Archambault:'Pay to Play' Bill Should Include Party Committees, Legislative Leadership PACs

Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin’s legislation prohibiting “pay to play” has been held for further study by the RI House's Committee on Judiciary, where Sen. Stephen R. Archambault (D-Dist.22, Smithfield, Johnston, North Providence) has an idea for improvements.

The bill is still live, said Larry Berman, communications director for Speaker Gordon Fox, and could be ammended before being sent to the full House. 

H5490, sponsored by Representative Michael Marcello, creates a new section in RIGL Title 17, which would prohibit state vendors that contract, in the aggregate, annually more than $25,000 from making contributions to either political committees of the officeholder who awarded the contract or to any candidate for such office. This ban is effective for the duration of the officeholder’s term or for two years after the termination or expiration of the contract, whichever is longer. Further, the act prohibits state vendors whose pending bids for state contract or whose total pending bids and contracts with the state amount to more than $25,000 from making contributions to political committees of the officeholder who awards the contract or candidate for such office.

“In these times of budgetary strain and government distrust, the citizens of Rhode Island need assurance that their government, at all levels, is working to further the public good and not line their own pockets," Kilmartin said in a release announcing the introduction of the bill. 

"The legislation is well-intended, but to be truly effective, needs to be expanded to include party committees and legislative leadership PACs" said Archambault Thursday in an e-mailed response to a request for comment on the bill. 

Party committees such as the Democratic State Committees or local Republican and Democratic Committees, are not mentioned in the bill, which would still allow candidates to steer funds to those organizations for use on their behalf, noted Archambault's spokesperson Rob Horowitz. 

Kilmartin said Rhode Island lags behind other states in updating public corruption laws, hindering the state's ability to prosecute those who violate the public’s trust.

Nine states - Connecticut, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Hawaii, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado - and the federal government all have laws prohibiting the practice of “pay to play.”