By SANDY McGEE

CUMBERLAND — The Rhode Island Ethics Commission recently dismissed a formal complaint against Cumberland School Committee Chairman Frederic C. Crowley.

At a meeting on April 8, the Ethics Commission voted to dismiss a complaint, with prejudice, that was brought against Crowley by Cumberland resident and former Pawtucket School Committee member Brian Kelly.
The complaint by Kelly was issued after the Ethics Commission released an advisory opinion in September 2006.
The opinion advised Crowley that he and his spouse, Rosa Crowley, who was also running for School Committee at the time, could not vote for each other to become chair of the committee unless they waived the additional compensation provided. The School Committee chair receives $800 more than the regular committee member annual stipend of $2,200.
Crowley’s wife was not elected to the School Committee, but Crowley was elected and later voted for himself to serve as head of the School Committee.
Kelly issued a complaint stating Crowley’s vote was a violation of the advisory opinion.
“Ted chose to ignore the advisory opinion,” Kelly said.
The Ethics Commission ruled that since Crowley returned the $800 to the town, he couldn’t “be prosecuted for exercising his right to disagree with an advisory opinion, particularly when he complied with the commission’s directions.”
The ethics board also ruled that “of greater importance, however, is that Rhode Island General Law 36-14-5 (a) and (d) do not require a member of a board of committee to refrain from voting for himself for chairman without first waiving any additional stipend.
“A review of the language of our Constitution and statutes, particularly in light of the Louisiana Appeals Court decision, indicates that any such additional pay is not a private gain, but rather an emolument of the public position.”
The Ethics Commission also changed various regulations at its meeting on March 25, including a rule involving public officials voting for themselves.
The ethics board ruled that a public official can vote to elect him or herself to an officer position, as long as any form of additional compensation “must either have been in effect at the time of the vote ” as stated in a town charter or “ … be waived.” The regulation went into effect April 15.
“I have no problem with the change in the regulation, but I also agree with the prosecutors’ decision to not dismiss the probable cause,” Kelly said in response to the board’s decision.
“We certainly expected (the dismissal) because there was only one other case in the United States that was on point,” Crowley said. “It seems that only one other person ever has brought up an action like that.”
Crowley and the commission cited a case in Louisiana in which a member of the Metropolitan Council of Baton Rouge voted for herself to become president pro tempore, a position that came with an additional stipend.
The Louisiana ethics board found her action to be a violation of the code of ethics, but the court disagreed, ruling that the stipend was not “personal or private” gain, but compensation for the leadership position as stated in the city’s charter.