September 11, 2007

Mr. Montalbano...

Justin Katz

... becomes probably the last person in Rhode Island to admit the obvious:

Resolving months of legal back and forth, state Senate President Joseph Montalbano today settled the ethics case against him for a $12,000 civil penalty. ...

Montalbano was accused of engaging in a conflict of interest by voting to put a casino proposal before voters while he was profiting from legal work for the town of West Warwick involving real estate neighboring the proposed casino site.

$12,000 doesn't strike me as too example-setting of a penalty, but at least now we can stop hearing his lawyer's dangerously delusional arguments for the guilty man's innocence.

Comments, although monitored, are not necessarily representative of the views Anchor Rising's contributors or approved by them. We reserve the right to delete or modify comments for any reason.

Democratic good-old-boy justice. Once again, a cretin gets off easy.
We're not getting anything progressive done in this state as long as this jackal is allowed to hold public office. People of North Providence and Pawtucket, WAAAAAKE UP!

Posted by: Rhody at September 11, 2007 12:54 PM

Between the impotent "Ethics Committee" and the do-nothing AG it's no surprise that it takes a Federal investigation to get someone indicted around here.

What's the difference between the Girl Scouts and Rhode Island?

The Girl Scouts have adult leadership.

Posted by: Greg at September 11, 2007 1:06 PM

The $86g was a simple oversight. Besides, the Ethics Comm really had no authority. He should have fought it all the way to the US Supreme Court.

He's just misunderstood ...

Posted by: SusanD at September 11, 2007 2:30 PM

Bevilaqua. Fay. Smith. DeAngelis. Bianchini. Harwood. Irons. Celona. Montalbano. Etc. etc. etc.

You’d think that by now the Democrat Party of Rhode Island would have erected a “Public Corruption Hall of Fame.”

The first step toward rehabilitation is admitting (to yourself) that you have a problem – unfortunately the Democrats in Rhode Island don’t appear ready to admit to themselves that there’s a pervaisve “culture of corruption” within their party, even though it’s obvious to the rest of us ... and to the U.S. Attorney!

Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at September 11, 2007 2:44 PM

Look in the mirror and ask the coward in the reflection, "Why do I tolerate this?".


Posted by: PDM at September 11, 2007 4:00 PM

The thing that continuous friggin KILLS me is that Democrat voters want a corruption-free government just as badly as Republicans, right?

So why do they continue to elect the same scumbags? Where are the clean Dems?

Posted by: Greg at September 11, 2007 6:33 PM

>>Where are the clean Dems?

Minnesota. There they specialize in the Hubert Humphrey / Walter Mondale / Paul Wellstone type of Democrat - their politics are all wrong, but at least they aren't / weren't corrupt.

Rhode Island and New Jersey specialize in the Tony Soprano variety of Democrat.

Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at September 11, 2007 8:23 PM

Democrats don't hold the franchise on corruption.

Ever hear of Ed Diprete? I think he's the only RI Gov. ever to go to jail and he was a Republican.

Buddy Cianci? He started out as a Republican.

Mike Levesque got himself into some trouble as Mayor of West Warwick, as did Mike Trafficante as Mayor of Cranston. Both Republicans.

Let's not kid ourselves . . . there's plenty of dirt on both sides of the aisle.

Posted by: brassband at September 11, 2007 10:23 PM

DiPrete went to jail as much for his son as anything - and that goes to show how much of a lowlife Dennis is, by the way. I will stipulate it runs in the family. Wasn't Cianci a Dem at some point in his corrupt career? Not sure you've made a point there, Brassband.

As Ragin said, "Bevilaqua. Fay. Smith. DeAngelis. Bianchini. Harwood. Irons. Celona. Montalbano." And we haven't even mentioned the shenanigans of two of our state officers. The Democrats have racked up a record that Levesque and Coach Traff could only dream of.

Posted by: SusanD at September 11, 2007 10:59 PM

Cianci was never a Democrat.

Posted by: Bob Walsh at September 11, 2007 11:06 PM

>>Cianci was never a Democrat.

Except in spirit! ;-)

Posted by: Tom W at September 11, 2007 11:22 PM

Ok, Tom, I'll admit I laughed out loud at that one.

Posted by: Bob Walsh at September 11, 2007 11:36 PM

>>Ok, Tom, I'll admit I laughed out loud at that one.

Bob,

Then there's still hope for you.

Repent your NEA sins now, and you just might receive absolution. :-)

Posted by: Tom W at September 12, 2007 12:00 AM

There are clean Dems in Rhode Island, but the Montalbanos, Murphys, Mollises, etc. make damned sure they're marginalized.
Or sometimes, they turn Republican, only to be marginalized there because they're not conservative enough. They really should think about a third way.
And social conservatives absolutely will not go after Montalbano because he's on Carcieri's side when it comes to their key issues.

Posted by: Rhody at September 12, 2007 12:05 AM
And social conservatives absolutely will not go after Montalbano because he's on Carcieri's side when it comes to their key issues.

Umm... who do you think wrote the post to which you're commenting?

Posted by: Justin Katz at September 12, 2007 12:08 AM

Welcome to the cause, Justin. But Carcieri's silence about Montalbano is deafening. You don't suppose it's because The Don is counting on Montalbano to make damned sure gay marriage doesn't get a sniff or passing (or counting on his support to put a ban on the ballot)?
Methinks Don enjoys having a social conservative on the other side of the aisle and will tolerate some malfeasance from him.

Posted by: Rhody at September 12, 2007 11:27 AM

Rhody I think you're giving the Impotent Don too much credit. He's just riding out the rest of his term trying to not screw up more than he already has. I've given up any hope that he's really going to accomplish anything positive.

Posted by: Greg at September 12, 2007 2:32 PM

>>Welcome to the cause, Justin. But Carcieri's silence about Montalbano is deafening. You don't suppose it's because The Don is counting on Montalbano to make damned sure gay marriage doesn't get a sniff or passing (or counting on his support to put a ban on the ballot)?
Methinks Don enjoys having a social conservative on the other side of the aisle and will tolerate some malfeasance from him.

Yep, that explains the silence by Teresa Paiva-Weed too.

HA HA HA

Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at September 12, 2007 3:52 PM

"but at least now we can stop hearing his lawyer's dangerously delusional arguments for the guilty man's innocence."

We'll stop hearing them about Montalbano. But OCG reports that both Senator Frank Ciccione and Billy Irons have picked up those arguments in their own "defense".

Nice job, Joey. You've created and passed on a weasly, delusional baton for the advancement of bad government. The Ethics Comm should squash Irons and Ciccione like bugs as an object lesson to anyone else who would try this ridiculousness.

Posted by: SusanD at September 13, 2007 7:06 AM

Paiva-Weed needs to wake up, too.
After seeing the Brown poll yesterday, hopefully Senate Dems will take West's advice and realize they CAN overthrow this guy (don't wait for the next election, because tossing leadership is an issue that generally doesn't play at the local level). Don't give Montalano a chance to threaten people with signs supporting opposing candidates.

Posted by: Rhody at September 13, 2007 11:13 AM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?

Important note: The text "http:" cannot appear anywhere in your comment.