PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Sen. Frank Ciccone resigned from two top-level union posts within the Laborers International Union of North America, days after publicly calling for a Securities & Exchange Commission probe of General Treasurer Gina Raimondo's investment practices.
Ciccone resigned, "effective immediately,'' as president of the Rhode Island Laborers' District Council.
He also resigned, effective in February, from his other role as business manager for Local Union 808, representing several pockets of state employees.
It appears, however, that he is still on LIUNA's payroll as field representative for the district council, that describes itself as a "membership organization representing approximately 8,084 union members for the purpose of collective bargaining.'' The council provided Ciccone with salary and benefits totaling $178,753 in 2012, including a $102,416 salary, according to its most recent federal filing.
On Thursday, Ciccone referred questions to union leaders. Confirmation of his resignations came Thursday from Dan Bianco, the international representative of LIUNA, assigned to the regional office in New England.
The reason for Ciccone's resignation from the two union posts remains unexplained, but it came within days of a story published in The Journal on Nov. 14 about a complaint he filed with the SEC in late October.
In the complaint, Ciccone asked the SEC to investigate the potential violations that national financial critic Edward Siedle cited in a report commissioned by Council 94, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
On the form that asked him to state the "category that best describes your complaint," Ciccone wrote: "False/misleading information in official statement documents."
In the body of the complaint filed late last month, he wrote: "As an elected official in the state of Rhode Island, I am concerned about a report that was issued by Benchmark Financial Services Inc., Mr. Edward Siedle.
"The report cites ethical concerns, violation of a Blind Trust, excessive fees paid to brokers that she had previous dealings with and several SEC violations. ...I believe that the public should have an agency that regulates this industry" evaluate "the accuracy of the report," and apprise them "if any violations occurred,'' he wrote.
After being apprised of the filing, Raimondo's spokeswoman reiterated the treasurer's initial response to the allegations in Siedle's report: "The recent report from the [AFSCME] is clearly another political propaganda piece aimed at discrediting the treasurer and the state's pension reforms."
Local 808 is one of the plantiffs, in the lawsuit filed by Rhode island's public-employee unions, to try to reverse the sweeping pension changes that Raimondo championed, and the General Assembly approved in 2011. The lawsuit is pending.
Labor is not monolithic, though. While several unions, including the teachers and Council 94, AFSCME, were vocal in their opposition to the pension legislation, the powerful Laborers' union was not.
One of the keys to passage of the legislation was the exclusion of pension plans outside the state-run Municipal Employees Retirement System. Inclusion of those plans was opposed by Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, who also works for an arm of the Laborers, and Armand E. Sabitoni, the Laborers' general secretary-treasurer and New England regional manager.
Sabitoni served on Raimondo's transition team when she was first elected. In the aftermath of the special-session where state lawmakers dramatically rewrote the state's pension law, The Journal reported that Armand Sabitoni was also a key player behind the negotiations.
Governor Chafee cited those relationships when venting his frustration in November 2011, at the legislature's failure to forcefully address troubled municipal retirement systems in the pension-overhaul bill.