# GOP files ethics complaint against Patrick



## PBC FL Cop (Oct 22, 2003)

Thursday, March 8, 2007 
*GOP files ethics complaint*

Probe of Citigroup call urged

*By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

*







Gov. Deval L. Patrick speaks to a Massachusetts High Technology Council breakfast meeting in Burlington yesterday. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)"I appreciate that I should not have made the call. I regret the mistake."

*BOSTON- *State Republican Party officials yesterday filed a complaint with the state Ethics Commission, asking it to investigate whether Gov. Deval L. Patrick's recent call to a Citigroup Inc. executive on behalf of a financial request by Ameriquest, his former employer, may have violated state ethics rules.

While the governor earlier this week said he regretted making the telephone call and apologized for the appearance it gave, a spokeswoman for Mr. Patrick said yesterday that he had violated no ethics rules, and accused the GOP of overreacting.

"We are confident there is no ethics violation. This is just political grandstanding," said Patrick spokeswoman Cyndi M. Roy.

She said the governor apologized and pledged to take greater care in his dealings with companies that do business with the state.

"He said he needs to be cognizant that there is no longer a line between his personal life and his role as governor, and that it is a mistake he will be sure not to make in the future," she said.

The controversial phone call came to light in a Boston Globe report Monday that questioned whether the governor's intervention on behalf of a company he worked for until last July could give the appearance that Citigroup may get preferred treatment on work it does for the state if it acted favorably on the financial request from Ameriquest.

Mr. Patrick issued a statement this week emphasizing he has "no financial interest in ACC Capital Holdings or its subsidiary, Ameriquest Financial" and that he had no personal interest in the transaction that Ameriquest and Citigroup were considering.

"As a former board member, I was asked by an officer of ACC Capital to serve as a reference for the company and agreed to do so. I called Robert Rubin, a former colleague from the Clinton administration and an executive at Citigroup, to offer any insight they might want on the character of the current management," Mr. Patrick said.

"Even though I made this call solely as a former board member, and I believe that was clear to Mr. Rubin, I appreciate that I should not have made the call. I regret the mistake."

State ethics laws prohibit public officials from using their offices for personal gain, and Mr. Patrick ruled out any personal interest in making the call.

But in a letter to the Ethics Commission yesterday, Brian A. Dodge, executive director of the state GOP, claimed that because Citigroup Inc. and ACC Capital Holdings have "sizable business interests" in the state "a personal phone call from the state's highest elected official to Citigroup's executive committee chairman at the request of ACC Capital's vice chairman constitutes influence of the highest order."

Mr. Dodge said the governor's actions were "in direct violation" of the state ethics laws.

Questions about the controversy continued yesterday although Mr. Patrick tried to put the matter behind him. When a reporter asked him about it after a meeting with Boston area businesses, he said that although he is going to make mistakes, people should not give up on him.

The new controversy comes on the heels of criticism over Mr. Patrick's choice of a costly Cadillac as his official car and the purchase of expensive new drapes for his office. Mr. Patrick also apologized for those decisions, saying he should have been more sensitive to the public's reaction in light of fiscal problems facing the state including a looming deficit in next year's budget.

The Ethics Commission has a policy of not confirming or denying whether complaints are received or whether investigations are undertaken.


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## screamineagle (Jul 11, 2005)

He said he needs to be cognizant that there is no longer a line between his personal life and his role as governor, and that it is a mistake he will be sure not to make in the future,” she said. 

Didn't he say he needed access to the SP helicopter because he is the governor 24/7?


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