AP: Ex-AG Lynch an unregistered lobbyist

PROVIDENCE – An Associated Press report last week said that former state Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch has lobbied his former office several times but has never registered with the state as a lobbyist.
While Lynch denied to the AP that his communications with the office of current Attorney General Peter Kilmartin constitute lobbying, the news organization highlighted several emails that indicated otherwise.
In communications sent by him and his assistant, Lynch pushed for actions by his old office on topics that included online gambling and concerns about business practices by the search engine Google, the AP said.
Under state law, lobbying is defined as seeking to promote, oppose or influence decisions or actions by the executive branch, including decisions by the attorney general’s office. Lobbyists are required by law to register annually with the secretary of state’s office and file twice-yearly reports.
In one example, dated Jan. 10, 2014, Lynch sent Kilmartin a letter that links to several articles pushing to regulate, rather than ban, online gambling. At the time, according to media reports, a group of lobbyists was circulating a letter asking attorneys general to sign onto a letter calling for a ban on online gambling.
According to the AP, later that day, Gerald Coyne, the deputy attorney general and Lynch’s former No. 2, wrote back to Lynch’s assistant. Coyne wrote: “Kim, can you please let Patrick know that we did not sign on? Because of his outstanding advocacy.”
Lynch told the AP that his actions did not constitute lobbying.
“I am an attorney and I have been and continue to be in full compliance with all laws pertaining to me and my professional employment,” he wrote in an email this week. •

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