WPRO News
WPRO’s Dan Yorke has obtained a letter from Rhode Island Convention Center Authority chair Bernard Buonanno and Executive Director James McCarville to Rhode Island State Police Colonel James Manni requesting a formal investigation into House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello’s threat of an audit, “the motivation behind it, and if any laws have been broken.”
SEE THE LETTER BELOW
Buonanno and McCarville also note in their letter that the RICCA is regularly audited every 5 years.
Mattiello canceled an audit of the Rhode Island Convention Center on Thursday after the top House Republican filed a lawsuit accusing him of abusing his power.
Mattiello has been accused of using the investigation as retaliation for the disciplinary action against his friend James Demers, the Convention Center’s director of security, who was put on leave.
Auditor General Dennis Hoyle sent a letter Dec. 23 informing Convention Center executives that the Joint Committee on Legislative Services had directed him to conduct a performance audit of the center.
Three of the five committee members told WPRI-TV that they had not been consulted about the audit, even though state law says such audits must be requested by a “majority” of the committee’s leaders.
Mattiello defended his right to order the audit during an interview with WPRI on Friday. He said that there was no vote on the audit but that he sees himself as a majority because he is the committee’s chairman.
Committee member and House Minority Leader Blake Filippi filed a lawsuit in Superior Court Thursday accusing Mattiello of ordering “an illegal audit” and denying him his right to vote.
The Convention Center Authority’s board, which oversees the convention center, unanimously voted the same day to not comply with the audit until it was authorized by the committee.
Shorly after, the speaker’s office released a one-sentence letter cancelling the audit. He discussed the situation Friday with WPRO’s Tara Granahan. Listen to that conversation below:
Listen to “Speaker Nick Mattiello” on Spreaker.
