House Minority Leader sues House Speaker for allegedly overstepping authority

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – House Minority Leader Blake Filippi is suing House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, claiming he abused his power as house speaker as the chairman on the Joint Committee on Legislative Services.

The lawsuit also names the other members of the JCLS, including the House Majority Leader, Senate President, and Senate Minority Leader, regarding an audit of the Rhode Island Convention Center.

Filippi alleges that Mattiello did not seek approval from the rest of the committee before authorizing the auditor general to carry out the audit, which he says is illegal.

“The allegation out there is that the Speaker is using the JCLS as his and the auditor general, a public function of the state, paid for by state tax dollars, for his own personal and political retribution,” said Representative Brian Newberry.

Hours after filing the lawsuit, Mattiello released a letter authorizing the auditor general to withdraw the request for an audit.

Despite the withdrawal of the audit, Filippi called the lawsuit a remedy to what Republicans see as the usurpation of the JCLS’s authority by the Office of the Speaker.

“Right now it is unilaterally controlled by the speaker and his executive director Frank Montenaro,” said Filippi at a Thursday press conference.

In a statement, Mattiello said earlier this week Filippi agreed to an audit, but that when  it came time for him to formally approve it by signing a document, he became “belligerent” and threatened a lawsuit.

Filippi said prior to their exchange, the Speaker did not want to even allow him to do that.

“He said, ‘I’m not calling a meeting, and I’m not signing any documents, I have the authority to do this because I’m the chairman.”

According to Filippi, the committee, which includes senate and house leadership and is responsible for allocating the state budget, hasn’t met since he’s been in office.

Republicans say they want more transparency.

“We are done with trying to diplomatically resolve this in a manner that would be beneficial to the State of Rhode Island, the tax payers in Rhode Island,” said Minority Whip Michael Chippendale. “We want this to happen. And it’s going to happen now in the court.”

In a statement the senate leadership named in the lawsuit said in part that they have been working for years to make the committee more equal and to meet and vote regularly.

Mattiello also called the lawsuit a political stunt in his statement.

As for the convention center, the executive director says they are happy to comply with an audit should it be properly authorized.

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