“Good afternoon,” said a male voice on his voicemail. “I’m a representative of Senator Walaska. We’re looking for some support this election if you go out and vote in the primary we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.”

After hearing the call, and believing the use of state phones for partisan campaign calls to be against the law, the Warwick resident, who asked not to be identified, contacted the Attorney General‘s office. They told him that the AG’s office is only interested in issues of campaign fraud. He was referred to the Secretary of State‘s office. The Secretary of State’s office was similarly disinterested, and referred him to the Board of Elections. According to the resident who sent me the call, the person from the Board of Elections searched through the relevant statutes in vain before giving up and telling the resident that he should call back when he learned exactly what law is being broken.

For future reference, that law seems to be:

§ 36-4-52. Restrictions on political activities of classified employees

No classified employee shall during working hours engage to any extent in any form of partisan politics except that he or she may attend and vote at any party caucus, primary, or election held during working hours. Outside of working hours a classified employee may attend any partisan political rally, club, or gathering and privately express his or her partisan political views but any further partisan political activity on his or her part shall be engaged in only in accordance with the personnel rules. A classified employee violating the provisions of § § 36-4-50–36-4-54, or of the personnel rules shall for a first offense be either demoted or dismissed and for a second offense dismissed. All charges of these violations shall be publicly heard by the personnel appeal board.

Robert Kando executive director of the Board of Elections could not be reached for comment.

John Marion of Common Cause said that the issue appears reminiscent of an ethics complaint against Susan Cicilline Buonanno when she ran for the House District 33 seat that Narragansett Democrat Donald Lally resigned. Buonanno, principal of Gladstone Elementary School in Cranston was accused of using school email and phones to advance her political campaign.

This case is different because it’s not the candidate, but someone claiming to represent the candidate who appears to be using state resources for partisan political purposes.

“As you might expect, using state work telephones for campaigning is forbidden, and so we would want to know if this sort of thing was taking place so that the charges could be investigated and suitable disciplinary action taken if warranted,” said Fred Sneesby, an administrator at Children’s & Family Services. The Warwick resident who sent me the call has been put in contact with Sneesby.

Contacted by phone, Senator Walaska, after I identified myself but before I could fully explain what I was calling about, said, “I know you don’t support me. I have no idea. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jeanine Calkin, a progressive Democrat who is running against the 22-year incumbent, said that her husband, Daniel Calkin, received a similar call. A photo of her husband’s phone is on the left. Daniel Calkin, listening to the audio above, said he was “pretty sure it’s the same guy.”

“This looks like a very clear-cut violation,” said Sam Bell, executive director of the RI Progressive Democrats.”Campaign calls should not be made from state numbers. Being able to direct state workers to campaign for a candidate gives an enormously unfair advantage to powerful incumbents.”

Requests for comment from Representative Joseph McNamara and Brandon Bell, respective chairs for the Democratic and Republican parties in Rhode Island have gone unanswered.

As for the Warwick resident and doctor who sent me the call, he says that he is “disinclined to vote for Walaska.”

Bills S999 and H6312, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Coyne (District 32) and Representative Kathleen Fogarty (District 35), gives the Secretary of State the power to purchase new voting equipment, a duty that was formerly carried out by the Board of Elections.

“Back in 1997, when the last purchasing bill was done, it was set up so that it would revert over to the Board of Elections,” Secretary Gorbea explained. “So, for the last 17 years that’s where it had rested, and the legislature, in this past session, saw fit to turn that around. Now, of course, the Board of Elections is an instrumental part of this, and is working with us on this process.”

She added that voting equipment is part of a democracy’s infrastructure, and that citizens in a democracy depend on that equipment to “deliver fair, fast, and accurate elections.”

Gorbea has ordered the creation of a Voting Equipment Task Force, to inform the Department of State’s process of researching and buying new equipment, which has not been updated since 1997. John Marion, the executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, is a member of the task force, said the Board of Elections was not moving into the 21^st century fast enough when it came to voting infrastructure, so the new legislation is a good way to move forward, even though it may be less transparent.

“The Board of Elections process could have been more transparent, because in the end the Board would have to vote in a public session on the purchase of the new machines, and now the Secretary can make the decision. The Secretary is not a board that has to have a public session,” he said. “But, fortunately, the Secretary convened a task force, to give input, and it’s a very expansive task force that brings in a lot of different people in the community. So, I think she is being as transparent as she can be, given the circumstances.”

Marion also said that the task force will be looking at what other states have done to influence how they will go about acquiring new equipment. Common Cause as a whole, he said, is also interested in making voting more accessible to Rhode Islanders. Senator Coyne shared that sentiment.

“The signing of this legislation is crucial to not only ensuring our elections are fair and accurate, but also to bringing the state’s voting machines into the 21^st century,” she said. “In addition, modern equipment will make the voting process easier for Rhode Islanders, which will hopefully result in more people becoming involved in the democratic process.”

Governor Raimondo added that the main goal is to ensure that government works for everybody.

“This is a bill that I supported. I think the Secretary of State will do a good job. It will be efficient, and as I mentioned in my comments, really performance based. We want to make government effective and efficient, and the best use of tax dollars, and I think this does that,” she said.

An interesting side note about this bill that was mentioned at the signing is the fact that all the main stakeholders in its passage are women. Representative Fogarty, of South Kingstown, said that this proves that women create good legislation, which leads to good government.

“It was not something that was planned,” Gorbea said on the subject. “It was just something that happened organically, and I was pleased to see it happen.”

“Heading into what may turn out to be the most expensive year in modern Rhode Island elections, Common Cause is please to see that the Board of Elections is vigorously enforcing the state’s campaign finance laws,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island.  “The NRA, with its vast resources, should have had no problem properly segregating their funds.  This consent decree, with its significant financial penalty and additional stipulations, sends a clear signal that if you’re going to participate in our political process you need to obey the rules.  When it comes to the 2nd Amendment the NRA preaches the need to enforce existing laws.  We’re glad to see that the Board of Elections decided to take their advice when it came to campaign finance laws.”

Since 2002, the NRA RI PAC has contributed $163,495 to Rhode Island candidates, mostly conservative Democrats like House Speaker Gordon Fox, Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Ruggerio, and House Majority Leader Nick Mattiello.  Mike McCaffrey, the conservative Democrat from Warwick who chairs the Senate Judiciary committee, which has jurisdiction over most gun legislation, has also received thousands of dollars from the controversial gun lobby.  So did former Speaker Bill Murphy, the Democrat who is currently the chief lobbyist for the gun interests in Rhode Island.

Shortly after I filed the campaign finance complaint, the NRA closed down its Rhode Island PAC.  In the settlement, the NRA agrees to follow campaign finance law should it reopen its PAC.