The Rhode Island Ethics Commission on Tuesday voted to open an investigation to determine whether Gov. Dan McKee violated the state ethics code during a lunch at the Capital Grille with a lobbyist and officials with Scout Ltd., the company that wanted to redevelop the Cranston Street Armory.
The ethics code restricts elected officials from accepting gifts valued at more than $25.
Back in January, McKee joined two Scout officials and the company’s lobbyist, Jeff Britt, for a $228 lunch at the Capital Grille in Providence.
Britt paid the bill, McKee’s campaign said, since a fundraiser for the governor forgot to bring a credit card to the lunch. The campaign said it reimbursed Britt after The Providence Journal reported on the lunch.
Details of the meeting — the Scout officials each contributed $500 to McKee’s campaign the same day — emerged after a disastrous trip by two Rhode Island officials to Scout’s home city of Philadelphia in March. That led state GOP Chairman Joe Powers to file an ethics complaint over the lunch.
McKee’s campaign spokesman, Mike Trainor, said, “The campaign reiterates that this complaint is politically, not ethically, motivated by the GOP. The campaign looks forward to the conduct and conclusion of the investigation by the Ethics Commission.”
The McKee administration cited a consultant’s report in recently announcing that Scout will not be part of the potential renovation of the Cranston Street Armory. The consultant, JLL, found that the project could include substantial costs for taxpayers.
Powers thanked the Ethics Commission for approving a probe.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org
