Keeping our elected officials from raiding the public coffers is positively exhausting. No sooner had we digested the news of the sudden resignation of ethically-challenged State Rep Ray Gallison — currently under investigation for dipping into the slush fund known as the community-service grant system — than we see Providence City Councilman Kevin E. Jackson being arrested by state police on campaign finance and embezzlement charges. The latter involves the city legislative grant system.
Happily, certain members of the City Council are taking steps to curb this sort of abuse (and they should be remembered at election time). (ProJo 5.12.16)
The resolution sponsored by councilmen David Salvatore and Sam Zurier will be submitted for next Thursday’s docket. “We know where it went, but we don’t know how it was spent,” said Salvatore, of Ward 14. “The city needs a full audit. It needs to be fair to the nonprofits across the city and transparent to the public.”
. . . Zurier, of Ward 2, said they started working on the resolution draft after seeing the recent turmoil over legislative grants at the State House. The governor called for grants to be “transparent, accountable and competitive,” Zurier said. “That sounds like a good standard we should apply at the City Council.”
(The resolution passed unanimously and an auditor’s report for 2007-2016 has been requested.) Further,
Ward 1 Councilman Seth Yurdin, the former majority leader, called on Jackson to resign. “His continued presence on the council is a distraction from the serious challenges that Providence faces,” he said. “Residents of Providence and all of Rhode Island deserve better.”
Councilman Yurdin now brings our attention to another potential money grab. The Mayor wants Providence voters to borrow $40-million for an infrastructure bond in November; the council will have to approve an ordinance to place it on the ballot. But check out the WPRI report, Providence City Council wants control over proposed $40M infrastructure bond. The comments of Finance Committee Chairman John Igliozzi (D-Ward 7) should raise gigantic red flags.
Igliozzi said he would rather approve an ordinance similar to one the council passed in 2001 under former Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr., which laid out how the city would spend $50 million that was approved by voters the year before. In that case, each councilor controlled $2.2 million and another $13 million was set aside for 13 specific projects. The rest of the money was used for insurance and capitalized interest.
Councilman Yurdin commented on his Facebook page,
Council leadership moves to create their own slush funds. Bond money is not ‘bounty’ to be divided up by pols. There is zero policy basis here. Sadly, it’s pure politics at play. Providence moving backwards. Residents deserve better.
Again, don’t forget Messrs. Yurdin and Zurier at election time.