Letter: Ethics Commission rules — no violation for Barrington husband and wife

Posted 11/8/17

To the editor:

This past summer, these pages were aflame with charges of possible ethics violations brought about by Scott and Megan Douglas holding elected positions with the Barrington Committee …

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Letter: Ethics Commission rules — no violation for Barrington husband and wife

Posted

To the editor:

This past summer, these pages were aflame with charges of possible ethics violations brought about by Scott and Megan Douglas holding elected positions with the Barrington Committee on Appropriations and the Barrington School Committee, respectively.

Scott forwarded an enquiry to the Rhode Island Ethics Commissions asking for an advisory opinion on the issue. In his enquiry, he included letters to the editor that have appeared on this page, ensuring that questions raised here were made known to the Ethics Commission.

On Sept. 26, 2017, the Ethics Commission published their advisory opinion, which determined that there was no violation. In short, Megan and Scott Douglas violate no provision of Rhode Island’s Code of Ethics by serving on these two public bodies at the same time. 

“It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, a member of the Barrington Committee on Appropriations, a municipal elected position, is not barred from serving thereon and is not required to recuse from its budgetary reviews, deliberations or voting relative to the Town or the School Department budget, notwithstanding his wife’s presence or participation as a duly elected member of the Barrington School Committee, provided that neither he nor his wife have a personal financial interest in the matter under discussion and all of the requirements of Commission Regulation 36-14-5002(b)(1) are satisfied.”

For those who wish to read the full finding, and the additional commentary contained within, it can be found here: http://www.ethics.ri.gov/advisory/individual/2017/2017-044.htm

Ken Block

Barrington

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