AUGUSTA – The state’s ethics commission voted unanimously Thursday not to prohibit Rep. Tom Saviello, I-Wilton, from serving on the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee.
The decision didn’t go over well with environmental group representatives, who continued to maintain that Saviello’s employment as International Paper’s environmental manager in Jay, while serving on the committee, represented a conflict of interest.
However, it will be up to Speaker of the House John Richardson, D-Brunswick, to decide whether to reassign Saviello to the committee, commission Chairwoman Jean Ginn Marvin said Thursday.
Ginn Marvin also said there were 12 other members on a committee who could have voted against recommendations if they were out of line. Panel members also said it is a citizens’ Legislature, with many people who work in certain professions being assigned to committees because of their knowledge and experience, but one member of a committee does not have the power to make laws.
The commission also decided not to take action on a third-party complaint, which was not a sworn complaint, filed against Saviello by the Conservation Law Foundation. Members said it did not provide adequate legal grounds for action.
The foundation’s complaint alleged misconduct, conflict of interest and abuse of legislative power by Saviello, as a legislator on the committee which makes recommendations to the Legislature on environmental laws governing several industries, including the paper industry.
During the meeting Thursday, the foundation’s attorney, Steve Hinchman, restated the conflict-of-interest charges that were lodged in the complaint. Several members of the public also told the committee that Saviello’s actions were a conflict of interest in his dual role as legislator on the committee and working for IP.
The ethics panel also accepted Saviello’s retraction of his request to have the commission investigate his alleged quid pro quo dealings to avoid enforcement actions with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
They also made public all documents submitted, which had been confidential previously.
Saviello had requested the commission in January to address whether his employment as the environmental manager of IP disqualifies him from service on the Natural Resource Committee after environmental groups had accused him of having a conflict of interest.
Saviello had previously asked to be reassigned to another committee pending the outcome of the ethics commission review. He is now serving on the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.
The lawmaker said during the meeting that he represents his constituents.
The people in the Franklin County area have been hard-hit with job losses, he said, and many of them work in the paper industry and forest products industry. He said when he made recommendations on environmental laws, they didn’t just affect one paper company but five, as well as other industries.
Saviello’s attorney, Charles Harvey said legislators have been following an opinion issued in 1983 by the attorney general’s office governing conflicts of interest. He also said there was no conflict in Saviello’s actions.
When commission members asked Saviello if he were compensated by his employer for being on the Legislature or if received bonuses for his actions, he said no, he was on salary.
During the public comment period before the vote on the conflict-of-interest issue, members of the public stated dissatisfaction at having to sit outside the hearing room for 2 hours and not hear what was being discussed while commission members met in executive session with Saviello and his attorney, the commission’s executive director and assistant attorney general.
The ethics commission was in executive session to determine whether to hear the third-party complaint, which is allowed under the panel’s rules.
At least eight times, laughter could be heard come from within the walls of the closed meeting while members of the public waited.
After the vote, Naomi Schalit, executive director of Maine Rivers, said to the panel Thursday, “It absolutely feels like you folks have slammed the door” on the public’s making complaints.
You have “handed it over to the Legislature to police themselves. I think it’s entirely wrong,” Schalit said.
After the meeting adjourned, Schalit said, “The people of Maine lost today. What we needed was a clear signal from this commission and that signal was to have him taken off the committee. I can tell you one thing: If he’s back on the committee, we are all going to watch him like hawks.”
Harvey said the decision was the right outcome.
Legislators have been operating under the 1983 conflict-of-interest opinion and what’s really at stake, Harvey said, is that they want to have the rules change, and the remedy is with the legislator, not the ethics commission.
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