILO Group, LLC.
“The investigation into how the ILO Group was awarded a state contract exposed politics at its worst, including a procurement process full of back-scratching,” Marion said Thursday.
“We are disappointed that the state’s public integrity laws did not protect against the unethical behavior revealed in the ILO Group investigations,” Marion continued. “While ultimately few may be held accountable, Rhode Islanders deserve to know this behavior won’t be repeated.”
Among the findings Common Cause cited as evidence of unregistered lobbying:
- A Zoom call on March 5, 2021 with McKee, the governor’s then-Chief of Staff Anthony Silva, then-Director of Administration James Thorsen and state Purchasing Agent Nancy McIntyre during which “Magee introduced the idea of hiring ILO as a consulting firm.”
- “Following that meeting, Magee sent an email to Thorsen and McIntyre in which he attempted to narrow the field of those firms able to bid on the contract by including terms favorable to ILO.”
- “The state police [concluded] that, ‘When read in the context of Magee’s prior communications tothe governor’s office, his advocating for one vendor to DOA officials suggests Magee’s continued intent to have [ILO Group CEO, Julia] Rafal-Baer receive the contract.’”
Common Cause also requests an Ethics Commission investigation
Based on Neronha’s publicly reported findings, Common Cause also petitioned the state’s Ethics Commission to amend its gift rules to encompass the unusual situation that came to light during the attorney general’s ILO probe.
The investigators uncovered a previously undisclosed contract in which Chiefs for Change engaged another company, SKDK, at $15,000-a-month, to provide then-Lt. Gov. McKee and his staff with advise in the lead up to his ascent to governor.
In the petition to the Ethics Commission, Marion noted the narrow wording of the current $25 limit on gifts from those who have a “direct financial interest in a decision that the person subject to the Code of Ethics is authorized to make or participate in [making] as part of his or her official duties.”
“Common Cause Rhode Island believes that the current requirement that there be a financial nexus for the ‘gift rule’ to apply is insufficiently protective of the public interest,” he wrote.
He asked the Commission to amend the gift rule to include “lobbyists as a class.”
His argument: “When registered lobbyists, who by definition are paid to influence public officials, are giving gifts to those same public officials, it undermines ‘the public trust,’ gives the ‘appearance of impropriety,’ and suggeststhat public officials are using their official positions for ‘private gain.’”
He also asked:
- That the Commission require public officials and employees to disclose any gift received if, “under the totality of the circumstances, it is more likely than not” they would not have received the gift were it not for their public office or position.
- That the Commission to consider a policy to “better protect the procurement process from political interference.”