Corruption prompts code of ethics

NEW DAY: Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, left, and Common Cause Rhode Island’s former Executive Director H. Philip West, at a Feb. 21 ceremony marking the signing of a municipal code of ethics. / COURTESY H. PHILIP WEST
NEW DAY: Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, left, and Common Cause Rhode Island’s former Executive Director H. Philip West, at a Feb. 21 ceremony marking the signing of a municipal code of ethics. / COURTESY H. PHILIP WEST

Central Falls Mayor James Diossa is among the new guard of political leaders hoping to step out from the shadow of public corruption that often runs beside issues of taxes, incentives and educating a 21st-century workforce in Rhode Island.
After serving three years on the City Council he moved into his current position Jan. 1. On the heels of former Mayor Charles D. Moreau’s sentence to two years in prison on a federal corruption charge, Diossa on Feb. 21 delivered on a campaign promise when he signed into law a sweeping new municipal code of ethics.
“It’s a clear message that it’s time to learn from history. We want no more corruption,” Diossa said in a telephone interview with Providence Business News. “If we want to move Central Falls and Rhode Island forward, we have to be open and transparent.”
The 12-page code of ethics prohibits “pay-to-play” with restrictions on no-bid contracts and campaign contributions. The new code prohibits threatening or disciplining a city employee for trading, or not trading, with a particular business. No-show jobs, where a municipal employee collects a paycheck without substantially fulfilling the requirements of the position, are against the law. It’s the same for outside business activities on municipal time.
“I’ve seen what’s happened to my city in the past few years and what the residents have endured,” Diossa said.
Moreau, who served as mayor of Central Falls for nine years, admitted guilt to one count of federal program fraud in September.
Moreau awarded an emergency no-bid contract to friend and political supporter Michael Bouthillette.
In return, Bouthilette did renovations for a second home Moreau owns in Lincoln and installed a furnace at a discounted price in the former mayor’s Central Falls home. Moreau did not pay Bouthillette for the work.
“There was always a sense of corruption,” Diossa said about the city. “It affects you, because people don’t trust their local government.”
Diossa said he has found most residents eager for a sense of fresh air in city government. And some of the residents, specifically city employees, are charged with being part of the cleanup.
The new code of ethics specifies that city employees have a “duty to report” any prohibited conduct to the newly created position of city ethics integrity officer. “Because of the financial strain on the city, the solicitor will serve as the ethics integrity officer, instead of creating an ethics commission. That would be too much for Central Falls,” said H. Philip West, former executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, who assisted in developing the city’s new code of ethics.
West was also part of a task force that developed a code of ethics for Providence, which was enacted in 2006. He said the Providence code was scaled down to meet the needs of Central Falls, the state’s smallest city, which covers a mere one-square mile.
West, currently teaching a graduate course called ethics in public administration at the University of Rhode Island, is writing a book on corruption in Rhode Island from 1986-2006.
“The central thesis of my book is scandal creates a brief opportunity for reform,” said West. “This kind of corruption was happening in Providence for decades, generations,” said West, pointing to former Providence Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr., who went to federal prison on a felony conviction for racketeering.
“It sometimes takes scandal for the facts to come out and citizens to get engaged and enraged and go after these practices,” West said.
Rhode Island is certainly not alone in its incidence of public corruption.
“It’s common in municipalities across the country,” West said.
But Providence and Central Falls are the only cities in the state with a comprehensive code of ethics, said West.
“Why haven’t some of the others done it? I don’t know,” said West, who said it takes collaboration among elected officials, citizens and businesses to confront corruption and make changes.
“The business community sometimes winks at corruption and sees it as a necessary cost of doing business, and some may fall into that trap,” West said. “But the business community can be a huge force for good and they have been, in fighting corruption in this state.”
In the difficult, even dangerous, fight against wrongdoing, West points out Paul Caranci, currently deputy secretary of state for policy and planning. West says it was the public service Caranci took upon himself as a result of serving as a North Providence town councilman for 17 years that should earn him hero status. “When I started on Town Council, it took me a couple of years to learn the ropes,” said Caranci, who was elected in 1994. “Once I did, I started to see certain decisions weren’t being made in the best interests of the residents of the town, but in the interests of the councilmen.”
His frustration came to a breaking point, after 15 years on Town Council, over the plans for a home-improvement store to leave green space for a buffer at the edge of a neighborhood, Caranci said. At a council meeting, Caranci said he found out plans for a retaining wall had been changed, and a wide green, park-like space promised as a buffer was no longer in the plan – and he hadn’t been told about the changes.
“I promised residents I would have their back on this and I went home livid,” said Caranci. On several previous questionable issues, he had gone to the media, the attorney general and the state police in an effort to correct the situation. This time he went to the FBI.
He wore a wire for the FBI for two years, Caranci said.
“There were times I felt my life was in danger and other times I didn’t worry about it, depending on who I was talking to,” said Caranci.
In North Providence, Caranci said he found out about businesses pushed to pay $20,000 or $30,000 to get certain licenses, not just the nominal fee required by the state, and a developer pressured to pay $50,000 to get approval for rezoning a property.
There were favors that didn’t seem to be backed up by facts or logic.
“There was a constant stretching or breaking of the rules for certain people and not for others,” Caranci said.
Finally, enough evidence was collected.
Former North Providence Councilmen Joseph S. Burchfield, Raymond Douglas III and John A. Zambarano pleaded guilty for their roles in a kickback scheme and are serving sentences ranging from 64 to 78 months in federal prison.
Caranci said the business climate of a state can, obviously, be damaged by corruption.
“Absolutely, it has an effect, like in all the places in North Providence that were shaken down – so many small businesses,” Caranci said. “If you get the reputation it’s a pay-to-play state, there are businesses that won’t even come to the state.” •

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