Yesterday, in a press conference Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse rolled out the $6.7 million lead remediation program for low-income areas. The funding came from the agreement between the state of RI and Dupont so that the latter could avoid being tried in the now-legendary RI lead paint public nuisance litigation.
In the media coverage of the event, PROVIDENCE JOURNAL reporter Peter Lord - who has been following the litigation since the late 1990s - noted that the RI AG was questioned about $2.5 million Dupont money which went out of state to Massachusetts Brigham & Women's Hospital. The institution has no association with lead health hazards. It was alleged that the money was directed there because Motley Rice law-firm partner Jack McConnell pledged money to that medical facility. Motley Rice was selected by the RI AG to assist with the RI lead paint public nuisance two trials on contingency.
Those I contacted about this allegation sort of just shrugged. They seemed relieved that at least some of the money was going toward what the whole enchilada had been about: The lead paint hazard to children.
Nothing to shrug off, responds this legal journalist.
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Legal Journalist off the record on Dupont money:
"I think the fact that people are shrugging off this Dupont agreement, as you mention in your post, is a sad case of pragmatism triumphing over principle. In a lawsuit which was founded on a principled, ethical and even moral premise: 'Those who cause a mess should clean it up' (Jack McConnell's words from the opening statements of the second RI lead paint trial), the fact that $2.5 million was paid to Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston - for something other than lead treatment - is a betrayal of principles, ethics and even morality.
"I don't fault Dupont for taking advantage of the situation which presented itself. I fault the Attorney General's Office for allowing this as an option in the first place. The plaintiffs' arguments will take on a hollow ring in the wake of this compromise deal, which showed that patronage was really the motivating factor. They would probably never utter it aloud, but the people in Rhode Island who really work in the trenches and care passionately about alleviating the damage caused by childhood lead paint poisoning should feel cheated by the very people who had pledged to be their advocates.
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Input on this issue is welcome. Please leave a comment or contact Jane Genova Mgenova981@aol.com, 203-468-8579.