Following a critically acclaimed, standing-room only forum in 2007 on Rhode Island corruption, OCG presented its Second Annual Corruption Forum on May 10, 2008, focusing on the General Assembly:

The General Assembly: Private Deal$ and Public Corruption

The lively discussion included:

• A review of legislative corruption and high profile violators.
• Is our Legislature worse than those in other states?
• How corruption affects you.
• Causes of corruption at the Legislature.
• How effective are the existing tools to battle legislative corruption?
• What else needs to be done to reduce legislative corruption?

The forum featured a dynamic “Q&A” session between the audience and the panelists.

The Panel

Moderator: Dave Layman, former award-winning Providence news anchor and political commentator.

Edward Achorn: The Providence Journal’s Deputy Editorial Page Editor and frequent critic of the state legislature.

Arthur “Chuck” Barton: President of Operation Clean Government.

Ross Cheit, JD, PhD: Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Brown University and a member of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.

John DePetro: WPRO talk show host, and winner of the 2008 Associated Press Award for Best Talk Show. He is known for investigating corruption and scandals in Rhode Island and consistently breaking news involving high ranking public officials.

Kenneth Payne: Former Senior Policy Advisor to the Rhode Island State Senate and a former Director of the League of Cities and Towns. He recently authored a comprehensive five-part series in the Providence Sunday Journal examining the history and operations of the state legislature.

Bill Rappleye: Long-time legislative and political reporter for NBC10 News.

Arlene Violet: Veteran radio talk show host, political columnist and TV commentator. She is a former R.I. Attorney General and long time advocate for good government.