RI ethics panel to meet on complaint against Lynch

PROVIDENCE—Rhode Island’s Ethics Commission is reviewing a complaint against Attorney General Patrick Lynch.
   
The complaint accuses Lynch of violating a $75 limit on gifts by traveling to a conference in New Orleans. The ticket was paid for by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which held a panel discussion last year about online child safety.
   
The Ethics Commission will decide Tuesday whether there are grounds to proceed with an investigation.
   
State Republican chairman Giovanni Cicione says Lynch should not have accepted the gift because his office helps regulate companies in the cable industry. But Lynch’s attorney, Richard Humphrey, says Lynch did not commit a knowing or willful ethics violation and that his appearance at the conference was part of his official duties and benefited the state.