Rhode Island Senate President Valarie Lawson quietly recused herself from two labor bills decided Wednesday. The reason: She’s awaiting the advice of a state ethics panel on conflicts of interest with her job as head of one of the state’s two largest teachers unions.
Despite Lawson’s abstention, two union-backed bills secured approval with decisive majorities of the 37-member chamber. One would extend organizing rights to university graduate students; the other enhances information-sharing about union members between their employers and local bargaining units.
As the end of session looms, with hundreds of bills expected to be considered by both chambers in the final weeks, it’s still unclear when and whether Lawson should be participating in discussions and decisions that overlap with her day job as president of the National Education Association of Rhode Island.
Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, was elected Senate president on April 29, filling the opening left after the death of former Senate President Dominick Ruggerio. She requested an advisory opinion from the Rhode Island Ethics Commission on May 23, according to a letter obtained by Rhode Island Current. The commission, which last met on May 20, has not set a date to consider a recommendation from its staff on Lawson’s request.
Lawson in the letter referred to a June 2024 ethics recommendation, when she was majority leader, determining that she could still vote on a swath of proposed changes to the state pension system despite being a retired teacher and head of the teachers union. The ethics panel concluded that Lawson would not benefit from the proposed changes any more than the 68,000 retirees and active state workers and teachers, including 400 of her co-workers at the state teachers’ union.
Lawson sought to distinguish between actual conflicts of interest, rooted in financial gain, and a “subjective perception of bias” — the latter of which is not addressed by the state ethics code.
“The Code of Ethics does not address perceived general biases, political views or personal opinions unless they intersect with financial interests,” Lawson wrote. “This is intentional as the Code of Ethics may not infringe upon either legislative or executive powers.”
Lawson also pledged in the letter to recuse herself from any discussions and votes on bills related to pension benefits that would affect her “rights or entitlements as a participant in the state’s Pension system.”
Her letter does not mention potential conflicts on labor bills, including the two she abstained from on Wednesday.
‘What happens behind closed doors?’
Greg Paré, a Senate spokesperson, downplayed Lawson’s recusals.
“In any part-time legislature, most members will have full-time jobs as well, and it is inevitable that potential conflicts will arise,” Pare said in an emailed response Thursday. “The members of the Senate recuse themselves in these situations. Throughout her tenure in the Senate, President Lawson has recused out of an abundance of caution when a potential conflict arises, and she did so yesterday as well.”
The precautionary measure did not put Sen. Ana Quezada at ease. Quezada, a Providence Democrat, did not vote for Lawson for Senate president because she worried over the conflicts of interest with her union job.
“For me, it is still a concern,” Quezada said in an interview Thursday. “Even if she recuses herself from voting on the floor, what happens behind closed doors?”
Indeed, it was behind-the-scenes negotiations, not public votes, that prompted the first Senate president, East Providence Democrat, Billy Irons, to resign. Irons abruptly left the leadership post at the end of his first year, in 2003, amid news reports he accepted payouts from insurance companies in exchange for defeating legislation the industry opposed.
“Recusing from a vote is only part of the actions as Senate president,” John Marion, executive director for Common Cause Rhode Island, said. “Lawson is also the person who decides if a committee can move forward with a vote on the legislation.”
Exercising caution might sound like the best choice amid uncertainty. But her constituents, and the 12,000 teachers she leads, could lose out if she recuses herself unnecessarily, too.
This was the conclusion of a pair of Brown University professors in a paper in the 2024 Roger Williams University Law Review in examining non-judicial recusals from 2006 to 2018.
“Recusing might make political sense,” the authors stated. “Stepping aside makes it impossible for political opponents to claim that voting was improper. But this is where the phrase ‘out of an abundance of caution’ falls apart. That phrase implies that there are no costs to recusing, just possible benefits. But there are real costs—direct and indirect—to this kind of ‘abundance of caution.’ The direct cost of legislative recusal is the disenfranchisement of constituents.”
Without an ethics opinion on the bills up for a vote Wednesday, it’s unclear whether Lawson could have participated in the decisions.
Recusing from a vote is only part of the actions as Senate president. Lawson is also the person who decides if a committee can move forward with a vote on the legislation.
Marion acknowledged the timing of the state ethics reviews and meetings – typically once per month — made it difficult for Lawson to get timely advice in the end-of-session scramble.
But the proposals themselves were introduced on Jan. 31, giving Lawson ample time to ask for more general input from the ethics panel. Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone requested an advisory opinion from the Ethics Commission on his ability to discuss and vote on gun-related legislation immediately after he was elected the Senate’s no. 2. The commission approved its staff recommendation at its May 20 meeting.
Lawson waited more than three weeks after she was tapped as president to ask for an ethics opinion.
“It’s surprising given the scrutiny on her dual roles, that she isn’t doing more publicly to make sure that she’s getting sound advice on what she can and can’t do in her role as Senate president,” Marion said. “The next few weeks are going to highlight that challenge.”
Companion legislation in the House to Ciccone’s bill expanding organizing rights to college graduate students remains held in committee following an initial Feb. 12 hearing. The House Committee on Labor is scheduled to vote Thursday night on a companion to the other union bill, requiring regular updates from union employers to the local bargaining units.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi remained noncommittal when asked for comment Thursday, only saying that both bills were “under consideration.”
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
