Rep. Carson Joins Call for 38 Studios Documents

NEWPORT, RI—Rhode Island state Rep. Lauren H. Carson said Tuesday that she is "adding her voice to a growing list of state leaders seeking transparency" and called for the attorney general and state police to release 38 Studios investigation documents.

It comes a day after the state announced a $2.5 settlement with Curt Schilling and others in one of several lawsuits filed by the state Commerce Corporation against the former Red Sox pitcher and others involved in the financing of $88 million in moral obligation bonds to prop up the failed video game company before its collapse.

Schilling was wooed by a select group of lawmakers and power brokers to move his video game company to Rhode Island in 2011.

The state is still on the hook for more than $50 million as a result of that deal, but it could recoup some additional money—minus legal fees—depending on how an ongoing suit against First Southwest wraps up. The state police opened a probe into the deal, questioning numerous members of the General Assembly who were in power when bonds' enabling legislation was whisked through and passed, among others.

The investigation remains open but Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and State Police Sup. Col. Steven G. O'Donnell said this summer that it is no longer active and no criminal charges will be filed.

Carson, in a news release, said that the high cost of the failed 2010 moral obligation bond legislation demands openness.

"Especially with a cost that high, there’s no question in my mind that the public deserves to know the details of the investigation and be able to see why no charges have been filed,” Carson, (D-Dist. 75, Newport), said. “The public demands and deserves transparency from its state government, and anything less is damaging to its credibility and the public’s trust in it. I, too, want to know what was discovered through this four-year-long investigation, and I ask the attorney general and the State Police to release its findings and records.”

Carson said she's joining House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello; Gov. Gina Raimondo; the leaders of Common Cause RI, the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters "and many other state, local and organizational leaders in Rhode Island in asking that the records be released."

O'Donnell said in July that authorities were prohibited by law from disclosing "the content of matters which occurred before the Statewide Grand Jury," concluding: "the quantity and quality of the evidence of any criminal activity fell short of what would be necessary to prove any allegation beyond a reasonable doubt and as such the Rules of Professional Conduct precluded even offering a criminal charge for grand jury consideration.

"Because there remains the possibility that civil litigation arising from this matter or other means will disclose additional facts, those facts may, at some point in the future, need to be evaluated. The possibility of additional facts, however, does not justify keeping this investigation active when balanced against the public interest in resolving the issue of whether criminal conduct occurred.