Block McCaffrey Court Appointment - H. Philip West, Jr.

Block McCaffrey Court Appointment - H. Philip West, Jr.

The courthouse official who welcomed prospective jurors looked familiar. As he moved us to an upstairs courtroom, I shook his hand and asked if he was related to then-Senator Michael J. McCaffery. 

“Yes,” said Eugene J. McCaffrey. “He’s my brother.”

In 2008, while Michael McCaffrey chaired the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, his sister, Mary E. McCaffrey, landed a lifetime appointment as a judge on the state’s District Court. Her compensation in 2024 is reported as $222,809.

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No one can prove that Senator McCaffrey pulled strings to get plum jobs for his brother and sister, but it looks like nepotism.

Nepotism often stirs resentments. The term springs from the Latin “nepos,” meaning nephew. Believers were troubled when medieval bishops and popes — celibate under canon law — promoted their nephews to lucrative positions in the Church.

In December 1991, the Rhode Island Ethics Commission prohibited public officials from using their office to benefit family members, including siblings. In 1992, the General Assembly reluctantly enacted a similar ban on nepotism. 

But nepotism is hard to prove. Backroom deals stay secret.

Michael McCaffrey was elected to the Senate on the same day in 1994 that nearly seventy percent of Rhode Island voters approved a constitutional amendment establishing Merit Selection of all Rhode Island judges. Voters were fed up with the pipeline that regularly carried loyal legislators and staff attorneys into highly paid, lifetime appointments as judges. 

Merit selection opened the process to the press and public. For the first time in Rhode Island’s history, the Judicial Nominating Commission conducted public interviews, then recommended from three to five “highly qualified individuals” for each vacancy. Governors then appointed one person and referred that nominee to the Senate for public hearing and confirmation.

Ordinary citizens dared to testify against powerful nominees. People phoned governors and spoke at Senate confirmation hearings.

On July 8, witnesses testified about how then-Senator McCaffrey had opposed gay and transgender rights, marriage equality, and access to abortion. Others criticized his record of blocking restrictions on guns.

Nepotism should also disqualify McCaffrey. Unless he swears publicly that he did not help his siblings get court jobs, credible suspicion will remain. 

The Rhode Island Constitution requires that public officials “adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct” and warns that they must “avoid the appearance of impropriety and not use their position for private gain or advantage.”

On July 16, the Judicial Nominating Commission listed McCaffrey among five candidates for the vacancy. The other four have served as prosecutors or defense lawyers but not as legislators.  Governor Dan McKee will now nominate one. 

Readers who think McCaffrey’s positions on legislation or his apparent nepotism disqualify him should call the governor (401-222-2080).

If Governor McKee nominates McCaffrey, citizens will have one final opportunity to challenge the appointment by testifying in public or by contacting Senate President Valerie J. Lawson (401-222-6655), Senate Judiciary Chair Matthew L. LaMountain (401-222-2381), and their state senators (https://www.rilegislature.gov/senators/default.aspx)