State ethics investigators to unveil findings from Philly trip probe Tuesday

A year after the infamous Philadelphia trip by a pair of former state officials, state ethics investigators will air the findings of their probes into alleged ethical violations.

The Rhode Island Ethics Commission meeting Tuesday includes a closed-door session on the now-concluded investigations into two former members of Gov. Dan McKee’s administration, David Patten and Jim Thorsen. The meeting comes nine months after the ethics panel launched the pair of probes, sending its investigatory staff on a quest to comb through the emails, financial statements, and witness testimony surrounding the duo’s March 2023 business trip for proof of ethics violations.

Once investigators share their reports, the appointed commission will also have a chance to dole out punishment for each former official by imposing fines based on documented ethical violations. Alternatively, the panel can pursue further investigation through an adjudicative hearing, or dismiss either or both complaints with no repercussions at all.

Jason Gramitt, the commission’s executive director, declined to comment on which option the panel will pursue. They also can postpone a decision, though only until April 7 based on when the complaint was filed, he said.

It’s unlikely Patten or Thorsen will emerge completely unscathed, given that the investigation was launched by the commission itself rather than from an outside complaint being filed, said John Marion, executive director for Common Cause Rhode Island said.

“I would be very surprised if the Ethics Commission prosecutors filed a complaint themselves if they didn’t think it was a slam dunk,” John Marion said.

Emails released in June 2023 through a public records request gave a glimpse into a series of unprofessional and unethical behaviors exhibited by the former top officials leading up to, and during, a business trip to Philadelphia in March of that year. The trip was intended to advance the state’s plans to work with contractor Scout Ltd. to redevelop the Cranston Street Armory.

Instead, the released emails appear to show Patten, former property director demanding gifts and making racist remarks and sexual advances toward members of the development team. Patten resigned a week after the emails were made public. Thorsen, who accompanied Patten on the trip, had already left his job as Rhode Island Department of Administration director in April 2023 to take a new position with the U.S. Treasury. 

The ethics panel launched two separate probes into the former officials later in June 2023, extending the initial, 180-day investigation two separate times. The Tuesday meeting comes just before the April 7, final deadline by which investigators must conclude their reports, with no further extensions available.

Meanwhile, McKee’s administration canceled its contract with Scout in July 2023, citing the $72 million cost estimate to renovate the vacant Cranston Street Armory as reason for the termination of the contract inked a year before. 

The long-term future of the early 20th-century building, once home to the Rhode Island National Guard, remains in limbo, though it was temporarily leased for six months beginning in December by a Disney-owned production company for its filming of “Ella McCay.”

McKee’s fiscal 2025 budget proposal includes $7.4 million in long-term capital project spending over the next five years for the Armory for “asset protection work,” while a reuse plan is being refined, according to Derek Gomes, a DOA spokesperson.

Potential for high fines

While there is perhaps less media coverage and public attention on Scout now compared with last summer, the ethics findings are still of public interest and importance, Marion said.

“The goal is to punish the people who engage in unethical behavior and ward off future behavior by other public officials,” Marion said.

Without wanting to prejudge findings of the investigations, he anticipated each former official would face fines, potentially thousands of dollars’ worth, given the number of violations, each of which can carry up to $25,000.

While members of the public have to wait till Tuesday to read what the ethics investigators concluded about Patten and Thorsen, each former official already knows what’s been dug up; respondents get mailed copies of reports 14 days prior to a hearing, according to the complaints process outlined on the commission website. Michael Lynch, attorney for Patten, and Kevin Bristow, Thorsen’s attorney, each did not return multiple requests for comment on Monday.

McKee’s office also did not return inquiries for comment. As governor and leader of the administration during the alleged misconduct, McKee faced scrutiny for initially refusing to release the emails detailing officials’ misbehavior until he was ordered to by the attorney general.

McKee faced a separate ethics complaint lodged by the Rhode Island GOP for letting Scout Ltd.’s lobbyist pay for a lunch meeting at The Capital Grille in Providence, though the complaint was dismissed in January, with the report finding no evidence that McKee’s violation was “knowing and willful.”

The Ethics Commission meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday at its offices on 40 Fountain St. in Providence. The meeting will also be streamed via Zoom.