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November 1, 2007

Fire, police unions file ethics complaint against Cicilline

PROVIDENCE -- The Providence firefighter and police unions have filed a state Ethics Commission complaint charging that Mayor David N. Cicilline "used his office for private gain," according to a news release.

The complaint asserts that Cicilline used public resources -- city personnel, a city fax machine and city letterhead paid for with public money -- to send out a news release as co-chairman of the state campaign for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The complaint cites the Sept. 19 news release from Cicilline that called the firefighters union's decision to picket a then-upcoming Rhode Island visit by Clinton an attempt to "extort unreasonable and unfair contract demands." Cicilline said in the release he was stepping down as the state's Clinton campaign co-chairman.

"The mayor's decision to quit is his business, but it is not the public's business," Paul A. Doughty, president of Firefighters Local 799, said in the statement today. "When the mayor chose to use public assets, human and material, for personal political gain, he jumped over the ethical line."

Doughty added that Cicilline's news release and a letter of resignation to Clinton "should have been written by Cicilline campaign staff, printed on Cicilline campaign stationary, and transmitted via Cicilline campaign methods."

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 6:55 PM | Permalink

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intrigue0418 | November 2, 2007 6:45 AM link

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