Cerullo, Harsch named to Rhode Island Ethics Commission

February 4, 2008
by Providence Business News Staff

Gov. Donald L. Carcieri yesterday named two new members to the Rhode Island Ethics Commission: Sister Deborah H. Cerullo, SSND, and J. William Harsch. The appointments, announced this afternoon, do not require legislative approval.

“Despite years of effort, Rhode Island’s political system is still beset by many ethical challenges,” Carcieri said in a statement today.

“The Rhode Island Ethics Commission needs the leadership to not only prosecute misdeeds under the existing rules, but also to ensure that the current rules are sufficient to cover all the potential conflict of interest situations in state and local government. I firmly believe that Sister Cerullo and Bill Harsch will provide that leadership.”

Cerullo – a Catholic nun, Providence lawyer and former law professor – replaces George Weavill Jr.  Her term will expire Sept. 1, 2011.

A 1976 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, she received her J.D. degree from Boston University in 1980 and served as an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County, Mass., from 1981 to 1985, when she entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She served as an assistant district attorney and consumer-fraud investigator in Nassau County, N.Y., from 1985 to 1986. Then, after earning a master’s degree in canon law at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, she taught law at the University of Notre Dame Law School and Boston College Law School.  Since 2003, she has been operated a law office in Providence.

Harsch – a Providence lawyer who served as a federal official during the Carter administration and also has worked in Rhode Island state government – replaces James C. Segovis. His term will expire Sept. 1, 2012.

A 1960 graduate of Williams College, he received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1964. He served as director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management from 1976 to 1977; chairman of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission from 1975 to 1976; and during the Carter administration, served as deputy associate director for environment, energy, natural resources and science in the federal Office of Management and Budget, overseeing the establishment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Since 1980, he has been an attorney in private practice, and also has served as solicitor for the towns of Tiverton and Jamestown. In 2006, he ran for attorney general against incumbent Patrick C. Lynch.

“In seeking individuals to serve on this critical board, I sought independent thinkers who held promise to be proactive, staunch defenders of the public’s interest in ethical government,” Carcieri said. “The Ethics Commission is at an important crossroads in meeting its constitutional mission, and as a matter of moving forward I put a premium on strong personal integrity in choosing these appointees.”

“As a former district attorney in Massachusetts and in New York, and as a law school instructor, Sister Cerullo is an ideal person to help enforce Rhode Island’s ethics laws,” he said. “She will bring a high level of integrity and experience” to the commission.

“Similarly, Bill Harsch has proved his worth as a public servant in the federal, state and local governments, and as a private attorney,” the governor said. “Bill’s long experience will make him a huge asset.”

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