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October 9, 2007

Murphy, Carcieri react to Martineau fraud charges

House Speaker William Murphy and Governor Carcieri reacted to today's announcement that former House Majority Leader Gerard Martineau has signed an agreement to plead guilty to two charges related to using his position to help a health insurer and pharmacy company.

At the State House, Murphy, a Democrat, said, "I assume that this is something that happened years ago. My heart goes out to Representative Martineau."

At the same time, Murphy declared, "If somebody has done something wrong in this building, shame on them. But I know that the House of Representatives is being run correctly now."

Martineau had been majority leader and a Democrat from Woonsocket under then-House Speaker John Harwood. When Murphy succeeded Harwood as the 2003 House was coming in, Rep. Gordon Fox suceeded Martineau as majority leader.

Carcieri, a Republican, today pointed to the Martineau case as fresh evidence of a culture of corruption -- "people using what they do up here to benefit themselves personnally."

Carcieri asserted, "We've got to stop it."

-- With reports from Journal political columnist M. Charles Bakst

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:36 PM | Permalink

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