Recently, it has been learned that after becoming the Chief of Staff to Governor Daniel McKee, Anthony Silva attempted to influence Cumberland Mayor Jeff Mutter to support the development of wetlands property in which his son had financial interest. Also, although Mr. Silva’s admits he had a financial interest in the 45 Canning Street from 2017 through 2020, in financial disclosure reports for that time period, Mr. Silva never disclosed he had a financial interest in 45 Canning Street property. This is a violation of R.I.G.L § 36-14-17(b)(3). Accordingly, the R.I. Republican Party has filed a complaint with the R.I. Ethics Commission regarding Mr. Silva’s failure to properly disclose his financial interest in this property for at least four years.
Furthermore, based on the fact that after he became the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Silva attempted to influence the Town of Cumberland regarding the property in which his son had a financial interest, an investigation should be conducted as to whether Mr. Silva attempted to influence in anyway the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) in granting a permit to develop the wetlands in June 2021 after DEM rejecting a similar request in 2019. We have no confidence that weak Governor McKee, who himself was previously fined by the Ethics Commission, would undertake a thorough investigation of his chief staff’s dubious activities. Therefore, we ask the Attorney General to investigate the Cumberland land deal orchestrated by Mr. Silva.
