By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — The controversy over Governor Carcieri’s niece-in-law is going to be investigated by the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.

The commission voted unanimously in closed session Tuesday to make what is called an initial determination, agreeing that if the allegations in the complaint made by Democratic Party Chairman William Lynch — that Carcieri hired the daughter of his wife's brother, Stephanie Accaputo, for a job in the constituent affairs office when he became governor in January 2003 — are true, that would constitute an ethics violation.
The governor’s office was mum on the Ethics Commission action on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Amy Kempe and Thomas Dickinson, the attorney representing Carcieri in the case, both refused to comment.
The hair investigators will have to split is whether a niece-in-law is actually a niece for the purposes of the nepotism law as it existed in 2003, which barred the hiring of a niece but was silent on a niece-in-law. Complicating matters is the fact that the Ethics Commission updated its regulations in 2007 to “clarify” the family relationships barred by the nepotism section and included niece-in-law at that time.
Carcieri has argued on previous occasions that: “The fact that the Ethics Commission for the first time in 2007 added 'niece-in-law' to the list of relationships demonstrates that it was not previously contemplated.”
“We are saying she is his niece,” Ethics Commission staff attorney Dianne Leyden told The Times Tuesday, adding that it is clear that the regulation in existence at the time barred the hiring of a niece. Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus defines niece as “the daughter of one's brother or sister or of one's brother-in-law or sister-in-law.”
“You can't get away from the fact that Stephanie Accaputo is the daughter of the governor's brother-in-law and that falls under the definition of niece,” Leyden said, explaining that the hiring of a niece “is prohibited by the code because a public official can not use his public office for financial gain for a family member. When you look at the definition of a family member in the regulation, it includes niece. So clearly it was prohibited conduct at that time.”
Accaputo's hiring drew some attention when she took the job at the start of the governor's term, after serving in Carcieri's campaign and on his transition team, but it sparked renewed interest when the governor was asked about it on a TV interview show last May, after Carcieri mounted a high-profile campaign to reduce the state payroll by 1,000 employees.
Carcieri sought an ethics commission advisory opinion on the Accaputo hiring after that interview aired, but the request was rejected because the commission does not issue advisory opinions after an action is taken.
The advisory opinion request generated a bit of drama Tuesday when the governor's lawyers made a motion that Commissioner Ross Cheit recuse himself from the case because when Carcieri sought the advisory opinion, Cheit said the commission “is not going to bail out the governor by giving him a retroactive advisory opinion.”
Cheit explained Tuesday that “bail out” did not imply guilt on the part of the governor, only that an advisory opinion would not be issued after the fact. Cheit noted that the vote to deny the advisory opinion last June was also unanimous.
Accaputo started off earning just under $38,000 a year but her salary has since grown to over $52,000.
Leyden predicted the case could go quickly, as opposed to some ethics cases that can take months or even years to adjudicate, because for the most part, the facts are not in dispute. The issue is a matter of law about whether a niece-in-law was covered by the statutes and regulations 2003.
When the staff investigation – which Leyden said could include subpoenaing witnesses and documents – is complete, the commission will be asked to determine whether probable cause exists to find Carcieri in violation of the ethics law. Under law, the staff has 180 days to investigate the complaint and the commission can allow one or two 60-day extensions. If probable cause is found, the matter will then go to a formal adjudication similar to a trial, unless a settlement can be reached before that.
Carcieri has settled two prior ethics complaints in the past, one alleged that he improperly solicited state employees for contributions during his 2006 re-election campaign and the other accused him of accepting a spot in a corporation's luxury box (the former Fleet Bank) at Foxboro Stadium during a 2004 New England Patriots playoff game.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Lynch said that the governor's approach to nepotism “seems to be based on a theory that there are one set of rules for the Carcieri administration and another set of rules for everyone else.”
“It's important to note that the decision by the Ethics Commission to investigate the governor was unanimous,” Lynch said. “The governor should consider that fact as this process unfolds.”