When Operation Clean Government's plan to honor Justice Robert G. Flanders of the state Supreme Court came undone last November, there was suspicion that OCG's outspoken criticism of the courts may have played a role in the situation. And, at least as far as OCG chairman Robert P. Arruda is concerned, an opinion by the Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct does nothing to allay that suspicion.

Flanders, a favorite of good government groups because of his dissenting opinions in high-profile cases, had been selected by OCG to receive the organization's Golden Broom Award and to be recognized during a dinner. The advisory committee ruled, though, that Flanders' attendance at the dinner and acceptance of the award would violate judicial canons, including the obligation for judges to avoid even an appearance of impropriety.

Although the canons permit judges to speak, lecture, and participate in other extra-judicial activities concerning the law, the advisory committee cited Operation Clean Government as an organization "which frequently comprises the same side in litigation," and has two cases pending before the state Supreme Court.

As previously reported, (see "The collapse of Operation Clean Government's well-intentioned plan to honor Justice Robert G. Flanders of the Supreme Court," News, November 16, 2001), OCG is not a named party in either of the cases. One, involving Traffic Court fines, involves an OCG official and some of his expenses were paid by OCG, and the other, in which Arruda is one of three plaintiffs and OCG has paid some minor costs, has been remanded for trial to Superior Court. Arruda also sees little difference between OCG's planned dinner and events in which Chief Justice Frank Williams was recognized as a Citizen of the Year by the Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association and honored during a fund-raiser held by the Community Mediation Center of Rhode Island.

Judge Patricia D. Moore, chairwoman of the advisory committee, declined to comment. Williams's spokesman, John Goodman, has said that OCG's involvement in financing litigation before the Supreme Court marks a clear difference from the other two examples. Testimonials and gift incident are allowed only if, he noted, "the donor organization is not an organization whose members comprise or frequently represent the same side in litigation."

Arruda, though, remains troubled by the opinion. "We would like a further explanation of what they mean by `on the same side,' " he says. "We have been put in our place in a sense and told that giving an award to a judge is perhaps not a good thing to do." In any case, the tempest hasn't stopped OCG from planning a February 25 forum on independence and accountability in the Rhode Island judicial system.

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.

Issue Date: February 8 - 14, 2002