6 Questions: Peter Neronha on life after the U.S. Attorney’s office

By: John DeLuca

news@abc6.com

@JohnDeLucaABC6

J: Tell me about your last day…were you expecting that to be your last day? Did it come out of no where?

N: I knew that the last day was approaching for sure…ah…I was a little surprised by how swiftly and how quickly we needed to be movin on…but I was prepared for it and ready to go.

J: There wasn’t a little sting…a little insulted?

N: Not really no, you know when you walk through the door that you serve at the pleasure of the President.

J: Any theories on why Rhode Island has so many crooked politicians?…I’m serious.

N: Oh gosh no…no I don’t. I think it’s important when we talk about public corruption cases to remember the vast majority of public officials are really…

J: Peter you’re being really nice…just under your watch alone…Carnevale, Palumbo, Gallison, Fox, 3 North Providence Councilors, McCauley, Moreau, Maselli. I’m probably missing somebody.

N: Well you’ve added 2 that are state cases Carnevale and Palumbo.

J: But still…crooked politicians in general.

N: We have our share.

J: You have intimate, inside knowledge about why these gentlemen do what they do…you’ve seen so many cases. There’s no one size fits all I’m sure…but at the end of the day…greed is there at some point.

N: It is…and you know what struck me..the dollar amounts were not very high. That is what always struck me. We’re not talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in these cases. You’re talking about $25,000, $75,000…you know a furnace…{laugh} we’re not talking about big dollar amounts here…so in a way that’s a head scratcher.

J: You really want to put your name on a ballot? You want to run for an election…you wanna call people up and ‘hey…can I expect our support?’

N: These are things to think about right. I was just on the phone with a good friend whose running for the AG in Ohio…and that’s what he was calling about.

J: How comfortable would you be calling people up out of the blue?

N: Well you know these are things I’ve gotta think about you know john. I don’t know what I’m gonna do yet. The key for me is…I want to, to stay… I want to keep doing something that is meaningful.

J: Would you run as a Democrat?

N: Ah…yes. If I ran for anything it would be as a Democrat. You know the Democrats..the Democratic Party, traditionally, historically is where my heart is. It was not difficult for me to serve under President Obama…let’s put it that way.

J: What about going back to private practice?

N: That’s an option too yeah that’s an option too.

J: You’ve gotta be a hot commodity at this point…toot toot! You’ve got to toot your own horn here a bit my friend. You’ve just been U.S. Attorney in Rhode Island for the last 8 years. A lot of people are like…’hey Neronha’s available’. You must be getting phone calls…

N: I don’t want to overstate…

J: Oh stop! No one’s calling? ‘hey Peter we’ve got a spot for you here at xyz law firm.’

N: You’re tough, you’re tough. No you..it’s time to think about what the future holds.

Neronha told me he expects to make a decision on his professional future in late spring or early summer.

As for how the political philosophy of a Trump administration would be different from the Obama years on the offices of U.S. Attorneys across the country?

Neronha thinks at least theree things will be different.

Greater emphasis on immigration cases, the civil rights division which grew over the last 8 years…will not be as robust and there will be more of a mandatory charging and sentencing approach.

He also thinks it’ll be a while before the U.S. Attorney spot in Rhode Island will be filled.

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