Maine DEI Board Says No Conflict of Interest with $12,000 Grant to Co-Chair’s Sister

Maine’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, & Tribal Populations (PCRITP) has determined that no conflict of interest occurred when they granted $12,000 to the Commission Co-Chair and Maine House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross’ (D-Portland) sister for a Black History Month Event.

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The state racial equity board has come under scrutiny in recent weeks following a Maine Wire report that revealed PCRITP granted a Portland-based nonprofit co-founded by Regina Phillips, sister of Speaker Talbot Ross, $12,000 for their “Black History Month Community Wellness Fair.”

No disclosure of the familial relationship was made on PCRIPT’s $12,000 contract with the nonprofit, nor was a disclosure made that the Black History Month event featured another one of Talbot Ross’ sisters as a panelist.

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Following a question from the Maine Wire during the Commission’s Feb. 28 meeting regarding whether or not they would enforce their current conflict of interest policy –which requires PCRITP commissioners to make a full disclosure on grants given to a member of their immediate family — PCRITP Executive Director Ariel Ricci said the matter would be discussed during their March 12 Finance and Operations Committee meeting.

According to the agenda published for the Commission’s March 12 Finance and Operations Committee, after the question from the Maine Wire, PCRITP staff “consulted with the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS), the Attorney General’s Office, the Maine Ethics Commission,” and their own current bylaws regarding potential conflicts of interest.

The agenda states the goal of these consultations were to “clarify the extent to which the Permanent Commission’s ByLaws and policy fit within wider state requirements and
policies.”

[RELATED: After Maine House Speaker Gave Sister’s Nonprofit $12,000 in Taxpayer Money, DEI Panel Will Consider Anti-Corruption Policy…]

One problem the Commission ran into while attempting to revise their conflict of interest policy, according to Ricci, was that “the structure of this Commission is that it is made up of community members from the very communities and entities that we are likely to want to work with.”

In other words, a standard conflict of interest policy might not work for the commission because most of the members of the commission serve organizations that want taxpayer funding from the commission.

The result of their consultations with DAFS, the Maine Attorney General’s Office, and the Maine Ethics Commission was that “no conflict has arisen” in the case of the $12,000 grant to the House Speaker’s sister.

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Explaining this determination, the Commission states that “No Commissioners were involved in any discussions or decision making” regarding the grant, and that the decision to enter the contract with the nonprofit was made solely by Executive Director Ricci.

Additionally, the Commission claims that the term “Immediate family” does not include siblings.

“‘Immediate family’ is not defined in the By Laws, therefore the Executive Director looked to statute, where ‘immediate family’ is defined as a person’s spouse, domestic partner, or dependent children (5 MRSA §19(1)(G), for the purpose of financial disclosure by executive employees,” PCRITP stated. “A sibling does not fall within the definition of ‘immediate family’.”

PCRITP has published a draft version of their revised conflict of interest policy, which includes the stipulation that siblings are not to be considered immediate family, as well as requiring PCRITP members to recuse themselves from votes on grants for which they have a potential conflict of interest.

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“Commissioners often hold multiple roles, including as employees and Board members of community based organizations that the Permanent Commission seeks to meaningfully engage with as part of its role to understand the needs of and solutions to the problems faced by communities,” the draft policy reads.

“It will therefore be a common occurrence that the Permanent Commission seeks to contract or otherwise engage with organizations that Commissioners are connected to,” it continues.

The new policy is slated to be discussed by the Finance and Operations Committee on March 12 prior to being put before the full Commission for a vote during their next meeting.

The PCRITP Finance and Operations Committee states that they will not be receiving any public comment during their meetings because they are “working meetings,” despite previously accepting a question from the Maine Wire during their Feb. 13 meeting.