Court rules on legislative grant suit

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The Rhode Island Supreme Court has upheld the lower court ruling against taking action in the legislative grant lawsuit that questioned the legality of how millions of dollars in taxpayer money is spent by the General Assembly every year.

“We had an opportunity to fix a broken system and we didn’t,” plaintiff Rep. Robert Watson said.

The court agreed with the previous decision that Watson did not have legal standing, even though he is a Rhode Island taxpayer.

Still, Watson's attorney said he believes the high court did not offer a resounding 'no' to future lawsuits aimed at legislative grants.

"I believe they did leave the door open to try to stop a small group that we think shouldn't be allowed to spend the taxpayers' money," Nick Gorham said. "We have a better government than that."

Gorham said the investigation into how the Institute for International Sport spent two legislative grants that totaled $575,000 is a prime example of the lack of accountability.

"Two people control how we spend millions," Gorham said, referring to the leaders of the state's Senate and House. "You can't have two people handing out money to whomever they want."