Former Rhode Island Gov. Edward DiPrete dies at 91

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Former Rhode Island Gov. Edward DiPrete, who served as the state’s chief executive for six years and was later jailed for corruption, has died. He was 91.

Robert Murray, DiPrete’s former chief of staff, co nfirmed that the Republican died Tuesday after celebrating his 91st birthday with family.

DiPrete, a Republican, served as the state’s 70th governor from January 1985 until January 1991.

Less than a decade later, he became the first and only former Rhode Island governor to go to prison, having pleaded guilty to bribery, extortion and racketeering charges stemming from his time as the state’s chief executive.

DiPrete served one year in prison. After his 1999 release, the former governor said he hoped Rhode Islanders would still remember his accomplishments as governor.

“I hope historians 25 years from now will say that was a good period in time from a person who did make some mistakes, no question, and did some things he paid dearly for,” he said.

Political analyst Darrell West said DiPrete presided over years of relative economic strength in the state, but that his guilty plea and imprisonment were the last memory he left with the public.

“He was the first and only governor to go to jail,” West said. “That’s an ignoble thing to be on his record.”

DiPrete served as governor for three two-year terms, winning reelection in 1986 and 1988, but losing to a Democrat in 1990.

A year later, DiPrete was fined $30,000 by the state’s Ethics Commission for improperly influencing the award of a state contract, but the former governor’s legal odyssey was just beginning.

DiPrete and one of his sons, Dennis L. DiPrete, a civil engineer who had never held office, were indicted on March 29, 1994, accused of accepting bribes from architects, engineers, developers and landlords in return for state contracts.

The DiPretes were charged with taking at least $294,000 in bribes while the Republican was governor.

As they headed for trial in 1997, Superior Court Judge Dominic Cresto dismissed all charges against the pair after finding the attorney general’s office had disobeyed his order to turn over evidence to defense lawyers, a move that stunned the top state prosecutor.

The state Supreme Court reinstated the charges in January 1998 after the attorney general’s office appealed, ruling that Cresto had no authority to dismiss them.

On Dec. 11, 1998, less than a month before he and his son were scheduled to stand trial, DiPrete pleaded guilty to 18 counts of bribery, extortion and racketeering, admitting he accepted $250,000 in exchange for state contracts.

He was sentenced to serve one year in a work-release program at the state prison. Critics called the sentence too lenient, including then-Gov. Lincoln Almond.

DiPrete said he pleaded guilty to end the stress on his family and because he knew it would keep his son out of jail.

“Sparing my son and my grandchildren the anguish of these proceedings far outweighed any personal desires to put the state to its proof,” the elder DiPrete said in a statement.

A state judge later revoked DiPrete’s $50,777 annual pension in November 1999. He appealed, arguing he deserved compensation for past public service, including work for the city of Cranston. The state Supreme Court disagreed, ruling in 2004 that his conduct as governor meant the state Retirement Board did not have to honor his pension.

DiPrete often touted his “everyman” persona while in office, taking his large family on vacation in a Winnebago motor home and sometimes serving guests supermarket fried chicken from the RV. In 1987, he decided to park the motor home outside the Rhode Island State House during a snowstorm and slept in it to avoid being stuck in the snow.