R.I. GOP retools lawsuit to include controller, treasurer

PROVIDENCE — House GOP Leader Blake Filippi has reworked his lawsuit alleging unlawful spending by the Rhode Island legislature.

The lawsuit now asks the Superior Court to declare that House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello is not a majority, that the “Joint Committee on Legislative Services” has not “delegated its authority to him,’’ and that former Rep. Frank Montanaro is ”unlawfully serving’’ as director of the JCLS administrative office.

The lawsuit initially zeroed in on the now-rescinded audit that Cranston Democrat Mattiello initiated of the Rhode Island Convention Center.

Mattiello backed down after Filippi filed suit alleging Mattiello had violated a law by initiating the audit on his own without a vote by the five-member JCLS, which is made up of legislative leaders in the House and Senate.

Filippi initially aimed the lawsuit at Mattiello, the other legislative leaders who are members of the phantom JCLS — which has not met in more than a decade — and Montanaro.

The amended lawsuit that former state GOP Chairman Brandon Bell filed on Filippi’s behalf on Thursday, adds two defendants: state Controller Peter Keenan and state General Treasurer Seth Magaziner.

The suit alleges that Mattiello and Montanaro, a fellow Cranston Democrat, “have engaged in a continuous course of conduct and have unlawfully exercised the statutory powers of JCLS, engaged in a continuous course of conduct without meetings of JCLS and without JCLS approval.”

“Without meetings of JCLS and without JCLS approval, Defendant Mattiello appointed defendant Montanaro as executive director of [the] JCLS.”

“Without meetings of JCLS and without JCLS approval,’’ the lawsuit says, Mattiello and Montanaro have hired employees, set employees’ compensation, paid them, entered into contracts, hired a ”law revision director,’ procured office space, supplies, equipment and technical assistance, and “maintained, repaired and renovated the state capitol building.”

They also initiated an “illegal audit,’’ directed Magaziner and Keenan to ”distribute JCLS fund to ’legislative grant’ recipients,’ and “authorized the expenditure of JCLS funds to pay for their defense, and the defense of others in this action.”

Summed up, the suit alleges that Mattiello, Montanaro, Keenan and Magaziner have usurped [Filippi’s] statutory rights and responsibilities as a member of JCLS.“

At the point he was told to stand down on the convention-center audit, the legislature’s auditor general, Dennis Hoyle, had made initial inquiries only.

“We had one audit entrance conference/meeting with RICCA and requested information/documentation during that meeting, which is typical. We did not make a separate formal letter request for information or documentation,’’ Hoyle told The Journal.

There has been no response from Mattiello, but Magaziner spokesman Evan England said: “The Treasurer’s Office does not have the legal authority to unilaterally withhold funds that have been appropriated by the legislature, absent a court order to do so.”

Added Brenna McCabe, spokeswoman for the Department of Administration:

“The Executive Branch respects the separation of powers and does not exert control over the use of funds for other branches of government. The Office of Accounts and Control serves purely as a processing function for the Judiciary and Legislature, and has no involvement in the practices and internal operations of another branch of government.”

Earlier this week, Raimondo blasted Mattiello on WPRO radio.

“There are clear rules which he did not follow, and you need to follow the rules,’’ she said.

“What this is about is potential abuse of power,’’ she said. ‘There is a system. Should have taken a vote and it didn’t happen.”

By looping in the state controller as a defendant for his alleged failure to stop “unlawful JCLS expenditures,’’ the House GOP lawsuit now suggests the Raimondo administration may have also dropped the ball.

In the radio interview, Raimondo also said of the legislature’s budget: “It’s the only area of state government that hasn’t been cut.

“Every year that I have been governor, we cut everything,’’ she said of the state budget which actually has grown from $8.4 billion the year she took office, in 2015, to $9.9 billion this year and a proposed $10.2 billion next year.

In that same period, the legislature’s budget has grown from $36.2 million to $45.6 million.