June 16, 2009
Contact: Contact: Larry Valencia 248-8355 (C)
Press Release
The Board of Directors of Operation Clean Government (OCG) is pleased to announce that Larry Valencia, a current Board Member and a former candidate for State Representative has been elected to complete the unexpired term of President Chuck Barton at their Board of Directors meeting earlier this month. Mr. Barton, Vice-President of Commercial Lending at People's United Bank in Norwich, CT, resigned from the position to better fulfill his business and other volunteer commitments. He has served as President since November 2006.
" It is with great sadness that we accept Chuck's resignation, but we are very hopeful that Larry will step in and continue the good leadership that Chuck Barton provided for nearly three years," said Robert Benson, OCG Vice-President. "We wish Chuck the best of luck in the future, and we are very happy that he has agreed to stay on OCG's Board to provide leadership and continuity."
Larry Valencia has been lobbying on behalf of Operation Clean Government this year, especially for the proposed Inspector General and Voter Handbook legislation. Larry has also hosted OCG's public access cable TV show State of the State on occasion. Larry recently ran unsuccessfully for State Representative in the D-39 (Richmond, Charlestown, Exeter) Democratic primary in 2008, his first run for state office. He is a long-time member of the Richmond Zoning Board of Review, and is the Chairman of the Richmond Economic Development Commission. He was also the Chairman of the Richmond Home Rule Charter Commission, an elected body that crafted the recently approved Richmond Charter which includes recall and voter initiative provisions. When he is not reading and writing, he coaches girls' basketball and softball. Larry has a B.S. in Chemistry from Charter Oak College, and an M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science from St. John's University. He works as a freelance medical writer and part-time sales agent for Glacial Energy in Sandwich, MA. Larry and his wife, Patty, have three children.
" Chuck Barton, our outgoing President, did an excellent job in his nearly three years of service, and we owe him tremendously for his efforts," said Larry. "I am honored to be chosen - Chuck's shoes will be difficult to fill, but I look forward to the challenge. My priorities will be a continuation of Chuck's efforts: to continue pursuing Operation Clean Government's good government goals and to continue to energize the citizen watchdogs of our state."
Operation Clean Government is a statewide group in Rhode Island that is dedicated to promoting honest, responsible, and responsive state government. OCG believes that our state elected and appointed officials should be accountable to all the people whom they serve. OCG believes that a healthy democracy can only be insured when there is transparency in government and all citizens have full access to their government. OCG advocates strong democratic laws and institutions that will give the public confidence that policies are fairly debated and decided on their merits, and that our common resources are used responsibly in the public interest.
OCG is a 501(C)4 non-profit organization, with over 2,000 members, having formed in 1993, when several smaller citizens groups merged. One of the major issues at that time was the Rhode Island banking crisis, when large and politically connected borrowers defaulted on loans, freezing billions of dollars of small depositor accounts and catalyzing citizen outrage. # #
